Hobie Alter’s dad was fed up with the wood shavings making a mess of his Laguna Beach garage.
So he bought a lot in nearby Dana Point – back when there was only a gas station and a small hotel with a Mexican restaurant in the unincorporated beach town – and built a small garage where his son could build surfboards.
And a surf business was born.
It was 70 years ago on Feb. 14 that Alter opened the doors to that small workshop – the board maker-turned-inventor would go on to revolutionize the sport of surfing and beyond.
“He was just a solid guy in every respect – honest, dependable, smart and great with his hands,” said Dick Metz, a longtime friend from Laguna Beach who would become business partners with Alter. “He could build stuff nobody else thought of.”
Hobie Surf Shops is celebrating this year’s milestone starting on Wednesday by giving away 70th anniversary custom hats to customers. There’s a line up of events planned for the year, including a June showing of a film about Hobie team riders by Conner Eck, then in August a collaboration with surf brand Florence for a showing of “Endless Summer 2,” with special guests Pat O’Connell and Robert “Wingnut” Weaver, stars of the cult-classic movie.
In November, the festivities will continue with a vintage collector club gathering with hundreds of old boards on display.
Alter, who died in 2014, was raised in Ontario, visiting Laguna Beach after his dad bought a vacation home in the coastal town for summer breaks while he was still in high school.
Metz, who grew up in Laguna Beach but went to college in Ontario, met Alter at the inland school in 1947 and a few years later the two recognized each other on the sand during one summer break.
Alter had taken up surfing and wanted a board of his own, so he was told where to get the wood at a factory up in Los Angeles.
Back then, there were no surf shops to simply walk into and buy a board. You had to have someone make it – which…
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