The great Dr. Don James on Surfing’s Forgotten 1930s – Episode 1

This is definitely worth five minutes of your time.

From Real Surf Stories: 

Before surfing became a global phenomenon... before there were surf brands, a surf industry, beach blanket movies, surf films, and before the existence of pro surfing... one young Californian quietly began photographing something almost nobody else cared about. That young man was Dr. Don James.

Inspired by Tom Blake's legendary National Geographic photographs, Don borrowed his father's Kodak camera and started documenting a tiny community of fewer than 200 surfers in California during the 1930s. He wasn't trying to make history. He wasn't building an archive. He simply loved surfing.

Those spontaneous photographs would become one of the greatest visual records in surfing history. This is Episode One of the Don James documentary series, exploring the ‘30s: The remarkable beginnings of the man whose camera preserved surfing's evolution from an obscure beach pastime into a worldwide culture.

Long before the Golden Era, Pipeline, Waimea Bay, the World Surf League, or modern surf media, Don James was already there, capturing authentic moments that would later define surfing forever.

Discover the incredible story behind one of surfing's greatest photographers, the birth of California surf culture, vintage surfing at Malibu, San Onofre, Santa Monica, Topanga Beach, Hermosa Beach and more, rare surf photography, historic surf images, and the untold origins of modern surfing.

WATCH IT HERE

Music: The Rhythm Kings - Soul Surfin'

Thanks Billy T for alerting us to this vid :)