Hotdogger returns spirit of ‘60s surf tilts to Hermosa Beach, the ‘real’ surf city
Rivers Covey walks the nose and sets his line at the 2015 Hotdogger contest at the Hermosa Pier. Photo
It had been a while since a real longboard contest had taken place in the South Bay, so Dewey Weber wanted to make sure it was a memorable one. Doing so required not just good waves and vintage equipment, but an epic after party.
For the inaugural Dewey Weber Longboard Invitational in 1981, the “Little Man on Wheels,” as Weber was known, rented out the Army National Guard Armory off Rosecrans Avenue in Manhattan Beach, and hired rockers Iron Butterfly to play the party. Surfer Mike Purpus attended both the contest and the party, and recalled with a groan that the band launched into a version of their hit “In a Gadda da Vida” that lasted about 45 minutes.
There may not be quite as much psychedelic music, but the spirit of the Golden Age of Surfing will be alive and well at the Hermosa Beach Hotdogger Championship on Saturday. Sponsored by Subaru Pacific, the event will take place on the south side of the Hermosa Pier starting at 7 a.m. Competitors are required to use the kinds of boards available to riders in the 1960s: single-fin, leashless long boards.
Event organizer Eddie Solt said that the specificity of the equipment was designed to expose participants and observers to a time before surfing started taking itself too seriously.
“I’m not looking for exclusivity. I just want people to experience real surf culture,” Solt said.
Purpus, a Hermosa native who will be participating in Saturday’s contest, was a champion surfer in the ‘60s and ‘70s. He recalled that before the modern professional era, surfing contests were participatory and light-hearted, and that event organizers and surfers often blended seamlessly together.
“Everybody from Santa Cruz to Tijuana would show up at each of the contests…and everybody got along and just had a good time,” Purpus said.
The last Hotdogger contest, held in 2015, attracted both local talent and some of Southern California’s top longboarders. Local attorney David Paquin participated last time, and plans to again this year. He said he signed up for the contest “mainly because it’s fun,” and plans to use the same board: a black, mid-60s, Greg Noll “Da Cat” model. “Da Cat” was the nickname given Malibu “bad boy” surfer Mickey Dora. Fitting the laidback spirit of the event, Paquin let other riders take it for a spin.
“I rode in in the contest last time, and it got so much attention, I said, ‘Hey anyone can ride it. Just don’t break it,’” Paquin laughed.