The Californians

Here's The Californians Surf Trailer.. It gives a good brief history of Californian surf culture during the 60's and 70's... 

Another cool blast from the past is this video called: The Living Curl 60's Surf Film Trailer

A Real Christmas Story…..

I stopped surfing in August of 1990 because summer was over and the water was just too cold for me. I was already looking forward to Christmas in hopes that I might get a new body glove wetsuit to keep me warm. I just had to get thru the next few months of school. It was nice to see my friends again when school started up. I didn’t notice but my friends all noticed that my voice had changed sometime over the summer. I guess surfing changes a person. I’m not sure why but the seventh grade was tough and I got in a lot of fights. I didn’t start them, I just finished them by pinning my opponent down on the ground in a headlock until a teacher or watch guard came over to break up the fight. At home I would fight with my moody older sister over who got to pick what to watch on TV. For some reason I still looked up to her and not just because she was taller than me at the time. 

Sometime that November my sister and her friends decided it was a good idea to clean up the garage so it could become a hangout area. I think the initial idea was a good one. I helped stack the forgotten boxes from our move from Hawthorne and the older boxes from our other move from Oklahoma to California. The dusty garage started looking a little brighter even though the garage door was still closed.  Around the time it started looking pretty cleaned up a friend of my sister asked if they could tag it. I asked them what they meant by tagging and they said that it meant you get to write your name on the wall. I didn’t see why anyone would want to do that, but figured I’d better keep my mouth shut because I was out numbered and I didn’t want to sound like a stupid kid. I’m not sure where the spray paint cans came from but somehow they appeared and people were writing their nicknames on the walls. I didn’t have a cool nickname like all of them so I drew a red happy face instead. 

It was starting to get a bit stuffy with all the paint fumes and of course that was when my mom pulled into the driveway after her busy day at work. We all heard the car come to a stop and then just a few seconds later mom was struggling with the sticky lock on the garage door. I suddenly felt like maybe mom wasn’t going to like the tagging and we were going to get really busted. The garage door opened and the shock on my mom’s face was enough to make us all aware that we were in deep. After my mom had ripped into us about how disappointed she was my sister and I were banished to our rooms. My room was nothing special just the basics; bed, dresser, desk, small cassette tape AM/FM radio, a few books, no TV, no computer or gaming system. Most of my stuff I was sure was going to be auction off or donated to some more worthy kid as part of my punishment. My sister and I ended up doing some community service on top of being grounded. We had to clean up the parking lots on the Redondo Union High School campus, everything down the gum stuck on ground had to be scraped up and cleaned. It was embarrassingly hard work. I had almost forgotten about surfing altogether. I felt more like a prisoner of a chain gang in one of those old black and white movies that used to play on AMC (American Movie Classics) late at night.

It was already mid-December and Christmas was just around the corner. I was still hopeful that Santa would cut me some slack and not put me on the naughty list. My sister and I were notorious at Christmas time for taking things around the house and wrapping them up to be returned as gifts like spatulas from the kitchen, silverware, VHS movies recorded off the TV. It always helped make it look like there were a bunch of presents under the tree. Christmas Eve came and our bushy tree had a hand full of gifts that were put there by my sister and me. It seemed a little empty but I was sure Santa would help fill the voids with goodies. 

It’s always hard to sleep on Christmas eve, even when you’re a kid. Our general house rule on Christmas morning was to not disturb mom any sooner than 7:00 am. My sister and I awoke almost in unison 6:30 am and made our way quietly from our rooms to the living room to get our first glance at Christmas morning. Something was wrong, very wrong. It looked just the same as it did the night before, nothing changed that we could notice. We stared at each other in total shock. We slowly made our way to the other side of the room where our Christmas stockings hung on the wall. Coal, not the fake stuff, but the real deal was in our stockings. I guess we made the naughty list after all. My sister started crying.

We knew it wasn’t 7:00 am yet but this was an emergency, we had to tell mom. We knocked at mom’s door and she allowed us to enter. My sister tried to get the words out between sobs that Santa came by and left us coal and that there must be something that she could do to help save Christmas. My mom said that if we went back to bed until 10:00 am and if she didn’t hear any sounds from either of us then she would call Santa and see if he had any presents left that he would be willing to give us. It was the longest three and half hours of my life (up to that point). Somehow I managed not to go crazy in the silence. I watched the clock click forward one second at a time slowly making its way around again and again. From time to time I thought the clock started running backwards but there was nothing I could do to speed it up. 

At 10:00 am I still didn’t move just in case my clock was faster than whatever time my mom was using. At 10:04 am a knock of hope sounded at my door. I emerged from my exile and made my way back to the living room with my sister and her puffy red eyes. This time there was a few more gifts under the tree but nothing big, nothing like the years past, but we were grateful to get anything at that point. We opened the few gifts together and when all the gifts under the tree had been open we thought we were done. There were two green cards in the Christmas tree and it was easy to overlook them. One had my name on it and the other had my sister’s name. 

We asked mom if we could open them and she said ok. Mine said that I needed to tell my mom ten reasons why I thought she is great and then the next clue would be given to me. I was confused but I had nothing to lose so I raddled off ten things about my wonderful caring mom that loves me so much and how lucky I was to have such a great parent. Then the next clue was given and I had to do some chores around the house to get the next clue. Then a back rub for mom, after what seemed like an hour of running around my sister and I ended up in front of the garage. Even with the garage door shut it still showed signs of our painting fiasco that had dripped thru the wood slats in places and dried on the outside. I had no idea what to expect. My sister pulled the garage door open. We couldn’t believe our eyes. On the left side was a futon bed for my sister and she danced around screaming in happiness. On the right side was my gift, a ten speed mountain bike with a surfboard rack with a surfboard on it. It was my first real short board, a 6’ 4” make by Don Kadowaki.

