Way cleared for surf statue at the gateway to Hermosa Beach
An agreement with trustees of a $330,000 benefactor has cleared the way for an 8-foot-tall statue of surf legend Dewey Weber, complete with a fountain, on the Community Center lawn at the top of upper Pier Avenue.
The agreement, which the City Council approved on Wednesday, frees up the posthumous donation by Joe Melchione, a surfer and Weber compatriot, to complete the design and construction of the statue.
This rendering shows the Dewey Weber surf statue that Hermosa Beach will install, but the location will be slightly different, as shown on map below. Rendering courtesy City of Hermosa Beach
The location of the surf statue, near the entrance of the Hermosa Beach Community Center. Courtesy City of Hermosa Beach
The bronze statue will depict Weber as he was captured by legendary surf photographer LeRoy Grannis, arms thrown into the air as he executes the signature “wheelhouse” cutback he used to perform off 22nd Street in Hermosa.
Weber’s eye-catching style epitomized the hotdogging era of the 1950s and ‘60s in Hermosa. His photo served as the symbol of the United States Surfing Association, and he appeared as himself in the ‘60s-era documentary films “The Living Curl,” Mondo Mod,” “Surfari,” “Pacific Vibrations” and “Locked In!”
Weber died in 1993, and was among the first wave of inductees to the municipal Surfers Walk of Fame, a series of bronze plaques on the Hermosa Beach Pier.
The City Council approved the creation of the Dewey Weber statue in 2010, saying it would pay tribute to Hermosa’s broader surf scene as well as to Weber.
At the time, the project fund held about $30,000 that had been raised by the civic group Leadership Hermosa Beach, and $50,000 donated by Melchione, purportedly the oldest member of the Dewey Weber Surf Team.
Artist Phil Roberts was selected to begin designing the monument. Then in 2012 a lengthy battle with cancer claimed Melchione, who left in trust a flexible donation, between $300,000 and $400,000, for completion of the Weber statue.
Concerns by a trustee prompted meetings with city officials. The concerns were met and an agreement was struck, setting aside $329,825 to the statue project, under certain conditions:
The city must keep the statue at its location for at least 25 years, must recognize the Melchione family for the donation at a formal unveiling, and must recognize the donation in a plaque at the statue, according to a report to the City Council by interim Public Works Director Diane Strickfaden.
In addition, the statue project must be completed less than one year from the acceptance of contractors’ bids, any unused money must be returned to the trust, and the city must create a $20,000 fund to maintain the fountain element.
The council approved the agreement by a 4-1 vote Tuesday night. Councilman Hany Fangary, an attorney, dissented, saying the agreement is too broad in releasing the Melchione trust, attorneys, employees and others from potential future claims.
Melchione was a lifelong Southern Californian, a competitive surfer, former chair of the Malibu Surfing Association Environmental Committee, a director of Santa Monica Baykeeper and active volunteer for Heal the Bay.
Melchione referred to himself as just another “anonymous Surfer Joe” in a “Tribute to an Era” that he wrote for organizers of the statue project.
“There was a time from the mid 1950s well into the 1960s when Hermosa Beach was the epicenter of surfing in California. Of all the breaks where surfers rode waves from San Diego to Santa Cruz, 22nd Street Hermosa was one of the sport’s main stages,” he wrote.
“And of all the performers who took to the stage, none lit it up like David Earl (Dewey) Weber (1938-1993).
“The South Bay had long secured its place in the history of surfing in the United States evolving the ancient Hawaiian ‘Sport of Kings’ into something first practiced by watermen and lifeguards and then, after [the 1959 movie] ‘Gidget,’ by just about anybody who would venture out into the waves.”
“It is fitting that to honor Hermosa Beach’s role in popularizing surfing in the U.S., the city chose the iconic photo taken by LeRoy ‘Granny’ Grannis of Dewey doing his trademark wheelhouse cutback at 22nd Street, both individuals being true Hermosa Beach locals,” Melchione wrote.
“Both the ‘Little Man on Wheels’ and ‘Granny’ were pivotal figures in the explosion of modern longboard surfing in the early 1960s,” wrote Melchione. The “Little Man on Wheels” nickname referred to Weber’s 5-foot-3 frame.
“On behalf of all of the anonymous ‘Surfer Joes,’ I am proud to be a major sponsor of this wonderful monument recalling the great surf history of Hermosa Beach,” Melchione wrote. “It is here that you can still truly enjoy an endless summer.”