Autry rides ‘Surf Culture’ wave

The endless summer is over in Orange Country -- that is, the Laguna Art Museum’s big surfing show is done -- but a similar swell is rolling toward the usually landlocked Autry Museum of Western Heritage in Los Angeles.

The Laguna museum show, “Surf Culture: The Art History of Surfing,” ran from late July through Oct. 6 amid blockbuster treatment, from extended museum hours to boosted prices. One critic called the show “profoundly confused and poorly presented.” Another labeled it “a rambling, overstuffed extravaganza.” But attendance broke records. Museum director Bolton Colburn, who had hoped for 6,000 paid admissions, said the actual figure reached 11,000, with total attendance of about 22,000.

Now the Autry offers “Ocean View: The Depictions of South California Coastal Lifestyle” from Nov. 23 to July 27. The museum won’t be changing its hours (10 a.m.-5 p.m., Tuesday-Sunday, and 10 a.m.-8 p.m., Thursday) or prices ($7.50 for adults), but the exhibition will explore many of the same themes that the Laguna show did, from the deeper significance of Gidget to the aesthetic influences of surfboard design and surf-related advertising.

“Ocean View” is a revival of a show first assembled for the UC Riverside/California Museum of Photography in 1997. Autry spokesman Jay Aldrich said the museum picked up the show to offer “something a little different” following the long run of “Art of the Charreria.”

-- CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS