Surfing History in the South Bay

Updated October 18, 2026.

If you surf or walk the piers in Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach or Manhattan Beach, you are on the coast where George Freeth’s 1907 exhibitions at Venice and Redondo Beach started surfing in Southern California. This page tells that story, from Freeth to the Surfers Walk of Fame, and shows where to see it today.

Surfing reached California before it reached the South Bay, and the sources disagree on who was first at what. We follow one source in the story and list the others near the end.

Who surfed in California before George Freeth?

In the summer of 1885, three Hawaiian princes, David Kawananakoa, Jonah Kuhio Kalanianaole and Edward Keliiahonui, rode redwood boards at the mouth of the San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz. The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History calls Santa Cruz the birthplace of surfing in North America. George Freeth arrived 22 years later.

How did George Freeth bring surfing to Redondo Beach?

George Freeth sailed from Honolulu on July 3, 1907, and within weeks was surfing off Venice before crowds. Within six months, according to historian Arthur C. Verge, he was riding the Pacific Electric to Redondo Beach, where he worked for Henry Huntington and surfed twice a day, billed as “The Hawaiian Wonder.” After he saved seven Japanese fishermen during a winter squall off Venice on December 16, 1908, he received a gold medal in 1910 that Verge calls the Congressional Gold Medal.

After Huntington’s Redondo Plunge opened in 1909, Freeth lifeguarded, taught swimming and diving, and performed there. Verge says he created the Redondo Beach Lifesaving Corps and, with plunge manager Byron Minor, developed a rescue reel and torpedo-shaped buoy. In January 1911 town officials added $25 a month to keep him on as a “special lifeguard” for the beach. He died of influenza in San Diego on April 7, 1919, at 35, according to Verge.

Who built the boards in Hermosa and Manhattan Beach?

Dale Velzy, born in Hermosa Beach in 1927 and nicknamed “The Hawk,” began shaping boards in his Hermosa garage in 1949, according to the Hermosa Beach Museum. That year, Easy Reader reports, he and friends formed the Manhattan Beach Surf Club under the Manhattan Beach Pier, where he made boards until the City told him to stop. He then rented a one-room shop at Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Ocean Drive. A plaque unveiled on August 27, 2023 says he “opened one of the world’s first known surfboard shops.”

In early 1953 Velzy partnered with Hermosa surfer Hap Jacobs, and their boards sold for about $75, first from a Venice shop and then from one up the street from the Hermosa pier. Greg Noll learned shaping under Velzy and screened his “Search for Surf” films at the Pier Avenue Auditorium. Hermosa-born photographer LeRoy Grannis began shooting surf culture at 22nd Street in 1960, and in 1964 Noll opened a surfboard factory in Hermosa Beach. The museum credits Velzy as the first person to sponsor surfers and the first commercial shaper of redwood and balsa combination boards.

Who were the Meistrell twins?

A bronze statue on Portofino Way in Redondo Beach honors Bill and Bob Meistrell. Its marker says the identical twins were born in Boonville, Missouri, in 1928 and founded Dive N’ Surf in Redondo Beach in 1953. The marker also says they invented “the first practical wetsuit” in the back of that shop and that their surf brand, Body Glove, grew from those wetsuits.

How did the Catalina race and the Surf Festival begin?

In 1955 the Manhattan Beach Chamber of Commerce started an international paddleboard race from Catalina Island to the Manhattan Beach Pier, according to the Manhattan Beach Historical Society. It grew into a three-day aquatic event before the race was dropped in 1961. A Catalina Classic paddleboard statue was dedicated at the pier in 2023.

Redondo Beach, Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, their chambers of commerce and Los Angeles County formed the International Surf Festival in 1962 to replace separate, competing beach festivals, according to the festival. Its home page lists the Charlie Saikley 6-Man volleyball tournament among its events and bills the July 28 to August 1, 2027 festival in Redondo Beach as the 64th.

What is happening to the Surfers Walk of Fame?

The Surfers Walk of Fame honors surfers with bronze plaques set into the deck of the Hermosa Beach Pier. It began in 2003 with 16 pioneer and 7 charter members, among them Hermosa surfer Mike Purpus, and by September 2026 it had 106 inductees but plaques only for 2003 through 2019. A structural assessment found the plaques were damaging the pier’s concrete, and six are missing.

In September 2026 the Hermosa Beach City Council voted 4 to 1 to pull the bronze plaques by the end of the year and mount smaller stainless steel plaques on the pier’s wood railing as an interim step. Staff will pursue an agreement with surfing groups on a permanent, privately funded monument, and past inductees have backed a new walk anchored by a statue of the late big-wave surfer Greg Noll.

Where can you see it today?

• George Freeth Memorial, Redondo Beach Pier near 207 Fishermans Wharf: Terry O’Donnell’s 1977 bronze bust, recast after its 2008 theft and rededicated in 2010.
• Redondo Beach Historical Museum, 302 Flagler Lane, Redondo Beach: photos of Freeth.
• Hermosa Beach Museum, 710 Pier Avenue, Hermosa Beach: surfing exhibits, open Wednesday through Sunday, noon to 4 p.m.
• Surfers Walk of Fame, Hermosa Beach Pier at the foot of Pier Avenue: bronze deck plaques, giving way to stainless steel plaques on the railing.
• Catalina Classic statue, Manhattan Beach Pier: Chris Barela’s 2023 paddleboard statue.
• El Porto, north end of Manhattan Beach: Los Angeles County calls it an extremely popular surf spot.
• Meistrell statue, 200 to 308 Portofino Way, Redondo Beach: the twins in bronze, with their marker.

