History of San Onofre's Legendary Surfing Beach Remembered

Speaker 1: 00:00 At times like these, the carefree days of Southern California surf culture it's height, it feels almost like a dream it's comforting to look back on those sun wrench days of riding the waves when things like COVID-19 and sea level rise were nowhere on the horizon. Our next guest has written a 1500 page book that documents in detail, the history and culture of surfing at Santa Ana fray, state beach, David Matousek is the author and publisher of this tome, which is called Santo freight memories of a legendary surfing beach. Dave, thanks for joining us Speaker 2: 00:32 Aloha, Alison, and thanks for having me. Speaker 1: 00:35 So now this book is one of the biggest books I've ever seen. It's 1500 pages packed with photos and documents, recording the history and the culture of Sandino fray. How long did it take you to put it together? And why did you think it was important to document this history? Speaker 2: 00:50 Well, it's an eight year project and, uh, most of that was after I retired from a 40 year teaching career and I had so many friends that were the pioneer surfers in California that were all in their late eighties and early nineties. And they had stories to tell, and I became the person who chronicled their lives in the earliest days of California, surfing, going all the way back to the 1930s. Speaker 1: 01:23 You don't live right next to this beach, but you're still willing to get up at four in the morning to make the Trek to spend the day there. What is it about this beach that keeps people like you coming back? Speaker 2: 01:34 Well, it's a magical place. Uh, it's it's been described as a Shangrila of surfing by many of the old surfers. Um, the first surfers arrived in 1933 at Santa know Freya, Whitey Harrison, and a group of surfers from Corona Del Mar had spotted waves at Santa, no afraid driving by. And they were actually coming back from a surf trip down in Baja and they drove up to Corona Del Mar said, Hey, we just saw some good waves at a place called Santan. Oh, fray. They took two car loads of surfers in 1933, drove down to Santa Ana and they documented the first surfing at Santa and old frame. Speaker 1: 02:16 Is it about the waves that Senator free state beach? How are they different from waves in say Northern California or swamis, you know, here in San Diego, Speaker 2: 02:24 One of the most important things about surfing the waves is consistency and Santa, no Frey is world famous for the consistency of the waves. I mean, there's only probably three or four days out of the entire year where there is not a wave of some kind that you can ride. Speaker 1: 02:44 No, of course it hasn't always been a state park. Uh, the beaches is sort of technically on camp Pendleton. So how do the surfers managed to get the Marines to grant access to it when they were conducting military exercises there? Speaker 2: 02:56 Well, the surfers had been surfing nearly a decade prior to the arrival of the Marines in 1942. So they knew the value of the waves. And so they insisted on being allowed to come in and surf there beginning in 1942. And then at first the Marines were reluctant to let them in, but because of the, a decade long history of surfing already there, the Marines granted a group of the surfers to serve only the area that we now call old mans and they could only surf it if they regulated their own behavior. So eventually in 1952, they formed the Santan old phrase surfing club, but they had a locked gate. Uh, it became a private, uh, beach of sorts and, uh, many people re uh, referred to it as the most exclusive club in the world. There were as a five year waiting list to get into that surfing club that were movie stars that couldn't get into it. And so between 500 and a thousand surfers only were allowed in at that break. Now the other locations along the beach, primarily Trestles and church, or completely off limits because that's where the amphibious landing craft were training. And so that was a cat and mouse game of hide and seek between the surfers and the Marine Corps for decades there. Speaker 1: 04:25 That that was sort of when the culture was at its height, though, at the end of the war after the war. And you talk about a culture that was almost like a monastic order of beach bums, who, you know, pretty much took vows of poverty and chastity. Was that part of the surf club culture? Speaker 2: 04:44 Well, that's the way it started before world war two. It was a group of wild singles for the most part, they were heavy drinkers, heavy partiers. Uh, there was certainly that Beachbum influence along the beach, but many of those surfers went off to war during world war II. And when they came back, uh, they got married. They began to raise families and sent an old fray transition from a wild singles surf club to a family beach. And now it's become a world famous for its family. Aloha spirit, Speaker 1: 05:19 President Nixon apparently was instrumental in getting the beach to become part of a national park, which made it much more accessible to the general public. Ho how was he involved Speaker 2: 05:29 In the 1970s? Uh, he was of course at the Western white house there on cotton's point, overlooking Santa, no, Frank and rumor has it that he asked his aides, why isn't that beach open? And he was told that it was private. And he said, well, let's find a way to get that open. Now it didn't hurt that. One of the members of that exclusive club, the Santano fray surf club was his deputy attorney general. So he was also influential in, in making that happen. And some of the officers of the Santa Fe surfing club met with president Nixon there, a on the beach. And they actually gave him a, a third board for his daughter that was inscribed to him from the Santa Fe surf club. And I have photographs of that meeting in the book. So yes, it was a Nixon did play a role in opening up Santa and afraid to the public and making it a state park, Speaker 1: 06:27 I guess that was a mixed blessing for the surf club house, which was pretty elitist in the sense that no, just anybody could show up, right. Speaker 2: 06:35 It really was. And at first the surf club was furious about it. There was even talk of disbanding, the surf club, there was talk of moving it to another beach. You know, you can't hardly blame them for decades. They had this place to themselves. And, uh, in a very short order that attitude changed. And, uh, the surf club welcomed new members and the surf club itself for decades has been instrumental in preserving the Aloha spirit at Santa, no afraid beach. And they've also been very instrumental in keeping the beach primitive. That's another trademark of Santa Ana fray. There's been very little development there. Uh, we didn't, and I'm a member of the club have been for about 40 years. Uh, we have really tried to keep away from developing the beach and having it become something like a Delaney state park, or there's a lot of concrete and, and, uh, uh, you know, ornamental, uh, plantings and so forth. And what you find when you drive down to surf beach, which is the beach where old man's, and the point is you drive down onto a dirt road that parallels the beach and you pull up and park right next to the sand there's native, uh, flora there along the Bluffs of Santa Ana, old Fran it's, it's very much in its natural surroundings. The only development that has been made in recent decades has been to put in restrooms, uh, showers and, uh, drinking fountains. And that's pretty much it. Speaker 1: 08:13 Do you have to be a surfer to want to read this book? Speaker 2: 08:15 No, not at all. Because the effect that surfing culture has had on Southern California culture, California culture, and even American and worldwide culture has been profound, Speaker 1: 08:28 The books and an O frame memories of a legendary surfing beach is being distributed through San Diego surf shops. And it's also available@thewebsitepacificsunset.com. And we've been speaking with author David Matousek. Thanks so much for being with us, Dave, Speaker 2: 08:44 Thank you so much, Alison, it's been a pleasure.