When L.A. was the place to catch a wave

Surfers of POP/

Lords of Dogtown

www.onionskin.com/pop

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Though waves in Santa Monica and Venice aren’t top choices for surfers anymore, those who pay homage to the old days will enjoy this scruffy site, named for POP -- the sprawling Pacific Ocean Park amusement center, which went bankrupt in 1967 and fell prey to arson and neglect in the 1970s. POP was ground zero for the ghetto memorialized in Stacy Peralta’s 2002 surf-and-skate flick, “Dogtown and Z-Boys.”

This site includes and expands upon prime Dogtown footage: surfers in overhead waves swerving to miss blackened pilings left over from the once-sprawling POP piers. Covering surfing from Santa Monica breaks south to El Porto, the POP site is rich with photo, video and postcard collections from those who roamed the shores. And an accompanying message board and local surf report is proof that this crowd still paddles out.

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-- Emmett Berg