HUNTINGTON BEACH : Enthusiasm in Waves for Surf Museum

Surf City is soon to have a surfing museum.

The grand opening celebration of the new International Surfing Museum downtown will be June 16, beginning at 4:45 p.m. The museum is housed in a renovated, 1930s-era former doctors’ office at 411 Olive St.

“A lot of time and energy have been placed in this, and it’s really going to be beautiful space and the beginning of a new future,” said Julie Christine, assistant curator, at a press briefing at the museum on Thursday. “Surfing is very important to Huntington Beach, and so it’s a very appropriate place for a museum like this.”

Natalie Kotsch, board chairwoman for the nonprofit group that operates the museum, said that about $9,000 had been raised to refurbish the old office building. City government, which has charge of extensive urban renewal in the downtown area, owns the building and is leasing it to the museum for only $1 a year, she said.

The museum will be permanently housed in a building planned at the base of the city’s proposed new pier, Kotsch said. She said the museum probably would be relocated to the pier site about 1993.

In the meantime, she said, the museum is well situated in its temporary location, which is about a half-block from the intersection of Olive and Main streets.

“This is an Art Deco building, and the colors are designed to make it very attractive,” she said. “The museum stands as a source of pride for our city, preserving an important part of its old imagery.”

Starting June 17, the museum will be open daily, from noon to 6 p.m., with a $1 admission charge, Kotsch said.

Exhibits in the museum include historic surfboards, collectors’ records of surfing music, and a shrine to the late Duke Kahanomoku, the Hawaiian credited as being “the father of modern surfing.”

In connection with the museum’s grand opening, the second annual Huntington Beach Long Board Pro-Amateur competition will be held June 16 and 17 at the pier.

Kotsch said tickets for the opening ceremony at the museum on June 16 cost $35, which includes a luau and street dance with music by Dick Dale and the Deltones. Tickets for the dance only, which begins at 8:30 p.m., cost $10. Tickets may be purchased by calling (714) 960-3483.

HENRY DIROCCO / For The Times