Skip to content
1981
The Next Wave: Critical Turns in Surf History
  • ISSN: 1466-0407
  • E-ISSN: 1758-9118

Abstract

This article sets out to explore the early history and important cultural legacy of surf travel from the United States into Mexico in the twentieth century. The work is part of an emerging analysis not only of the principal early actors of cross-border surf travel but also of their documentary work in film media and the role of Mexican travel in the development of regional surf culture, notably in the mid-century period. Addressed are the mechanisms at work in early surf travel photography: the initial selection of sites and objects of focus, the repetition of photographic subjects and, perhaps most importantly, the subsequent iconization of certain themes, artefacts, and rites. In short, the article reveals how documented surf-specific trips to impacted the nascent California surf culture. Far from minor in this context, crossing the border into Mexico played a major role in its development, providing substance elements to surfing’s increasingly rich cultural fabric, complexifying surfing history and perceived culture beyond a linear Hawaii-California model. It also serves to complexify surfing’s history and culture beyond a linear Hawaii–California model.

© 2025 Intellect Ltd
Loading

Article metrics loading...

/content/journals/10.1386/ejac_00148_1
2025-11-21
2026-04-14

Metrics

Loading full text...

Full text loading...

References

  1. Anon. (2025), ‘Legendary surfers’, 22 April, https://legendary-surfers.blogspot.com/2025/04/whitey-harrison-1913-1993.html?m=0&fbclid=IwY2xjawMP4NRleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETFUWmpXZVJNTTVMYW9CNkgwAR4UDrcm1rwo8c1RhutTn2gfetkJ79hzQQ7qXAfrcSu0PWutF6BYlRfx8NZauQ_aem_ksz5G2YiOAlOQWT0QMFhQg. Accessed 18 August 2025.
  2. Ball, John (1946), California Surfriders, Los Angeles, CA: Mountain & Sea Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  3. Barney, Chuck (2020), ‘The royal backstory on Santa Cruz’s rich surfing history and culture’, Mercury News, 1 September, https://www.mercurynews.com/2020/09/01/the-backstory-on-santa-cruzs-rich-surfing-history-and-culture/. Accessed 6 July 2023.
     [Google Scholar]
  4. The Beach Boys (1963a), ‘Surfin’ USA’, Surfin USA, USA: Capitol.
     [Google Scholar]
  5. The Beach Boys (1963b), ‘Noble Surfer’, Surfin USA, USA: Capitol.
     [Google Scholar]
  6. Blanchard, W. W. (2012), Surf Safari: Malibu to Panama, 1969–71, Scotts Valley, CA: Create Space Independant Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  7. Bomzer, Ryan (2024), ‘The Mexican jerga hippy baja hoodie’, Carved Culture, 21 December, https://www.carvedculture.co.uk/blogs/articles/the-mexican-jerga-hippy-baja-hoodie-explained?srsltid=AfmBOopjeudov-32Op4XjZ9oSUVK4j9ZdHBKi1f5dkiYxy02Ey8Haj5e&shpxid=4ebca8e2-27f8-4092-95b2-a145caebcac0. Accessed 16 February 2025.
  8. Brown, Bruce (1959), Surf Crazy, USA: Bruce Brown Films.
     [Google Scholar]
  9. Brown, Bruce and Kampion, Drew (2003), A History of Surf Culture, Hohenzollernring: Taschen.
     [Google Scholar]
  10. Canal, Nick de la (2015), ‘What makes the “sleeping Mexican” so divisive?’, WFAE 90.7, USA, 1 October, https://www.wfae.org/arts-culture/2015-10-01/what-makes-the-sleeping-mexican-so-divisive. Accessed 6 July 2023.
  11. Dedina, Serge (2011), ‘Waterman: Dempsey Holder and the Tijuana Sloughs’, Patch, 4 October, https://patch.com/california/imperialbeach/waterman-dempser-holder-and-the-tijuana-sloughs. Accessed 2 July 2023.
  12. Doyle, Mike (1993), Morning Glass, San Andreas, CA: Manzanita Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  13. Elwell, John (2013), ‘John Elwell and Tom Carlin, Sunset Cliffs, San Diego CA’, John Elwell Collection, 8 January, https://johnelwellcollection.com/tales/surf-vehicles/john-elwell-and-tom-carlin-sunset-cliffs-san-diego-ca/114/. Accessed 3 August 2024 (no longer available).
