The Surfing Innovators Series

Hobie Surf Shops and SHACC have launched the collaborative project, “The Surfing Innovators Series.” The first installment is on exhibit inside Hobie’s Dana Point Surf Shop that showcases Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison and his impact on the early California surfing scene.

Whitey was among California’s first real watermen. As a teenager in the late 1920s and early 1930s, Whitey surfed the beaches of Corona del Mar and Laguna, on a solid pine surfboard left behind by the legendary Duke Kahanamoku on one of his trips to the mainland. Harrison was a skilled surfer and body surfer, and he also dove for abalone and lobster off Orange County’s beaches.

The exhibit inside the Hobie Dana Point store includes some of Harrison’s early shaping tools, historic photographs, his signature hand-woven palm-frond hats, 2 of his surfboards and other memorabilia that helped lay the groundwork for the California surfing lifestyle.

Hobie and SHACC share a long and rich history in the surfing community. SHACC co-founder Dick Metz and Hobie Alter had been close friends from the late ’50s until Hobie’s passing this year. Metz helped Hobie open a series of successful surf shops in the early 1960s  in California, Hawaii and the East Coast.

The Dana Point Hobie Shop is located at 34174 Pacific Coast Highway.

Next up in the on-going series will be a display on the man himself, Hobie Alter.