Dale Velzy and The First Surf Shop 1951
By Tom Takao
Bing Copeland and Mike Bright contributed

Just south of the Manhatten Beach Pier below the parking lot at sand level was a clubhouse. It was the clubhouse of the Manhatten Beach Surf Club, where Velzy was a member. It had board racks, a lounge area and a shower out in front, a place where members spent their time after surfing.

For whatever reason, Velzy started shaping boards at the club. The balsa shaving from the boards became a mess and that didn’t sit well with some of the club members.

Velzy decided it was time to relocate his board building operation elsewhere. He found a place not far from the ocean. His new shop was located on Manhatten Beach Blvd. and Ocean Dr., which was a stone throw away from the clubhouse, the beach and pier. With the opening of his shop, Velzy became the first to get a State Resale License to sell surfboards.

His business neighbors weren’t sure at first what impact the new shop would bring. But one business that welcomed the new surf shop to the neighborhood was Lulu White’s Stop Café, the café was near the pier. Lulu Huntsman was one of the nicest ladies you would want to ever meet I was told. She would open before dawn so a fisherman or two might get a cup of coffee.

Lulu’s café had no tables, just a counter with 10 stools. The smell of hamburgers on the grill and the salty air swirling in and out made the café the ultimate hang out spot for the young surfers growing up in the area. Occasionally Velzy and Bev Morgan would have lunch there since the shop was only a couple of minutes away.

She kept her cool when hungry teenage surfers came in for a bite to eat after surfing or after school. When school was out, you could find sitting at the counter, Mike Bright, Rick Stoner, Bing Copeland, Greg Noll, Dick Medve, Chip Post, Roy Bream, Steve Voorhees, Bob Hogan, Sonny Vardeman and others.


A young bunch of paddlers with their trophies, 1951 left to right: Bing Copeland, Bev Morgan, Greg Noll, Dick Medve, and Bob Hogan

Velzy mentioned during an interview "when school was out, the shop would be full of them" referring to the kids who hung out at his shop. The shop size was 30 feet by 30 feet with a small toilet room, a small room with a double bunk bed. The shaping room and the showroom were inside. The glue-up, the cut out of the balsa outline, the glassing, wooden fins (skegs) and sanding were done outside.

The crew consisted of Velzy doing the shaping, Bev Morgan and later Bill Bahr doing the glassing, and Bobby Jensen sanding. Bing Copeland was helping Velzy with the glue-ups of the balsa blanks, cutting out the template shapes on saw horses using a cross cut saw, shaping wooden fins and cleaning the balsa shavings.

If the waves were good there would be a sign indicating they would be back in 30 minutes. While out in the water or on the beach Velzy would be watching what the surfers and surfboards did. Developing board and fin concepts from his observation. Velzy would return to the shop to build what he thought would work. “I made them work and if they worked they would sell”.

During the winter of the first year the shop opened. If a surfer rode a Velzy surfboard and were to be asked how it rode, his response would have been goooooood, with a wool blanket wrapped around him while his teeth were chattering.

Word would spread that Velzy Surfboards were hot, as far north as Santa Cruz and as far south as San Diego. “My customers were kids and guys. There were a lot of kids from the South Bay, Hermosa, Manhattan, Redondo, Inglewood, and Hawthorne, that was the gravy. Pedro, guys were coming from San Pedro. It was red hot then, I was busier than hell for many years” says Velzy.

Surfboard building was introduced to different parts of the world during Velzy’s watch and has grown. Where it goes from here is anyone’s guess, but one thing is for sure. When Dale Velzy opened the door to his first surf shop, it had a profound effect on surfing then and the years to follow.





THE VENICE SHOP
By Tom Takao
Johnny and Rosemari Reimers Rice and Mike Eaton contributed


Ballona Creek and Bridge

With the wind being on shore and the ocean surface choppy. We are traveling across the Ballona Creek Bridge looking out towards Santa Monica Bay. The engine of a 27’ T Roadster is roaring as the air jet streams over the windshield. The hot rod belongs to Mike Eaton who had bought it from Dale Velzy a few months earlier.

The year was 1954 and Eaton is stopping by the Velzy Jacobs Surf Shop located at 4821 Pacific Avenue in Venice, California. Like things in the past; looking back in the rear view mirror the Ballona Creek Bridge has disappeared. We have about a mile or so to go before getting to the shop.

