Surf Fans Can Hang 10 on Newest Walk of Fame : Huntington Beach: Pioneers and local heroes will be honored in the Hollywood-style showcase to be inaugurated May 28.

Borrowing a page out of Hollywood Boulevard’s famous sidewalk, Orange County’s Surf City is putting the finishing touches on its downtown redevelopment with a Surfing Walk of Fame beginning at Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway.

The idea, organizers say, is to recognize surfing’s pioneers, champions, local heroes and people who who have contributed to the sport’s lifestyle and culture.

The first name on the walkway’s 2-foot by 2-foot granite stones is Hawaiian surfing pioneer Duke Kahanamoku. The walkway will be inaugurated May 28, and Kahanamoku and five others still unnamed will be installed in August at the U.S. Open of Surfing in Huntington Beach.

“You know, Hollywood was known for its actors and the movie industry in the 1920s and ‘30s,” said Michael Adams, Huntington Beach director of special projects.

“And that’s the idea behind this. What the town is known for is our surfing. Hopefully, this will be looked at by people as baseball’s Hall of Fame,” he said.

Perhaps no other California city is as closely linked to surfing and the surfing lifestyle as Huntington Beach. Organizers such as Australian-born Peter Townend, himself a 1976 world surf champion who now lives in Orange County and is on the walkway’s committee, said Huntington may not have Hawaii’s powerful waves or rustic beauty, but the city’s tradition of hosting major surfing contests made it a natural selection for the walkway.

“Huntington Beach has not always had the greatest surf, but it had the accessibility to the public and always attracted large numbers of people who have watched the sport right at the pier,” Townend said.

“And if you look at the success of the U.S. Surfing Championships which were held at Huntington Beach for so many years during surfing’s early years and the Op Pro (contest), it’s a natural,” he said. “It authenticates the city’s title of Surf City.”

The walkway was approved by the city’s Design Review Board on Thursday, Adams said. Each year, a nominating committee will induct five people, four men and a woman.

“On May 16, the City Council is going to have a proclamation approved for Walk of Fame Day, which is May 28, a Saturday. That’s when we’ll have the unveiling,” Adams said.

Huntington Beach Mayor Linda Moulton-Patterson said the surfing walkway will be a “nice touch” to the city’s image. “We still think we’re the Surf City,” she said.

Councilman and former mayor Jim Silva, who recently pushed to allow surfers free parking before 8 a.m., recalled that when he travels on personal or city business, people throughout the country come up to him and comment about surfing on the city’s beaches.

“It doesn’t matter if I’m in St. Louis, Mo., or Washington, D.C., they always ask, ‘Hey, what about the surf in Huntington Beach.’ Or, ‘I see you’re from Huntington Beach. You have the most beautiful beaches there.’ I think when people hear about Huntington Beach, they think of the surf and the ocean,” he said.

Ballots for nominees for the first induction were mailed this week to about 60 people from the surf media, noted surf historians, surf associations, and recognized surfing halls of fame and museums, Townend said.

Kahanamoku, who is regarded as the father of surfing and helped popularize surfing in the United States, has already been named in the surfing pioneer category, Townend said. Other categories for inductees include surf champions, local heroes, and those who have contributed to surf culture, which could include noted surf bands such as the Beach Boys, he said.

Local heroes must be graduates of a Huntington Beach school or 10-year residents of the city, Townend said. Champions, surf culture and local heroes must have been popular before 1984. Surf pioneers must be at least 50 years old.

Prime Ticket, which is sponsoring the U.S. Open of Surfing professional contest, is planning to broadcast the induction ceremony as part of a two-hour television show, said Townend, a color analyst for surfing on Prime Ticket.

“The long-term goal,” Townend said, “is to build vignettes and have part of Prime Ticket’s show promote future inductees.”

But there have already been some rumblings over what the surfing tribute should be called.

Johnny Grant, Honorary Mayor of Hollywood and chairman of the Walk of Fame, said Huntington’s idea is a fantastic way to honor its surfing celebrities. However, he took exception to using a name that his city helped make famous.

“They can’t call it ‘walk of fame,’ ” Grant insisted. “That’s a copyrighted name, and our legal people would get upset.”

Adams acknowledged that the walkway committee could not use “Hollywood Walk of Fame,” but believed that it was legal to use, “Surfing Walk of Fame.”

Father of Surfing

Duke Kahanamoku, considered a pioneer in the sport, is the first inductee of the Surfing Walk of Fame in Huntington Beach.

Birthplace: Honolulu, Hawaii

Born: 1890.

Died: 1968.

Achievements: Won five Olympic swimming medals.

Movies: Had small parts in several films, including the 1948 “Wake of the Red Witch” starring John Wayne.

Source: Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum; Researched by DAVID REYES / Los Angeles Times