Surf Museum hits 40: It began with surfboards hanging from a restaurant ceiling and surfers telling stories

A newspaper picture of a man with a surfboard, along with an announcement about starting a surf museum, drew a dozen folks to a small restaurant on South Coast Highway in Encinitas called George’s, a few blocks from the ocean.

They shared the surfing stories that shaped their community and knew they had to preserve them while the people who could tell them first-hand were still alive. They got stoked about the idea of a museum where they could share their love of surfing.

Word got around and surfers came to the restaurant from all over San Diego County, gathered around the tables, ate burgers and swapped their tales.

They hung vintage surfboards from the blue-colored ceiling, put up photographs of surfing heroes and displayed old surfing memorabilia, each with a story. The restaurant became the seed of what is now, 40 years later, the California Surf Museum on Pier View Way in Oceanside.

“From the very beginning we wanted to capture as much surf history from the area old-timers as we could. As a result, seasoned and legendary surfers came to George's from north and south,” said Jane Schmauss, a founding member of the museum and its historian. (She also owned George’s at the time.)

Surfing pioneers inspired the fledgling group, but they knew surf history was being made by the current generation, too, and their accomplishments would be the subject of future exhibits.

“The museum is about the camaraderie, the innovations, the pure stoke that surfing exudes,” said Schmauss, coauthor of “Surfing in San Diego.”

The museum effort was spearheaded by a local architect and surfer, Stuart Resor, with help from the community, including a former Smithsonian employee. They formed a board of directors and set out on a mission “to collect and preserve surf history for generations to come.”

“We wanted most of all for the museum to get people turned on to surfing - the magic of surfing - it’s a supernatural feeling and you can’t explain it. The museum is about sharing the spirit of Aloha and sharing the stories of the early surfers and the legends and the history,” said Kevin Kinnear, one of the museum’s founders and a member of the original board, which included its president, Resor, along with Mike Cates, June Chocheles, Don Fine, Steve George, Parry Payne, Jane Schmauss, Ian Urquhart and Catherine Woolsey.

Some of the original board members are still involved with the museum, but hundreds more joined the effort, some volunteering, others donating surf boards and memorabilia, and many sharing their stories, including famous surfers from Eddie Aikau, Nat Young, Greg Noll and Donald Takayama.

“We’re all here because we love it and it’s so important to carry on surfing history, not as something frozen in time, but something that keeps changing,” said Tom Dahnke, longtime docent at the California Surf Museum, which was a top pick in USA Today's “10 Best Attractions for Sports Fans” in 2023.

The museum’s first big fundraiser, themed “Summer Surf Stomp,” was in August 1986 at the Belly Up in Solana Beach. They netted about $200.

In August 1987, the museum opened its first exhibit "Catching Waves: Trestles to Tourmaline," which included photographs, stories and surfboards at Moonlight Plaza in Encinitas, in a space offered rent free by local businessman Paul Rotsheck, a regular at George’s. Surf legend Mike Diffenderfer, a renowned surfboard shaper who is now in the San Diego Surfing Hall of Fame, was among attendees at the exhibit’s grand opening. A second exhibit, "Iron Men and Wooden Boards," opened the following summer featuring stories of legendary surfers like George Freeth, Bob Simmons and Tom Blake.

“We want people to get a sense of what surfing is about, the power and magnificence of the waves and what we mean when we say, “I’m stoked.” said Jim Kempton, executive director of the California Surf Museum. “We want people to understand what’s special about surfing. It’s different from other sports. We even hesitate to call it a sport. It’s more than that. It’s a culture, it has its own language and style, music and heritage.”

The museum moved a half-dozen times, but grew and became an institution attracting visitors from around the world. The nonprofit, largely volunteer-run museum moved to Pacific Beach and then to Oceanside at 308 North Pacific St. in 1991, 223 North Coast Highway in 1998, and later to its current location at 312 Pier View Way in 2009.

The 5,100-square-foot museum, designed in the shape of a wave, maintains a collection of vintage and signature surfboards that are rotated between displays. Some boards date as far back as the late 19th century, and some have connections to legendary surfers such as Duke Kahanamoku, Whitey Harrison, Bob Simmons, Phil Edwards, Kelly Slater and Bethany Hamilton. Thousands of photographs and historical documents are stored in archives and the collections section of the museum houses an assortment of memorabilia.

A new exhibit opened recently on “Surfriding: Hawaiian Royalty's Gift to the World,” which features replicas of historic 17 foot wooden surfboards recreated by Santa Cruz master surfboard shaper Bob Pearson. The display tells the story of Hawaii's longtime influence on the world of surfing.

“We are planning a future exhibit that chronicles the ancient history of wave riding in all of the Americas that goes back thousands of years, said Parry Payne, a founder of the museum and one of the original board members as well as current board member. “Today, one can still view the fishermen in Northern Peru riding on their Caballito de totoro reed surf craft that began as far back as 9,000 years ago with the Chan Chan civilization. The museum has so much more to share with the world.”

Over the years, the museum has received its share of accolades. It was featured on the History Channel TV show "American Pickers" and on Huell Howser's "California Dreamin'" (2011). The museum was part of public television's Great Museums series in 2007, and was one of several museums featured in Smithsonian Magazine’s 2011 edition on "American Curiosities.”

But when folks talk about the museum, they talk about people: the surfers and board shapers who made history and those at the museum sharing the history.

“We’re like ‘Ohana’ - extended family - that’s the spirit of the museum,” Kempton said.

“The California Surf Museum doesn’t simply tell the story of surfing. It protects its soul and continues to inspire its future,” wrote museum board member Severino Ricci for the exhibit on the museum’s 40th anniversary.

Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.

This story was originally published April 26, 2026 at 5:27 AM.