IF YOU GO;
SANTA CRUZ SURFING MUSEUM WHERE: Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse, 701 W. Cliff Drive WHEN: Open noon to 4 p.m. Thursday-Monday HOW TO HELP: To donate to the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society, send a check to P.O. Box 3634, Santa Cruz, CA, 95063, or make a donation at the museum. For questions, contact Dan Young at 662-3368. |
Surfing Museum celebrates silver anniversary: Lighthouse repository operates on donations
By J.M. BROWN, SANTA CRUZ SENTINEL
Posted: 05/28/2011 01:30:38 AM PDT
SANTA CRUZ -- When Ted Nicholson hitchhiked from his San Bruno naval post to Santa Cruz in 1944, he wasn't sure what to expect.
In addition to great surf, what the Southern California native found when he paddled out was a group of rag-tag wave riders that became lifelong buddies. Harry Mayo, Doug Thorne and the other kings of Cowell's welcomed him as part of their now legendary Santa Cruz Surfing Club.
"They just took me in," the 88-year-old Nicholson recalled Friday as he stood in the breezy sunshine next to Thorne for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.
"If you were a surfer, you were a brother," said Thorne.
The 82-year-old Thorne, a native Santa Cruzan who started surfing in the sixth grade, had to it give up for health reasons, but Nicholson, who lives in Watsonville, still hits the waves from time to time. Complete with priceless photos and memorabilia, the museum nestled inside the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse since in May 1986 is really their own personal repository, a living tribute to a shared experience.
"This establishes the permanency of surfing and endorses the significance of surfing and the culture of surfing," Thorne said.
The tiny, one-room museum chronicles the 125-year history of Santa Cruz's famed past time -- from the time it was introduced by three Hawaiian princes riding redwood planks at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in 1885 to the Fiberglas boards of today.
Posted: 05/28/2011 01:30:38 AM PDT
SANTA CRUZ -- When Ted Nicholson hitchhiked from his San Bruno naval post to Santa Cruz in 1944, he wasn't sure what to expect.
In addition to great surf, what the Southern California native found when he paddled out was a group of rag-tag wave riders that became lifelong buddies. Harry Mayo, Doug Thorne and the other kings of Cowell's welcomed him as part of their now legendary Santa Cruz Surfing Club.
"They just took me in," the 88-year-old Nicholson recalled Friday as he stood in the breezy sunshine next to Thorne for the 25th anniversary celebration of the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.
"If you were a surfer, you were a brother," said Thorne.
The 82-year-old Thorne, a native Santa Cruzan who started surfing in the sixth grade, had to it give up for health reasons, but Nicholson, who lives in Watsonville, still hits the waves from time to time. Complete with priceless photos and memorabilia, the museum nestled inside the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse since in May 1986 is really their own personal repository, a living tribute to a shared experience.
"This establishes the permanency of surfing and endorses the significance of surfing and the culture of surfing," Thorne said.
The tiny, one-room museum chronicles the 125-year history of Santa Cruz's famed past time -- from the time it was introduced by three Hawaiian princes riding redwood planks at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in 1885 to the Fiberglas boards of today.