New Book! Pop Surf Culture

From the publisher that brought you Tiki Road Trip comes Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom by Brian Chidester and Domenic Priore.

Some highlights include forewords by Gidget (Kathy Kohener) and Moondoggie (better known later as Ferus Gallery artist Billy Al Bengston), cover art by Frank Kozik, many color images of definitive pre-1970 surf culture, and traces the Pop Surf Culture from the early Waikiki Beach Boys, Tom Blake, and Bob Simmons. The book also touches on Malibu in the '50s, surfing films, surf music, the design of early '60s surfing magazines, more Hawaii, Tiki Surfah, and the revival of surf instrumental music and its surrounding exotica vibe, plus more!

On 2008-05-14 00:44, Amazon.com wrote:
This title has not yet been released.
You may pre-order it now and we will deliver it to you when it arrives.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

On 2008-05-14 06:08, bigbrotiki wrote:

On 2008-05-14 00:44, Amazon.com wrote:
This title has not yet been released.
You may pre-order it now and we will deliver it to you when it arrives.
Ships from and sold by Amazon.com. Gift-wrap available.

Yes, the book is in released in September.
It's available for pre-order at this time.

The book is out.

Thanks for your interest!

Brian

Hey Brian,
I didn't know you were on TC,
I hear the book is amazing looking,
congrats, and can't wait to get one.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

And what a book it is! Apologies for my earlier post, I just felt it was sort of a moot point to post and announce a book that wasn't gonna be out for another 5 months.

But now it IS out, and I just got a copy, and liked it so much I brought it to the Tiki Ti last night to show it to everyone!:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=9696&forum=17&start=450&453
Sabu sez: I gotta git me one of those!

Authors Brian Chidester and Domenic Priore are passionate urban archeologists and determined hunters and collectors of pop culture ephemera, PLUS they track down the individuals and eye witnesses that can tell the story. The fruits of their collaboration could last be enjoyed in Dumb Angel Gazette Nr. 4:

http://www.tikicentral.com/viewtopic.php?topic=15095&forum=12

POP SURF CULTURE is 265 Pages of 50s, 60s and 70s rare eye candy and fascinating writing to back it up. Of course I like the fact that chapter one starts of like this!:

(That we see one or two items here previously published in the Book of Tiki is only due to the fact that Domenic Priore lent them to me in the first place, like many other ephemera pictured in the BOT's surfing chapter.)
After paying due respect to Tiki, the boys correctly continue with the birthplace of surfing:

(You might remember Brian posting about his Waikiki beach boys documentary here on TC)

From then on, no aspect of Surf pop culture is left untouched, from music and rare album art...

...to beach fashions...

..to obscure beach movies...

...to whimsical cartoons, and ads like this one:

I personally like the chapter on the intersecting of the beach and beatnik scenes:

Eric "Big Daddy" Nord with Miss Beatnik 1959

Check out the Cafe Frankenstein in Laguna Beach:

That's a stained glass window you see there!

And here ladies and gentlemen, my dream pad!:

I wanna know if that place still exists!

Hey Big Tiki Dude,

I've been writing on this board since 2002, I think. But I'm not that frequent, I must admit. Always making myself too darn busy with the next project and the next.

Sven,

Wow! What an endorsement! I am humbled. I'll have you know that we pitched it to SM Press as a surf version of "The Book of Tiki." You can ask the publisher yourself. My favorite chapters in this new book are ch. 5 and 6. The Miki Dora and Beatnik Beach chapters, because I think they cast a new light on part of the surf storyline that most ignore these days.

Yours,
Brian

Also, I'm sad that they didn't use more of the tiki-surf graphics that we provided, although I'm really happy with the ones they did use. There were three pictures of psychedelic era kids at a surf competition, and the trophies and neck-medals were tikis. It was like 1968 or 1969. I'm really surprised they didn't go for those pictures, as well as many others, but I'm sure we'll find a place for them somewhere.

