The Surf Theater in Huntington Beach

badknees1 · Post by **badknees1** » Sun Jul 01, 2012 8:09 pm

Does anyone have memories about the Surf Theater in HB...like best movie there, rowdiest crowd ever you saw, wierdest moment best date there, sneaking in etc etc. Just for fun! what ya got? Some of you are pretty old so I know this will be hard.

Bud · Post by **Bud** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 9:55 am

5 Summer Stories with the "warm smell of colitas rising up through the air".

KenM · Post by **KenM** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 10:43 am

Bud, I must of been there the same night as you

or maybe it was the same night another night. Knees, it would only be us old guys that WOULD remember.

badknees1 · Post by **badknees1** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 6:29 pm

This would be early to mid 70's...there was a beautiful girl in the ticket booth who spoke to me like I was the only guy in the whole world. Dark tan with long black hair. Hearing her say " $2.75 please" was like hearing an angel. I had no chance of course...but a kid can dream, can't he?

Eric Carson · Post by **Eric Carson** » Mon Jul 02, 2012 8:54 pm

[img][img]http://i1074.photobucket.com/albums/w40 ... sa/181.jpg[/img]
My friend pulled this poster off of a wall in San Diego way back in the day and finally got it framed![/img]

badknees1 · Post by **badknees1** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 12:00 am

Oh yeah[/code]

Bill E. · Post by **Bill E.** » Tue Jul 03, 2012 10:54 am

Pulled many a surf poster off the telephone poles and followed them till I found the guy putting them up. Would grab a bunch and give them to friends.

Still have 5 Summer Stories, Forgotten Island of Santosa, Going Surfin, Adventures in Paradise, and Tales From the Tube....

Some of the art work is timeless and the inspiration to many surfs.

CONTIKI · Post by **CONTIKI** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 9:34 am

Bud wrote:5 Summer Stories with the "warm smell of colitas rising up through the air".

KneeBumps · Post by **KneeBumps** » Thu Jul 05, 2012 3:14 pm

I was wondering how "Bud" got his name

Tom Linn · Post by **Tom Linn** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:53 pm

Spent a lot of time at the surf theater in my youth. Much of it was cosmic. My favorite was seeing Greenough's Innermost Limits of Pure Fun after an attitude adjustment. Also smuggled in a bottle of gin and bottle of tonic for an impromtu bar in the theater. I can still hear the hoots now as George pulled into another Lennox Heads tube!

Bruzer · Post by **Bruzer** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 7:24 pm

Bali Hai by Stephen Spaulding in 1980 or '81 w/ the warm aroma and empty beer bottles rolling under the seats every minute or so. Classic flick.

Gaviota Swinger · Post by **Gaviota Swinger** » Sun Nov 04, 2012 9:57 am

I have to say that I was pretty fortunate with regards to the Surf Theater. I lived a block away, and had an older cousin who worked there ( to cultivate customers for his real business,if u get the drift

. I saw every movie, and had free reign of the snack bar, along with the Free Samples my cous would roll for me (tell your friends!)

5 Summer Stories was the pinnacle for most, as visually stunning with the super slo-mos and the soundtrack with Honk ( a local band from Laguna) whipped the energy level in the theater into a frenzy. It was electric, and never duplicated with all the other films I ever saw there to the same degree.

As I look back now, I realize that the journeys taken through the lenses of the film makers of that era really shaped my approach to surfing, and ultimately my life. Contests were hated, localism was a fact of life, but for me it ignited the need travel and discover...get away from the crowds. See what's over the next hill. Work long enough to save to head to mainland Mex ( our Indo in the 70's).

But for me, the movie the had the greatest impact was Pacific Vibrations. The Ranch sequence is still burned into my soul, as is Wooden Ships by CSN. Some things we never get over. RIP Surf Theater...and thanks for everything.

Danny Robertson · Post by **Danny Robertson** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 10:16 pm

We would drive from La Mirada while in high school or younger with boards in the car cuz we would surf after the movie next to the pier with hopes of good moonlight not knowing...or caring about swell or tides. Probably one of the most memorable sessions ever catching great waves trying to imitate the moves we saw on the screen. The stoke was incredible !

Who was the toothless drunkard bastard who ran the thing that people said once ran for mayor ? There were not too many rules back then and we loved it !!

Gaviota Swinger · Post by **Gaviota Swinger** » Mon Nov 05, 2012 11:37 pm

George Arnold? Check his picture in the link. Long time Main St icon, Sugar Shack patron, and ran for Mayor 5 times
http://hbdowntown.typepad.com/my_weblog ... rnold.html

RW · Post by RW » Tue Nov 06, 2012 9:59 am

Crystal Voyager! We drove up from SD for the premire, McGuire, Inouye, my brother Steve n myself, smokin' Elephant, not know'n where we were goin, baked outta our skulls. Parked somewhere n' walked for what seemed like miles to the front marquee. Got rear view seats and waited for Echos.....when it started... the place began to clear out with heavy murmurs of complaint due to incomprehension of the celluliod imagery.....KooKs. Midway through Echos the place was 3/4 empty and clearing out fast.....the poseur surf creeps just didn't get it. George's vision still dictates the essences of surf in our world....can't escape it....can't transpose it....no mater how hard some may try....it's only sincere imitation.

The old Roxy in PB became a Post Office, the Strand in OB was gutted only to end up a cheap curio shop, and the old Haliewa Theater in the Country was razed and rebuilt as a McDonalds. Great times in all! Mall superplexes just don't have the grassroots ambiance found in beach communities.

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