REFLECTIONS
WORDS + PHOTO BY BRENT LIEBERMAN
Long-time photographer
Brent Lieberman takes
a long look back at the 1960s
and '70s along the
Central and South Coasts
during the days before
leashes arrived and those
dreaded cell phones too.
36
DEEP SURF MAGAZINE April 2014
Huge Winter 1973
In Summer of 1973, Julie and I decided to pack up our few belongings and bid adios to the Dogtown Ghetto. The pollution, crowds,
drug abuse, high rent and fast pace of life were really starting to get to us. For a couple of years, we had been venturing “up north” to
visit our friends who had settled up there in a small town with three traffic lights, four policemen, no pollution, no crowds, no fast pace
of life and was near two amazing beaches to surf!
It was like we died and went to heaven. In Dogtown, we were paying $175 per month for a one-bedroom, 75-year-old dilapidated
studio. Our new residence was a three bedroom, eight-year-old house with a detached garage in the best part of town. All our friends
who lived there thought we were stupid for paying such high rent, which was $125 per month. They all lived in the old part of town and
were paying around $60 to $90 per month, some including utilities!
We were so far north that I truly felt like we were living in Alaska. The winters were so bitter-cold and stormy. I had never witnessed
harsh weather living in Los Angeles. The harsher conditions came with some of the largest most consistent swells I had witnessed. We
wore wool beanies and Vasque hiking boots and carried our gear in Army-issued backpacks. The first year all I did was surf and shoot,
and I kept track of the conditions on my calendar. I went to the beach 268 times that year and quickly fit in with the “Boys.”
Until my arrival, they hadn’t had a photographer in their crew. The local surf crew consisted of about a dozen core surfers, and I was
the only photographer around for a hundred miles. We had so many slide shows that turned into debauchery, more than I care to admit!
This particular image was made during that first winter of 1973/74. My friend and surfing compadre Mike Bakkun and I decided
to go check out what according to the television news was a huge Aleutian storm heading our direction. We headed due west from
town and were shocked at what we saw upon arriving at the coast. The sets appeared to be about 20- to 30-foot and looked like Banzai
Pipeline on steroids! It was truly a sight to behold. Bear in mind that this wave is breaking probably close to a mile out! This is one of
only about a dozen surviving photographs that I made that day. My first winter started off with a doozie!