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Looking Back at the American Pickers

With the passing of American Pickers’ Frank Fritz on September 30, we recall the time he and Mike Wolfe came to the California Surf Museum. Was Frank a surfer? Not before he came to the California Surf Museum. He and Mike joined the tribe in October 2010 when American Pickers decided to do something different for an episode, and Mike and Frank had an opportunity to give surfing a try.

14 years ago today, the History Channel’s “American Pickers,” Mike Wolfe and Frank Fritz, two self-proclaimed “corn cobs from Iowa,” filmed an episode of their show at the California Surf Museum. The producers had cold-called CSM for the show’s first trip to California wanting names of three or four surfboard collectors where they could “pick” a couple surfboards which they would bring to the surf museum for appraisal. They decided to go to Bird Huffman’s Bird’s Surf Shed in San Diego where they purchased three surfboards. They chose wisely: above, Mike carries a Plastic Fantastic and a beautiful Steve Lis Fish with bamboo airbrush, which Frank chose (it ended up going back to Iowa), and Frank carries a Honolua Underground Surfboards into CSM. The boards were appraised by CSM member Ric Riavic. Unbeknownst to us in advance that they would do this, Mike and Frank donated the Plastic Fantastic to CSM’s collection, the board they said we seemed the most interested in.

The American Pickers’ distinctive van parked in front of the California Surf Museum.
Above from left: Ric Riavic, Mike Wolfe, Frank Fritz and Julie Cox with the Plastic Fantastic.

Ric recalls that when taping wrapped after about 6-1/2 hours, Mike expressed amazement while looking at the very large crowd of people waiting outside the museum, asking “What are all these people doing here?” Ric replied, “I am pretty sure they are here to see you!” Their very distinctive van, with its Antique Archaelogy logo (Mike’s store in Iowa) on the sides, was parked right in front of the museum, drawing the crowd. Mike and Frank normally visited somewhat rural locations, so they were not used to crowds gathering to see them. Both stayed and autographed their promotional 8x10s until they ran out.

The day after their visit, CSM’s then Director, Julie Cox, took them to the south side of Oceanside Pier to experience surfing for the first time. Frank was making the lifeguards a bit nervous, but both he and Mike survived and enjoyed their time in the water.

For those wondering, the personalities you saw on TV were the exact same we saw in person!

RIP Frank

Mike and Frank have a laugh with Julie about their first surfing experience!
Mike and Frank share what it’s like to surf!

We do want to acknowledge how much this episode of “American Pickers,” “California Dreamin’” which aired March 28, 2011 (click here to view), and in 2001 the late Huell Howser’s visit to CSM at its previous Oceanside location on Coast Highway for his “Road Trip” series on PBS (click here to view episode) have meant to the California Surf Museum. We can always tell when these episodes from both shows air as it brings in visitors asking for what they have seen in these nationally broadcast shows.