Is history important?  Is getting the story right important or does it matter?

 

After the Surfline thing from a couple weeks ago I got to thinking about the story of surfing or at least the surfing story of Ventura.  How the little mission town then oil town of Ventura found surfing through a few young guys and how the young surfing community made up of kids from the towns working class grew to what it is today.

 

During the 1960's when surfing first started to grow Ventura was a pretty isolated town. My first trips to "C" St were spent in a car on the then 2 lane highway that connected San Fernando Valley to Ventura. This 2 lane road of at least 35 miles had one traffic light, at Victoria Ave on the very east side of Ventura.  For perspective, the current path the old road followed is now a freeway. It's run from Ventura stretches  all the way to down town L.A and beyond, as well, goes up the coast past Santa Barbara. The Ventura Freeway is no less than 6 lanes and as wide a 10 in places now.

 

Because Ventura was a pretty serious destination stop the local surfers didn't see that many visiting surfers.  There weren't that many people surfing in the early to mid sixties in Ventura so if you did make the day trip to surf "C" St. you may not even see anybody at the beach.

 

I remember my first surfing visit. I came with a couple friends via one of the guys dad who happened to have business in the area so he brought his kid and 2 buddies and dropped us off at the beach while he went off on business.

 

It was a cool overcast day with some small surf peeling down from the point, maybe about waist high to us.  As the day progressed  and some of the fog lifted I could see the bigger surf up the point and a few guys up there surfing. Granted I was young and not that experienced but looking up the point and seeing bigger surf and a vacant beach in the fog seemed un inviting and spooky.

 

Those guys I saw up the  point surfing that day were the locals.  They were comfortable surfing a spot that was out of the way and not crowded.  Maybe overcast and cold, not pretty and some what out of the way.  When the surf was good there was no one on the beach to see their great rides.  If they took some knocks while in the water they suffered on their own. 

 

The 2 or 3 dozen guys and gals that made up the local crowd at "C" St.  back then were the Ventura surf community.  They knew who they were and knew that the surf in Ventura was what they had. The good days, the bad days, the wind, the fog, the sunny days, the cold water, the cut feet from the rocks as well as the damaged boards.  The mild summer days and the heavy winter currents... it was all theirs.

 

So what happened when getting to Ventura became easier?

 

D.R.