Arriving at the shop, Mike drops us off and continues on to Malibu. Walking towards the shop you can feel the sea breeze from the ocean, which is about a couple blocks away. Velzy and Jacobs’s had many employees during their partnership. One of those employees was Johnny Rice.

Johnny was a junior in high school, and working part time. How Johnny got the job was he asked Velzy if anybody was sanding these boards. Velzy said here here as he placed his arm around Johnny’s shoulder and mentioning you get fifty cent a side. Then giving Johnny a small vibrating sander, a small block with sandpaper and told him you can start today. Johnny Rice began shaping in 1954 and would go on to become a master shaper.

His girlfriend Rosemari who was a sophomore wanted to learn how to surf, so Johnny taught her. She would become one the top local female surfers of Hermosa Beach during the late 50’s thru the early 60’s. The two would later marry and reside in Santa Cruz.

Just outside of the shop which wasn’t very big, around 15 ft. x 20 ft. smaller than the Manhatten Beach shop. It had the same setup with the show room and shaping room inside and the other procedures outside.

Sales were brisk and sometime Velzy would glass his own and other times he would have Don Sockwell in El Segundo glass them. Don was a mailman during the day and would glass after his postal job. His shop was a large room with about 6 sets of glassing stands, a sanding room and storage. Don glassed, and glossed the boards, while Bobbie Jensen was doing the sanding.

When it came to designing surfboards and building them, Velzy delve into it with a passion. He was fully content in his shaping room. Always thinking how to streamline the building process and new marketing ideas for a growing market. A wizard pulling the ropes behind the curtain, like the Wizard of OZ. Getting his balsa, ordering his resins and supplies and having boards in the showroom to sell. Hap was busy too, shaping and test riding his designs at Malibu and Hermosa Beach.

Velzy was the ultimate salesman when it came to selling surfboards. If you had the money, any board in the shop was yours to buy. Though he had dollar signs in his eyes when he saw you step through the door. There were times when he knew a kid was poor and couldn’t afford to buy one of his surfboards. Deep down inside he wanted that kid to experience the stoke of surfing. He would coax him to choose a board and after doing so, he would give it to him for free.

Velzy had that special kindness that transcends his business logic at times and some who knew him were aware of it first hand. Velzy had a magnetic personality that made those around him at ease. From Venice, Velzy would move on to San Clemente and into legend.

Velzy had it good before being knocked down financially. But he would get back up and not let it get him down. Humbling acknowledging his mistakes. In the surfboard building industry Dale Velzy is greatly appreciated. A man that destiny has grace with the love and friendship of those who know him and placed him at the helm during the winds of change.

Johnny Rice and Dale Velzy


Fran Hoff and Johnny Rice


Johnny and Rosemari Rice




1/4 of the circle; left of the outrigger canoes near the center is a small boat with Dale Velzy's ashes


Mickey Munoz


Greg Noll, Bing Copeland and Hap Jacobs


Bing Copeland and Robert August


Phil Edwards remembering Dale Velzy. With Mike Eaton, viewing Seajay Haase's paddleboard


Donald Takayama, Reynolds Yater, Leroy Grannis, and Mike Eaton


Juan Rodriquez, Donald Takayama, Carl Ekstrom, and Bob "The Greek" Bolen


Skip Frye and Bill Shrosbree


Sonny Vardeman, Chuck Linnen, Bob Meistrell, and Bob Hogan

Bill Bahne, Kevin Shawghnessy, Harold Owens, George Draper, and Bob "The Greek" Bolen


Mo and Greg Martz, Karen Winter and Roy Bream


Jim Phillips, Chris Ahrens and Mike Eaton, and Rosemari Rice


Marty Martell, Doug, Jim Stratton, Skip Stratton


Fred Hessy, Chris, and Seajay Haase


Steve Clark, Jim Phillips, Bob "The Greek" Bolen, Dale Velzy, and Mickey Munoz photo Tom Takao


Mel Ross, David Nuuhiiwa, Steve Boehne, and Bruce "Snake" Gabrielson


Tubesteak Tracy, Marty Martell, Johnny Rice, Greg Noll


JaNeen Hoffman and Mike Bright

Steve and Barrie Boehne





Dale and Fran. The day she met him, until the day he passed away, her love was true.