My friends and I called it "the Donk" and it was awesome. I was so happy that I almost forgot that I really needed a wetsuit. We made the trip out to Manhattan Beach to meet up with the rest of the family and scored yet again. My grandparents got me a brand new body glove wetsuit and some bubble gum surf wax. It had turned into the perfect Christmas day after all.

CONTACT:  DON KADOWAKI

email:  don@kadowakisurfboards.com

Test Driving My New 6’10” Mini-longboard

Rat Point and Haggs 3-5+ surf check Saturday 4-14-12

I did a quick drive along the Esplanade to check the surf before my nephew’s baseball game. It was breaking about 100 yards past the usual areas. I think there were no one out along the avenues and one guy at Rat Point. It was windy and cold out and I didn't have enough time to paddle out, but at least I got to take a look at what was out there.

2-4 on Sunday 4-15-12

I had spent most of Sunday cruising about with my 10 year old nephew. We went to the tide pools in San Pedro at low tide and gave him an oceanography lesson as we looked for treasure in the tide pools. Later I gave him a guitar lesson and a ukulele lesson. He’s a talented kid and I’m looking forward to this summer and taking him out for more surf lessons. Late afternoon I decided to go out for a quick session on my new 6’10” min-longboard. I had it all waxed up and ready to try out for about a week, but this was my first chance to finally get it wet. I figured I’d just make the best of it and at least give it a try for a little while. I suited up and headed down to the water. There were two other guys out just a little farther down the way, but they never made it all the way over to me. The waves were actually really fun. Don’t be fooled, there were some sneaker sets out there and I was lucky enough get on a few. I wished I had this board years ago, I’m sure it would’ve changed my life.

Solo Session 2-4+ on Monday 4-16-12

The tide was getting higher and it was beginning to slow things down a little. The shore break was almost head-high when I arrived and there were only a few other people farther south surfing straight from the Torrance ramp. There a was nice hole that was breaking a consistent right just a little north of the drain at Burn-outs and with the rising tide I knew my time out in the water might be limited if the tide fills in too much. From the parking lot it looked a little small but had good shape so I was happy to give it a try. The waves were bigger than it looked from up at the parking lot, rolly with a fast take off and then a slow shoulder. I caught wave after wave and my new board reacted even better than I thought on the take-offs, wrap-around turns and floaters. A few people even sat on the sand and watched me catch some waves. After about an hour the tide was really slowing the waves down and they just weren’t breaking on the outside as much as earlier. Then the fog briefly rolled in and then disappeared like the people on the beach after just a few minutes. I caught a few more and had a hard time making it back to land thru the big shore pound. It was all worth it. As over crowded as surfing in California can be it is nice to know that I can still manage to get a some time surfing all to my self.

Torrance Beach 2-3 Tuesday 4-17-12

I checked it out at Burn out but it didn’t have the juice like the day before and I remembered see some heads out at Torrance so I figured I take a closer look. Straight from the ramp there was a hole that a framed up and made machine waves, both lefts and rights. I could see about eight kids out and it looked a little too crowded to add me in the mix. I watch for at least a half hour before deciding to call it a day and let my scabby neck rash heal for a day.

Torrance Beach 3-4+ Wednesday 4-18-12

I checked out Manhattan 26^th Street after work and although it was bigger it just didn’t compare to the shape that I saw at Torrance the day before so I headed south. There was lots of street parking next to the big parking lot at Torrance for a change and I took advantage. I hopped down the ivy and made my way across the lot for my first look of Torrance for the day. It was like looking at a different country. The surf was bigger than yesterday and there were two holes on fire in the water. I suited up and put on a rash guard to help save my neck and ran down the lift guard tower at the bottom of the ramp. The hole on the left was the same one from yesterday and a new hole had opened up on the right with only two heads on the peak. I paddled out to the right (less people). It was breaking farther out than it usually does and the shape was awesome. It was a lot like burnout the other day but with longer rides. I was already dialed in before catching my first wave. I was a wave magnet. I even let the others guys have a few and they gave me a few waves too. It was a blast. My new board could catch the outside waves; make it thru the speedy first section and onto the soft shoulder with ease. Eventually the high tide started to slow things down more, but it didn’t bother me, I was too stoked. I stayed out for over two and half hours and just had a blast. It was the best session I’d had in years. It’s probably the best break in all of the South Bay on Wednesday.  Every day the swell, tides, wind, ocean bottom (sand, rock, coral, ect) and who knows what other factors come into place when choosing a spot to surf. For Wednesday it was Torrance, tomorrow could be somewhere else. I’m looking forward to finding out.

Torrance Beach 2-3 Thursday 4-19-12

I didn't waste any time getting to the ramp at Torrance. It looked about half the size as the day before so I decided to take the Pepsi challenge and take out my longboard. There was only one other longboarder out there and he was off to the far right. It also looked like the same group of kids out in the line up that have been there all week. I managed to get most of the bigger sets and had a good time hanging five and landing big floaters. On of the kids had a GoPro camera with him and I thing he may have caught some footage of me on a nice big right. I'll have to keep an eye out on YouTube. I stayed out for a few hours and when the tide pretty much shut things down I got out.