The picture of Dick Dale sitting with a tiki idol behind him is a personal favorite of mine. His girlfriend from the '60s had it on a collage she made of her boyfriend back in 1964! It was about the size of my thumb, and I scanned it at 1200 DPI, so that was the best we could get. I contacted Dick himself to see if he had the original of that picture or if he knew where it came from, and he told me, "No dice." So it seems we got the best we're gonna get for that photo, for the time being. But at least it was published in more places than his ex-lover's collage. Sometimes, in the effort to make these things come alive again, all you can do is use what you've got.

[ Edited by: BC-Da-Da 2008-10-23 16:09 ]

Brian, did you count how many images DID end up in the book?

You mean how many from the tiki surfah file that I sent? Or from the entire photo stash? I believe the publisher said they used about 650 images, give or take a few, for the entire book. I went through the scanned files I submitted last night. The total files numbered more than 1800.

As far as the tiki surf files submitted, I believe they used approximately half of what I submitted for that chapter.

I meant total. 650 sounds right, the BOT had about 600, Tiki Mod about 700 images. Congrats, pal!

[ Edited by: bigbrotiki 2008-10-23 17:53 ]

Definitely picking this book up!!!!!!!! :)

Cheers and Mahalo,
Jeff

A few of the images could have been bigger, but all in all, it's far better than I could have ever hoped for. The best images are all nice and big. The original manuscript was 120,000 words, and I was able to knock it down to 70,000, but that's still quite a lot of text for a coffee-table book, so it was a give-and-take between text and image, as I'm sure you had to balance as well, Sven.

I think I'll order mine right now!

And after having read it, put up some high star-count reviews on Amazon, folks!

Brian, you know me, as a camera man I let the images always take precedence to the text, so I never had that much text to cut, that must have been hard. You guys are just too thorough in your research...look at your Eden Ahbez article, jeez! :) And then, two minds know more than one. That's what's so great about pop culture archeology, one find can open a whole new macrocosm that leads to another, and then another...

What I wanna know is if Fred Cole's house is still there!? I put Daniel Paul on it. :)

Oh, man! Please let me know what he finds out!

I try to keep a good balance between image and text, knowing that more people are going to buy a hardbound, coffeetable book for images. It's also a balance as to how deep to go into these subjects. The research can be endless, and I think the difference between Dumb Angel #4 and Pop Surf Culture, besides the obvious budgetary things... would be that Pop Surf Culture tells a more clean story. Dumb Angel is a lot of riffing on various subjects that no one bothered to connect the dots on previously. It's all over the map, subject-wise... but I hope it held together.

I picked this book up last week and I highly recommend it! Great coffee table book with a ton of awesome photos!

Got mine from Amazon last week. Sweeet!

Got mine from Amazon last week. Sweeet!

On 2008-10-23 17:27, BC-Da-Da wrote:
You mean how many from the tiki surfah file that I sent? Or from the entire photo stash? I believe the publisher said they used about 650 images, give or take a few, for the entire book. I went through the scanned files I submitted last night. The total files numbered more than 1800.

Brian
I have an idea of how to use those other 1150 images and 50,000 words of text!

Give a presentation at Tiki Oasis 9 that lasts for about 10 hours!?!

Just got mine.
Those were the good old days.

SURFS UP!

Do you by any chance have any more pictures of that stained glass window???

My copy is waiting for me at the local Borders. Hopefully I'll get to pick it up tonight.

[ Edited by: Staredge 2008-11-03 05:16 ]

On 2008-11-02 21:46, Otto wrote:

On 2008-10-23 17:27, BC-Da-Da wrote:
You mean how many from the tiki surfah file that I sent? Or from the entire photo stash? I believe the publisher said they used about 650 images, give or take a few, for the entire book. I went through the scanned files I submitted last night. The total files numbered more than 1800.

Brian
I have an idea of how to use those other 1150 images and 50,000 words of text!

Give a presentation at Tiki Oasis 9 that lasts for about 10 hours!?!

Picture of The Day, on Tiki Central!!!!!!

Hey Otto,

You got it, man! I'll compile all of them front and center for the slideshow presentation!

And as far as the stained-glass window of the Cafe Frankenstein, I DO have a few more shots of it. One of the pictures of the stained-glass is in colour. It has a nude woman posing with a cup of espresso in front of it. The owners, the model and photographer were all taken to jail over that photo shoot.

