PART FOUR IN A SERIES
Looking back with Dick Metz
SHAPING
SURF CULTURE
DICK METZ SPENT PLENTY OF TIME IN HAWAII , RIDING THE WAVES WITH LOCALS , OPENING HOBIE SURF SHOPS AND STARTING HIS OWN SURFWEAR BRAND BEFORE COMING HOME AND EVENTUALLY FOUNDING A MUSEUM TO PRESERVE THE SPORT ’ S HISTORY .
By SHARON STELLO
As a surfer , Dick Metz was naturally drawn to Hawaii , a place with big waves and iconic surf culture .
Several years before his surf trip around the world that helped to inspired the film “ The Endless Summer ,” the lifelong Laguna Beach resident traveled to Hawaii to hang out with his friends , Walter Hoffman , Charles “ Buzzy ” Trent and Gordon “ Grubby ” Clark , who were stationed there as part of their military service . And Metz enrolled in graduate school at the University of Hawaii though the GI Bill : He was signed up on paper , but didn ’ t attend classes , preferring to spend his time surfing . He sailed over on the SS Lurline because it was cheaper than flying .
So he arrived on Oahu in 1951 and lived with his friends — who weren ’ t required to stay on the military base — in a Quonset hut in Makaha during winter , moving to Waikiki in the summer . “ I ’ d surf all day , but they had to go to work and , when they ’ d get off work at 5 , we ’ d all surf and be together and have dinner ,” says Metz , who recalls receiving $ 26 per week from the GI Bill . “… That doesn ’ t sound like very much now , but rice and beans and chili , fish , a bowl of that , I don ’ t know how much it was , but like 50 cents or something . So , for $ 26 , I was living really good .”
Metz , now 93 , remembers arriving in Hawaii with his own , brand-new balsa
An exhibit showing the evolution of surfboards through time at the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center , founded by Dick Metz , in San Clemente
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