My friend Donna Klaasen Jost emailed me this morning to let me know that the book she wrote with surf legend Mike Hynson is finally finished. Log on to their website here to get a sneak peak at the book, Mike Hynson - Transcendental Memories of a Surf Rebel.Hynson achieved notoriety as one of the two stars of the movie Endless Summer, along with fellow surfer Robert August. Endless Summer was a classic surf movie which reportedly made over 30 million dollars that Hynson unfortunately never saw a penny of.
The movie did parlay him into the celebrity spotlight and ultimately to a prototypical California crash and burn. But Mike did not stay down forever, cementing his reputation as an important surfboard shaper who no less a luminary than Gerry Lopez referred to as one of the most important innovators in the evolution of board design. He pioneered a down rail shape that changed modern surfboard design. A link to his surfboard website.
Mike was one of the greatest and most significant surfers ever in the San Diego area, along with the legendary Skip Frye, Woody Ekstrom, Mike Doyle, Rusty Miller, Donald Takayama, Joey Buran, and longboarder Joel Tudor. In the 60's his life took a quixotic turn when he met the late and infamous John Gale and started Rainbow Surfboards in Laguna Beach. I am always interested in stories about Mystic Arts, Oak Street Surfboards, Johnny Griggs and the like and I look forward to the untold history of Orange County and southern california flower power being told.
This book should be a good read. Being broke, I may have to wait until it goes paperback. But congratulations to Michael and Donna for getting this thing done. And a big shout out to one of my oldest friends, Lance Jost, for the outstanding job he did on the cover illustration.
6 comments:
Thanks for the surf stuff, Robert!! Photo at Swami's, photos of the bridge ( I have seen it and they did an exquisite job of executing the design and construction of the bridge!!), article about the Hynson book, and the Chantay's clip!!!
Let's go to the beach together one day and take some photos!!
Mike
I went to the link to order a copy of the Hynson book. I was ready. I have a pretty good surf library and I am always looking to add to it. Mike Hynson was a very influential person in the development of the modern long board and in surfing in general.
Then I saw the price... 350 simolians!! WOW!!! I too will wait for the paperback or maybe the 2nd edition.
On another note, Bruce Brown made a follow up movie to Endless Summer called, imaginatively enough, Endless Summer II. This was 13 or 14 years ago. One of the two featured surfers was a young guy by the name of Pat O'Connell. He grew up with my son in Dana Point and they started surfing together at about age 12. We took them up and down the coast on some of their first surf trips. Pat was later selected to be in the movie. He was selected because of his surfing ability as well as his fun, engaging personality. Pat went on to an illustrious pro surfing career.
$350.00 might be cheap for the book. I was at Sam Maloof's Memorial a couple of weeks ago and they were selling a new leather bound book for fifteen hundred bucks. Sheesh!
We took my Dad to an open house at Sam Maloof's a few years ago. We bought my Dad a Sam book and Sam signed it. My Dad, who is now 93, recently gave me the signed book. It is not leather bound. It is, however, a large, coffee table type book. What is it worth now??? Any idea???
No clue - maybe a hundred?
HEY BLUE THANKS FOR PUTING THIS INFO OUT MY UNCLE ED AND AUNT GALE WAS THE OWNERS OF OAK STREET SURF & SKATEBOARDS I DIDNT SURF BACK THEN BUT DID SKATEBOARD GOT TO TRY THE NEW PRODUCTS BEFORE THEY HIT THE STORES USE TO HANG WITH TONY ALVA AND THE LORDS OF DOGTOWN & TONY HAWK WE ALL STARTED SKATETOPIA AND POOL RIDING GIG !! BUT I ALWAYS FOLLOWED ALL YOU GREAT SURFERS EVEN @ OP CLASSIC IN HUNINGTON BEACH SURE YOU REMEMBER THE BIG RIOT HANG LOOSE TAKE CARE AND TY AGAIN FOR MEMORIES !!!RICH
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