SURF MUSEUM STORIES

A Movie Star/Water Woman Changes Women’s Swimwear in the 40s and 50s  Esther Williams was a seminal figure in both the popularization of surfing and of women’s swimwear. She hailed herself as…

Texas Surf Museum China Beach Exhibit, Scheduled to run through 2020. The Texas Surf Museum, a longtime fixture in downtown Corpus Christi, officially opened the China Beach exhibit at their site on…

Google Walter Munk and you will see a career that few have attained. Born in Vienna in 1917, he was educated primarily in the U.S., becoming a citizen and eventually getting a B.S. in…

One thing I was not expecting, was that cool rush of wind that sweeps across your face as you watch a peeling wave pass by in front of you. I guess broken…

There are very few surfers nowadays that know anything about what kind of man Mike Doyle was....or rather, what was his connection, actually, to the ocean? When we think of Mike, we…

The evolution of the fin from Tom Blake’s first prototype was a slow process, sometimes taking two steps forward and one step back. The keel fin that Blake first created was modified…

"Grubby" Clark. Clark Foam 1970's - Surfer Mag photo. A key turning point in surfing history was the invention and commercial introduction of the foam/fiberglass surfboard, replacing the earlier boards, which were…

Alfred “Al” Gallant Jr. was born in Los Angeles in 1918, nowhere near the ocean, but with an inner compass that led him to the sea and kept him close to it…

Marge Booth Calhoun was born in Hollywood in 1924 and raised in the pristine California that only her generation knew. Open spaces, clean, clear air, wide beaches -all invited daredevil exploration, and…