Inductee Bio
While growing up in the High Sierras I worked construction and in the mines. I built boats and hot rods and got into trouble.
In '59 a job came open for a building inspector trainee at LAX (Los Angeles International Airport). I gave it a shot and got hired. Driving in the back way to work I saw kids surfing and said to myself, "I gotta try that".
A guy at work had a couple of old balsa boards that we patched up and I gave it a try on a 6 foot day at Ballona Creek in Playa del Rey "Man was I hooked!"
I tried his new foam Lymon and lost it in the rocks. I got blanks and resin and a plywood fin and I was surfing it in two days. I knew I had a long way to go so I sold my old boards, got a few more blanks and resin and was making more boards.
I quit the city job and opened a shop in '62 on Culver Boulevard in Playa del Rey.
In '74 I opened a boat repair and surfboard shop in Marina Del Rey, but not making any money and racing motorcycles didn't help!
I got hired by the Building Department in the city of Santa Monica, Wow, I had insurance, paid vacations and I could race motorcycles again!
25 years later I retired in the high desert in Hesperia. I'm still making surfboards, building cars, going to long board shows and car shows and enjoying the good life!
Autobiography by Robert November 2016 |
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