Where do the sources differ?

• Santa Cruz’s claim: birthplace of surfing in North America, per the Santa Cruz museum; on the North American continent, per the City of Santa Cruz; the princes introduced surfing to the U.S. mainland, per UC Santa Cruz; they were California’s first official surfers, per the California Surf Museum.
• Freeth’s place: his 1907 demonstrations began organized wave riding on the mainland, per the California Surf Museum; he was long called the original American surfer until the 1885 ride came to light, per the Encyclopedia of Surfing; he introduced surfing to Southern California, per a Malibu Legacy Park marker.
• Redondo’s claims: “First Surfer in the United States,” per the memorial’s Historical Marker Database listing; he introduced surfing to California, per the Redondo Pier; Redondo was home to California’s first modern surfer, and Huntington brought surfing to the coast in 1907, per Los Angeles County.
• The princes’ boards: over 100 pounds, per the Santa Cruz museum; up to 175 pounds, per UC Santa Cruz.
• Freeth’s birthday: November 9, 1883, per Verge; November 8, per the Redondo memorial and the Redondo Pier.
• Freeth’s family: royal Hawaiian and Irish, per the Redondo memorial, with an Irish father, per the Encyclopedia of Surfing; an English father and a grandfather who was Hawaii’s Minister of Foreign Affairs, per Verge; a great-grandson of King Kalakaua’s minister, per the California Surf Museum.
• How Freeth came to Redondo: on his own trip, then working for Abbot Kinney and Huntington, per Verge; invited by Huntington in 1907 to promote his plunge, per the Redondo Pier; hired by Huntington that year to surf twice a day at the Hotel Redondo, per Los Angeles County.
• Lifeguard credit: Freeth created the Redondo Beach Lifesaving Corps and built the reel and buoy with Byron Minor, per Verge; founded the lifeguard association and invented the buoy, per the Redondo Pier; invented the torpedo rescue can and was Southern California’s first lifeguard, per Los Angeles County.
• Freeth’s medal: the Congressional Gold Medal, per Verge; a United States Life Saving Corps Gold medal, per the Redondo memorial.
• How Freeth died: of influenza, per Verge; of exhaustion from strenuous rescue work, per the Redondo memorial.
• Where Velzy started: his Hermosa garage, then under the Manhattan Beach Pier, then Venice, per the Hermosa Beach Museum; the Manhattan Beach Surf Club under the pier, then his Manhattan Beach shop, per Easy Reader.
• Velzy’s firsts: the first to sponsor surfers and the first commercial shaper of redwood and balsa combination boards, per the Hermosa Beach Museum; we found no other source on either.
• When Velzy’s shop opened: 1950, per the South Bay Boardriders Club’s proposed plaque; not 1950, per former Historical Society president Gary McAulay, citing a 1949 shoe repair license there and Velzy’s 1950 draft notice; possibly by summer 1950, per biographer Paul Holmes; 1950 or 1951, per Bing Copeland; earliest known photo, 1952.
• First, or one of the first: “the world’s first known surf shop,” per the proposed plaque; the first retail surf shop, per an August 2023 Easy Reader calendar item; no license, tax ID or ad shows a retail surf shop, per McAulay; “one of the world’s first known surfboard shops,” per the final plaque.
• Installing the Velzy plaque: September 2023 at 117 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, per that calendar item; not yet decided, per a September 2023 Easy Reader story.
• The Catalina Classic statue: a five-year effort modeled after Jay Russell, DJ Wilson and Duke Kahanamoku, per the calendar item; a seven-year effort showing a Hawaiian paddler, a male knee paddler and a female prone paddler, per a sponsored Easy Reader story.
• Who started the Catalina race: Bob Hogan in 1955, revived by Buddy Bohn and Carol Hogan in 1982, per an Easy Reader photo caption; the Chamber of Commerce in 1955, dropped in 1961, per the Historical Society.
• The festival’s start: formed in 1962, per the festival; a continuation of the Chamber’s 1955 race festival, per the Historical Society.
• The festival’s count: 2015 was the 54th year, per its history page; 2027 is the 64th, per its home page, which gives no reason.
• The volleyball event’s name: Charlie Saikley 6-Man, per the home page; Charley Saikley 6-Person Volleyball Tournament, per the history page.
• The wetsuit: “the first practical wetsuit” is the Meistrell marker’s own claim; we did not check it against other wetsuit histories.
• The bust’s sculptor: Terry O’Donnell lived 1940 to 2008, per the memorial plaque; 1940 to 2006, per the Redondo Pier.

Questions people ask about South Bay surfing history

Did surfing start in Redondo Beach?

Not in California. Three Hawaiian princes rode redwood boards at Santa Cruz in 1885. Surfing in Southern California starts with George Freeth, who sailed from Honolulu in 1907 and within months was surfing twice a day at Redondo Beach for Henry Huntington.

Who was George Freeth?

George Freeth was a Hawaiian surfer and lifeguard who sailed to California in 1907, surfed at Venice and Redondo Beach, and created the Redondo Beach Lifesaving Corps. He died in San Diego on April 7, 1919, at 35. His bronze bust stands on the Redondo Beach Pier.

What is happening to the Surfers Walk of Fame in Hermosa Beach?

In September 2026 the Hermosa Beach City Council voted 4 to 1 to remove the bronze plaques from the pier deck by the end of the year, after an assessment found they were damaging the concrete. Smaller stainless steel plaques will go on the pier’s railing for now.

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it. Sources were read October 18, 2026.

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