Natalie Kotsch Surfing Museum Founder Huntington Beach

Huntington Beach, Calif.―Natalaie Kotsch is in her element in Huntington Beach. Whether it's hanging ten over a contract for a house sale (Kotsch is a Realtor who's closed many of them in HB), or it's driving a nail into the wall of the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum to hang the latest Beach Boys or Jan & Dean exhibit in her second home, the founder of this cultural gathering place nearly always wears a smile.

Contagiously enjoyable to be around, Kotsch's life is not simple and carefree always...but she sure makes people feel at home when they come to see the Surfing Museum's events, band concerts, latest exhibits or other celebrations she and the board of directors concoct, hoping to spin interest in this downtown HB surfing mecca.

Kotsch was not always a surfer girl (and in fact, she's never surfed), but coming from Canada some years ago, she found the beach lifestyle and the culture of a surfing community fascinating, and worth commemorating.  At a recent Surfin' Sundays concert sponsored by the Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach, a warm breeze blew a wave of emotion over the joyful lady dressed in purple.

"It's nice to be appreciated," Kotsch joked, as a drum roll cheered her in the speech she presented to an audience of around 100 surf & sun worshippers. "I founded this museum to preserve what used to be. It's very, very important."

For years she's kept the ball rolling and the bands playing as thousands of tourists, local residents to the beach community and countless surf ambassadors have passed through the doors of the small building that houses a sizeable collection of memorabilia ranging from the early wooden, carved surfboards to even a bust of the ambassador of surfing himself, the late great Duke Kahanamoku. The museum, which is open to the public, features exhibits such as Surf Sounds of The Beach Boys, a collection of Beach Boys band albums, tickets, photos and even the signature Pendleton jacket they used to wear.  Many Sundays throughout the summer months the museum hosts free concerts and invites those who love music to experience the good vibrations of surfing-style drum beats and guitar riffs. 

You can also browse the gift shop and buy some bodacious souvenirs to give to someone, somewhere.

Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum, 411 Olive Ave., Huntington Beach, CA 92648. Call: (714) 960-3483.