Surfwear , from early trunks ( top right ) made by M . Nii in Hawaii to Jams trunks and tops ( shown at left , on a Life magazine cover ), part of Dick Metz ’ s Surf Line Hawaii company |
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one of us .’ And that was a great thing to be accepted by these guys who were really super watermen .”
They were partying and having a good time and then the ship started casting off its lines and a tugboat turned around to start pulling the ship out to sea , but the guys stayed on board . “ We go out through the harbor , … we ’ re looking at Waikiki and the hotels and here comes two outrigger canoes paddling out . So then all the beach boys jump overboard off the bow of the ship and they got in the outriggers and went back to the beach . And we ’ re throwing flower leis , … [ which ] means you ’ re going to come back .
“… I get the paddle they gave me for being a brother and then these guys jump off and the music ’ s playing and … I ’ m crying . It was just an emotional , touching moment . I still have that paddle .”
On that first trip to Hawaii , Metz formed a brotherhood with the local guys and maintained a connection with their
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families . “ I ’ ve been going back to Hawaii all my life and those guys have all passed away now , but their sons are beach boys .”
SURF STYLE Another key thing happened on Metz ’ s first trip to Hawaii . He met a tailor named M . Nii —“ a one-legged Chinaman ,” Metz says — who sewed some swim trunks for him at a time when surfwear wasn ’ t a thing . “ We were surfing in cut-off Levis . There were no beach trunks that any company was making for surfers ,” Metz says .
Nii was based in Makaha and made suits for Chinese and Filipino laborers who came to Hawaii to work in the sugar cane and pineapple fields . So he custom-made trunks on request , with different colors of denim and ribbon stripes down the sides , for $ 2.50 per pair . Metz asked Nii to add a little pocket to carry a piece of wax — a broken candle , which he used to wax his surfboard since commercial surfboard wax wasn ’ t available yet . “ Over the years , I must have had 15 pairs of M . Nii
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trunks , all different colors ,” Metz says . Later , in 1961 , when Metz returned from his trip around the world , his friend and legendary surfboard maker Hobie Alter invited him to go to Hawaii and , once there , asked Metz to open a Hobie Surf Shop for him in Waikiki . Metz didn ’ t know how to run a store , but Alter didn ’ t seem worried , putting a deposit on a building and heading home to send him some surfboards for the shop .
“ This was the first-ever retail store that you could walk in and buy a surfboard and walk out ,” Metz says . “ Up until then , you went in and gave an order . Well , there was no store . You ’ d go to some guy ’ s garage . Like Hobie was doing in his dad ’ s garage . … But this was the first store in the world that had 50 surfboards — different colors , different sizes . And so , if you flew over there , from the airport going to Waikiki , you could stop at the Hobie shop and get a brand-new board .”
Metz recalls that Alter had made part of an order for Sears , Roebuck & Co ., which wanted surfboards to sell in its stores . “ So he took 17 out of the Sears order and airfreighted them to me . So I got them the next day or so . … There was a lawn , a little yard in front of that store . So the truck … brought ’ em and put them on the lawn there .”
A bunch of Hawaiian kids , who had heard about the store opening , gathered around as Metz opened the box and the surfboards slid out one by one . The kids would say , “ Oh , I want that one , I want that one ,” Metz recalls . “… Guys are sticking money in my shirt pocket . I didn ’ t get any of them in the store . I sold 17 surfboards in an hour before I even got them in the store .
“… It just took off ,” Metz says . “ See , the boards had gotten lighter , … but in Hawaii , they didn ’ t have them . They didn ’ t have the material . And so the guys that were making boards there were still making them out of redwood — terrible , big , heavy things . So
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THIS SPREAD : COURTESY OF SURFING HERTIAGE AND CULTURE CENTER / DICK METZ COLLECTION / SHACC . ORG |
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