Here's a little encyclopedia entry on the Cafe Frankenstein that I wrote for Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cafe_Frankenstein

I've interviewed four of the five owners. Two of the four have since passed away. It was an incredible place. I could do a whole article on that place for Barracuda magazine or something, but I don't know the people who run that mag. Unfortunately, I'll probably only be able to run a picture or two of it in my next book, "The Beat Generation in Los Angeles." Just so much ground to cover in that book too.

Wow, how cooool, man! Dig this, what a classic story of the squares against the hipsters: "The last straw was when the local ladies Church League came down on them for creating a stained-glass window of the Frankenstein monster. The Church League claimed that stained glass was only for use in the church, and rallied the community against the Frankenstein. Owner, Burt Shonberg, threatened to erect a crucified Frankenstein dummy in front of the coffeehouse, if they didn't back off...." And now it's just another parking lot.

I know Jeff Fox who wrote and published Barracuda, but he stopped making the magazine last year. You should save the Cafe Frankenstein story for a chapter in your Beatnik book, Brian. There you can get into how the monster became such an icon for kids in the 60s in general. When I was a teenager, I had a photo frame with THIS photo on my night stand!:

The monster was just such a bumbling, misunderstood creature, trying to fit in --the classic anti hero that growing teenage boys could identify with. I loved that guy!
As a matter of fact, I identified with him so much that a couple of years later, going to film school in Berlin, I made a short film where I myself played the monster, for which I also created my own make up. (A week ago or so I published a photo of me with long hair here on TC, I might as well show one of me with lip stick!) :) :

Don't ask me what happened to the film, it's long gone just like those music shorts I did at the S.F. Art Institute.
Anyway, do you know the recipe for the "Frankenstein" drink...even if it was non-alcoholic? They did serve a Frankenstein at Hinky Dinks, before it became Trader Vic's:

Here is the recipe:

I know they did not serve THAT to the kids at the Cafe Frankenstein! :)

Any legal way you can post a color pic, or email one, of the glass? Stained glass is one of my hobbies, & I'd love to see a better quality version. I love the way that looks. Any idea when it was made? It has a certain Herman Munster look to it, but I'm not familiar enough with the timeline to tell if it was before or after.

*edit: should have checked Wikipedia. The Munsters ran from 64-66. Looks like the glass predates it(?), but it DEFINITELY bears a strong resemblance to Fred Gwynne.

Friends are those who bail you out of jail.
Best friends are those sitting next to you, saying "Damn! That was fun!!!!"
RIP MLG 1970-2003

[ Edited by: Staredge 2008-11-03 14:56 ]

Frankenstein monsters are the Easter Island heads of the monster world: They all look alike, but they are all different, also! :)
(Sven-Tiki wisdom Nr. 278)

I don't really know how to post a picture, but I have it here on my desktop. I have about 50 pictures, ads and newsprint items on the Cafe Frankenstein. It's certainly captured my imagination.

I also have pictures of all the other places that Burt Shonberg created murals. Each one is just as cryptic and fascinating, though Michael Shley, who owned the Xanadu Coffeehouse on Melrose (birthplace of the L.A. Free Press), and later owned the Frankenstein... said that Cafe Frankenstein was really Burt Shonberg's masterpiece.

I really enjoyed meeting George Clayton Johnson, who co-owned the Frankenstein. He gave me a collection of his short stories that he self-published in a rare volume, and though he wrote "Logan's Run" and many episodes of "The Twilight Zone," the Frankenstein monster has continued to hold great fascination for him.

I'll see how much I can stretch the information on Cafe Frankenstein for my next book, but it's so full of information on jazz, protest music, gay and political activism, coffeehouses and art galleries, circa 1941-66... it's just hard to tell the story of how a city was moved on it's axis by the arts community, ithout devoting a whole chapter to just one place. But I would like to at least get a more literary version of that Wikipedia entry into the book text, with five or six cherry pictures of the place. it definitely warrants it, and along with "Famous Monsters of Filmland," I think you're right, Sven... very iconic of '60s identity. Much like surfers, rat finks, beatniks and rebellious wanderers of all types.

