Barela, Benevidez the Yin Yang of Hermosa Surfer’s Walk of Fame

The Hot Lips team in Doc’s back yard in the early 1970s (left to right) Chris Barela, Monica Lanz, Mike Purpus, Mike Benevidez, Dan Purpus, Liz Benavedez, Terry Stevens,  and (kneeling). Photo

The Hot Lips team in Doc’s back yard in the early 1970s (left to right) Chris Barela, Monica Lanz, Mike Purpus, Mike Benevidez, Dan Purpus, Liz Benavedez, Terry Stevens, and (kneeling). Photo

You can’t put Chris Barela on The Hermosa Beach Surfer’s Walk of Fame without Mike Benavidez at the same time. They are yin and yang. They are closer than brothers. In the ‘70s one couldn’t have survived without the other.

It was the winter of ‘72 and Doc had recently bought the pro surfer Dru Harrison’s family house at 36 15th Street in Hermosa Beach. Doc needed me to house sit while he went skiing in Europe. My first night on the job I was too afraid to sleep there. I had just seen “The Exorcist,” so I slept in my car in Doc’s driveway. Terry Stevens woke me up to go surfing and asked why I was sleeping in my car. I told him I was afraid to stay at Doc’s alone. Terry volunteered to move in. Then 15-year-old Mike Benavidez started hanging out because he looked up to his surfing mentor Terry. Then 13-year-old Chris Barela started hanging out because he was Mike’s best friend. Doc came home to find me and my litter of surf pups living there.

The Hot Lips team in the early '70s: Tracy Stumbo, Terry Stevens, Dan Purpus, Mike Purpus, Chris Benevidez, Chris Barela and Steve Martin. Photo

The Hot Lips team in the early ’70s: Tracy Stumbo, Terry Stevens, Dan Purpus, Mike Purpus, Chris Benevidez, Chris Barela and Steve Martin. Photo

Doc, a confirmed bachelor, wasn’t ready for kids. But he set up a meeting with Mike’s mom and Chris’s mom and dad. They both had big families living in North Redondo. They knew their kids were in good hands when Doc said if they missed school they were out.

Every morning Doc would hang a towel in the window facing the surf when it was time to get out of the water. Doc would drop off Mike and Chris at school on his way to work. After school Chris and Mike would do chores around the house before Doc got home. Terry, Mike and Chris all had long, sun bleached hair draping over their broad, surfer shoulders.

When Chris and Mike first moved in they were still learning to surf on second hand surfboards from ET Surf, where they hung out after school with Ronnie Williams, Matt Warshaw, Teresa Gamboa and Dennis Jarvis. We didn’t have much money but life was good because we didn’t need any. We got free coffee and donuts from Teresa Gamboa at Winchell’s Doughnuts, free meals from Lee at The Surfboarder, free dinners from Harold at La Playita and free tickets to the Cove Theater. Doc patched us up when we got injured.

Chris Barela at Pipeline. Photo by Sakamoto

Chris Barela at Pipeline. Photo by Sakamoto

Every time the surf got good Terry, Mike and Chris were on the phone calling all the photographers, One day the Hermosa Pier was 6-foot with a  minus low tide and strong offshore wind. All the best Surfer and  magazine photographers were lined up down the beach like a good day at Pipeline. You couldn’t make a single wave but our Hot Lips team loved pulling into the big left barrels to see how far they could go before the wave closed out. Both Chris and Mike got photos in the following month’s Surfer and Surfing, catapulting them into surf stardom.

Little Mike could be called “Gentle Ben” for being so polite and thoughtful. He always said yes before you got done asking for a favor. Mike always had a plan going into a surf contest while Chris just wanted to do the most radical maneuver possible. It worked for them and they became consistent finalists. They were surfing against the best surfers in the world. Shaun Tomson, Rabbit Bartholomew, Peter Townend, Mark Warren, Paul Nielson, Rick de Ruiter, Cheyne Horan, Larry Blair, Clyde Aiku, Larry Bertlemann, Dane Kealoha, Buttons, Mark Liddell and Ronnie Romero would all stay with us at  Docs when they were in LA.

In 1977, Chris and Mike worked their way to the top of the Western Surfing Association. Mike would catch one quick wave and ride it all the way to the beach before waiting out the back for the best set wave. Chris would go crazy with big coasters and deep tubes. If he made one he won the heat.

Chris won the Body Glove Grand Prix of Surfing at Cardiff and was voted the best up and coming surfer his first year on the pro circuit. He finished third overall in the 1981 Pipeline Masters. Mike finished first overall from ‘79 to ‘81 on The Hang Ten Grand Prix Circuit and first in the ‘82 Summer Grand Prix Championships. He won ‘82 Hussong-Corona Pro Am and traveled around the world that year on the pro surfing tour.

In the early 1980s, Doc helped Chris and Mike open Fireline Surf Shop in downtown Manhattan Beach. Pro surfer Brian Buckley shaped some beautiful boards for them, making the shop a success. They tried running the shop and competing on the pro circuit at the same time but couldn’t do both. After eight years, they closed the shop.

Chris moved up to Malibu and began making sea sculptures. Today he lives in Hawaii and sells his sculptures through his gallery and all over the world. Chris sculpted the life size bronzes of Dive N’ Surf founders Bob and Bill Meistrell unveiled last summer at the Seaside Lagoon and recast the beautiful Tim Kelly surf statue at the Hermosa Beach pier. Next Wednesday, at 6 p.m. Manhattan Village Mall will unveil a bronze sculpture of wave that it commissioned Chris to do.

Mike moved across the street from Fireline Surf Shop to bartend and manage Earcoles, Manhattan Beach’s oldest bar. He also takes young surfers under his wing, including local pro surfer Natalie Anzavino.

The two still surf almost as often as we did at Doc’s.

Fellow 2015 Hermosa Surfers Walk of Fame inductee Dennis Jarvis, said of his fellow inductees careers, “Hell, Doc should be going on the Surfing Walk of Fame.” ER

 

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