  14. Fieldmann, Kim (2021), ‘Divided: The surf dynamics of the Mexico-US border zone’, Surf Simply, https://surfsimply.com/magazine/divided-surf-dynamics-mexico-us-border-zone. Accessed 4 July 2023.
  15. Grannis, Leroy (2018), Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s, Cologne: Taschen.
     [Google Scholar]
  16. Hulet, Scott (2019), ‘AKA Stoner’s: How the original secret spot was overshadowed by time and inclination’, The Surfer’s Journal, 23 January, https://www.surfersjournal.com/editorial/aka-stoners/. Accessed 16 February 2024.
     [Google Scholar]
  17. Jeremias, Mark and Baffa, Jason (2007), One California Day, USA: Move Collective.
     [Google Scholar]
  18. Kampion, Drew (1997), Stoked: A History of Surf Culture, Santa Monica, CA: General Publishing Group.
     [Google Scholar]
  19. Laderman, Scott (2014), Empire in Waves: A Political History of Surfing, Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  20. Milius, John (1978), Big Wednesday, USA: Warner Bros.
     [Google Scholar]
  21. Noll, Greg (1959), Search for Surf, USA: Greg Noll Films.
     [Google Scholar]
  22. Noll, Greg (2002), ‘Noll’s Wood’, Surfers Journal France, 33, pp. 30–42.
     [Google Scholar]
  23. Noll, Greg (2021), ‘The Surfer’s Journal filmmakers’, YouTube, 29 June, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mL9FeVpqwa0. Accessed 6 July 2023.
  24. Noll, Greg and Gabbard, Andrea (1989), Da Bull, Life Over the Edge, Berkeley, CA: North Atlantic Books.
     [Google Scholar]
  25. Plocek, Keith (2016), ‘The searchers: Two Orange County dudes who pioneered the surf road trip’, PBS SoCal, 11 March, https://www.pbssocal.org/shows/artbound/the-searchers-two-orange-county-dudes-who-pioneered-the-surf-road-trip. Accessed 6 July 2023.
  26. Staff (2011), ‘Huaraches’, the tings I see, Tumblr, 12 June, https://tingsic.tumblr.com/post/6477074327/huaraches. Accessed 3 July 2023.
  27. Stoner, Ron (1966), ‘Stoner’s Mexican log’, Surfer, 7:5, pp. 38–53.
     [Google Scholar]
  28. Tom, Walter Blair (2013), Surfer Exploration and Migration: North American Surfers in Mexico, El Salvador and Nicaragua, Sonoma, CA: Sonoma State University.
     [Google Scholar]
  29. Warsaw, Matt (2006), Photo/Stoner, The Rise, Fall, and Mysterious Disappearance of Surfing’s Greatest Photographer, San Francisco, CA: Chronicle Books LLC.
     [Google Scholar]
  30. Young, Nat (1983), The History of Surfing, Palm Beach, FL: Palm Beach Press.
     [Google Scholar]
  31. Zehr, Jessica (2013), ‘Surfing subculture’, Academia, https://www.academia.edu/3508604/Surfing_Subculture. Accessed 3 July 2023.
  32. Elwell, John (2007), Surfing in San Diego, Charleston, SC: Arcadia Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  33. Paskowitz, Dorian (2016), Surfing and Health, Honolulu, HI: Juliette Publishing.
     [Google Scholar]
  34. SFA Staff (2019), ‘Artifact: The sleeping Mexican’, Border Lore, 30 April, https://borderlore.org/artifact-the-sleeping-mexican/. Accessed 6 July 2023.
/content/journals/10.1386/ejac_00148_1
Loading
Rendered crossings and the shaping of a culture: The influence of mid-twentieth-century Californian surf travel to Mexico
European Journal of American Culture 44, 135 (2025); https://doi.org/10.1386/ejac_00148_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ejac_00148_1
/content/journals/10.1386/ejac_00148_1
Loading

Data & Media loading...

  • Article Type: Article
Keyword(s): border; film; history; identity; photography; surfing; travel

Most Cited Most Cited RSS feed

This is a required field
Please enter a valid email address
Approval was a success
Invalid data
An error occurred
Approval was partially successful, following selected items could not be processed due to error
Please enter a valid_number test