Damn, I wish you still had a copy of that movie!

FYI,

Santa Monica Press has some good page scans from the 'Pop Surf Culture' book, including a nice essay on the tiki influence on surfing.

Just click on the link, then the book icon, and then the 'read excerpt' tab.
http://www.santamonicapress.com/

This book will be a 'must have' for my library.

Does anybody know the address of where the Frankenstein Cafe was in Laguna.
I think I have seen that building but want to be sure.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

bump, anybody for the address of the place above?
was it on PCH or another street?

Jeff(bigtikidude)

never mind

wiki says:
From 1958-62, the Café Frankenstein was seen as sort of a "den of iniquity" amongst the semi-conservative Orange County, California art community of Laguna Beach. Located at 860 South Pacific Coast Highway,

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Hey Tiki Dude,

The building for the Cafe Frankenstein is long-gone. The site is next to a gas station, but is presently a parking lot. No building stands on the site. You can, of course, stand in the lot and take a toke or two to the memory of the place, if that's your kind of thing. The site is very close to Thalia Street Surf Shop and this little juice stand.

Oh, Sven,

By the way, the Fred Cole house is still there. Someone told me the other day that it is above the Sunset Strip. I wish I remember who told me, and what street they said to go up, but you know how information passes through the wind during these holiday parties, and the time of the season...

Hey Brian,
yeah after I figured out the address I drove by there and noticed it was not there.
its was also really close to where Underdog records used to be.
was a good place for punk,new wave, and surf, and garage.
another sad disappearance.
:(

Jeff(bigtikidude)

Underdog Records was the coolest. I bought Dick Dale's "Live at Ciro's" LP there in 2004. The owner was a true punk.

I got the book for Xmas and it is hard to put down. Like Book of Tiki, I have looked through the pictures several times and am just now getting to the text. Even if you did not grow up in the 60s it is a great historical reference jam packed with info and tons of photos. Highly recommended.

Dick Dale was Punk! Check out the crowd doing their variation of the "Surfer's Stomp" dance....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7svj3o055KE

On 2009-01-12 17:19, bongofury wrote:
Dick Dale was Punk! Check out the crowd doing their variation of the "Surfer's Stomp" dance....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7svj3o055KE

Bongo,

Great video, thanks for the link.

DC

Just wanted to chime in on this one. I've been meaning to post about this book for quite a while, as I hadn't noticed this thread. So upon doing the search before posting, I'm delighted to see the thread already existed, because this is a great book and it's good to see folks from TC already dug it.

For me, Pop Surf Culture belongs with an elite short list of books that not only assault the reader with endless visuals that are each individually hard for the man on the street to track down otherwise, but also include thought provoking text that ties all the visuals in with cultural phenomena. Books like the BOT, Alan Hess' Googie, Jeff Berry's Sippin Safari, Amid Amidi's Cartoon Modern, the Birth of the Cool exhibition book, the cumulative body of books from Charles Phoenix so far, maybe Havana Before Castro (which I've still only ogled but not read), and so on. No intentional slights by omission in my quick list though! Anyway, each of these has the capability to transform the reader's awareness of a loose collection of artifacts and interests into a more cohesive picture.

Great job Brian and Domenic! Dumb Angel #4 set the bar high, and this one vaulted right over it!

-Randy

The book is cool I recommend!
The tiki suff is just as cool as all the other pics and writings -
good stuff all around!
Brian / BC
If you ever figure out how to post pics I'd be interested in the stain glass color shoot too.

PS posting pics is easy
Just look under the Message Body when you type a reply to me or Sven or anyone else. Then its a simple upload and cut and paste the weird symbol number link!

If you can scan over a thousand images then you can surely upload a few shots to TC.
Either way thanks and like I said cool stuff!

I think I was born in the wrong era.I seem to like alot of things from the
past - before I was born.Here is another all time classic Dick Dale performing
on the Ed Sullivan show- "Surfin".Ya gotta love this!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVduB6as2VU

[ Edited by: 1961surf 2009-01-28 22:41 ]