California
Surfing Museums List and Photos
With all the hoopla over surfing in California,
you’d think that there would be more than a mere
three or four museums dedicated to the sport.
Look at how many art museums California has, for
instance (too many to tell you about in one
paragraph!)
When we surveyed surfing in the
Golden State, we knew for a fact there are three
museums currently operating as non-profit
entities. They span the coast from Santa Cruz to
Oceanside. There’s talk of possibly creating
another surfing museum in Dana Point.
Southern California has a stronger showing
when it comes to surfing museums. But with only
three in existence that the public can attend
daily, and that are operated by a board of
directors, the numbers are too small to really
find significance in the representation.
Oceanside launched their beautiful new surf
museum building near the Oceanside Pier
recently. The
California Surf Museum is a well run
operation with great turn-out for exhibit launch
and events.
Moving up coast to Orange County, Huntington
Beach founded its
International Surfing Museum around the same
time that Oceanside’s was formed. Housed in a
cute, historic building, the passion for surfing
is evident in the collection of memorabilia
displayed in this museum with surfboards painted
on the outside, and a wall mural where you can
get a souvenir photo outdoors. The Surfin’
Sundays free summer concert series contributes
to the cultural aspects of the sport.
In Santa Cruz, one of the coolest spots for a
museum is the
Mark
Abbott Memorial Lighthouse next to the famed
Steamer Lane. This museum likewise features
exhibits and some special collections that you
can see when you visit Santa Cruz.
While all the museums offer similar exhibits
and you’ll see some overlap in names of great
surfers and collections featured, each museum,
you’ll discover, is operated as a labor of love
and passion for the sport that happens right
outside the door or down the street from the
ocean and beach of each of these surfing towns.
When you’re busy traveling the California
coast, make a point to stop and take a look at
the surfing culture through the eyes of the
locals in their museum collections & exhibits.
And by the way, if you stop at places such as
Half Moon Bay Brewing Company overlooking famed
Mavericks waves, you’ll realize that there are
restaurants that could easily be surfing
museums. After drinking a Mavericks brew and
sitting next to famous surfers, you’ll think
that this is even better than a museum as you
watch surfing videos and see posters displayed
throughout the place featuring surfing tributes
and movies.
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