Surf Museum’s Organizers Riding a Wave of Enthusiasm

The name--Huntington Beach International Surf Museum--reflects the organizers’ big plans.

But for now, the entire contents of the museum’s modest, three-room collection of memorabilia on Walnut Street can be seen in 15 minutes, if one walks slowly.

There are black-and-white photos of legendary surfers standing beside wood-paneled station wagons. In front of the photos sit ultra-long boards of the past that look better for ironing than wave riding.

In one corner there is a TV that shows videotapes of classic surfing tournaments--but it’s only there when the businessman who lent it to the museum doesn’t need it.

More important than its meager collection, the museum has the support and recognition of the city. The idea for the museum goes back more than three years, but got rolling only last summer when a real estate agent wanted to acknowledge what surfing has done for city.

“(Surfing) is part of our heritage,” said Natalie Kotsch, who is the founder and director of the museum. “This is going to be the best surf museum in the world.”

If it is the best in the world, it won’t have too much competition. Kotsch said she knows of few other places that gather surf memorabilia and no other place in the world that is the kind of full-blown surf museum she has in mind for Huntington Beach.

The museum is housed in a small, stuffy building in downtown Huntington Beach that will be lost to the wrecking ball in November. Adorned with the marquee from the old Surf Theatre, the museum’s collection includes a Tom Blake long board from the 1920s, an original “Bing” board and some vintage copies of Surfer magazine, as well as varied other items not too numerous to list.

The museum has gained preliminary city approval, but has not raised the money for a 10,000-square-foot building on the beach near Huntington Beach Pier, Kotsch said.

Planners hope the building will house a hall of fame, memorabilia dating back to the beginning of surfing, surfer movies, video presentations and many other ambitious displays.

Kotsch plans on finding the valuable surfing memorabilia in basements of the unaware and in private collections of enthusiasts. “Before they all get destroyed or thrown out in garage sales, we hope to collect (the memorabilia),” she said.

To collect the items and build a permanent home for them, the museum is soliciting donations from visitors and from its board of directors, which includes Huntington Beach’s current mayor, two past mayors and other city officials.

A “want list” is also being made and will be distributed by its author, museum secretary Ann Beasley. The list has on it everything from marking pens to a color copy machine.

By last Saturday, with Huntington Beach packed with visitors coming to see the Op Pro Surfing Championship, the week-old museum had about 425 visitors who signed the guest list and toured the building.

“This shows the roots of it,” said Larry Noakes, 25, of Costa Mesa, who said he was interested in surfing but not an avid surfer. “It’s neat seeing these old surfboards. They’ve come a long way.”

Mike Medawar, 25, who was described by friends as a “serious surfer,” said the museum was an idea whose time had come. “We need something like this,” he said. “Surfing deserves this. It has a rich heritage.”

He commented on the contradiction of the city supporting a museum remembering the history of surfing and also backing developers that Medawar believes are endangering the surfing life style.

“They’re destroying perfect breakwaters by developing,” he said. “The surfers have been put at the bottom of the totem pole.”