Nick Gabaldón Day honors the legacy of L.A.'s early surfer of color! Celebrate Nick with us on June 1.

Nick Gabaldon (1927-1951) was a pioneering surfer of African American and Mexican American descent. He was the first documented surfer of color in the Santa Monica Bay. Gabaldón’s passion, athleticism, discipline, love and respect for the ocean live on as the quintessential qualities of the California surfer.


In 2013, with the help of African American historian, Alison Rose Jefferson, Heal the Bay joined forces with the Black Surfers Collective to amplify and expand their prior Nick Gabaldón efforts.

Nick Gabaldón Day in its current form is now in its 7th year and will be held on June 1, 2019. This innovative celebration provides an amazing opportunity for broadening outreach, action, and education to connect Angelenos with their cultural, historical and natural heritage.


The shoreline and waters at Bay Street in Santa Monica were an active hub of African American beach life during the Jim Crow era. This beach was popular in the 1900s to early 1960s among African Americans, who sought to avoid hostile and racial discrimination they might experience at other southland beaches. Racial discrimination and restrictive covenants prevented African Americans from buying property throughout the Los Angeles region, but their community’s presence and agency sustained their oceanfront usage in Santa Monica.

In 2008 the City of Santa Monica officially recognized the “Inkwell” and Nick Gabaldon with a landmark monument at Bay Street and the Oceanfront Walk.


Nick Gabaldón Day introduces young and old from inland communities to the magic of the coast through free surf and ocean safety lessons; beach ecology exploration; and a history lesson about a man who followed his passion against all odds.

The Black Surfers Collective, Heal the Bay , Surf Bus Foundation, Santa Monica Conservancy , The Wilderness Society and other organizations partner on the Nick Gabaldón Day experience to reach out to families in under-served communities to inspire, engage and empower them through meaningful educational programming. We are helping to build personal and shared experiences with cultural, historical and nature heritage and civic engagement that are the foundation of stewardship, and the development of the next generation of civic, heritage conservation, and environmental leaders.

Check the Heal the Bay Event Page for more info.

Nick Gabaldón Day 2019 Event Schedule
9am Welcome Ceremony at Bay Street Beach & Memorial Paddle Out for Nick
10am-1pm Free surf lessons, beach exploration and cleanup. Surfers must register in advance
12:30 Raffle at the beach
1pm-5pm The Nick Gabaldón Day celebration continues at Heal the Bay’s Aquarium under the Santa Monica Pier (Aquarium Admission is free in honor of Nick!*)
1pm Documentary “12 Miles North: The Nick Gabaldón Story”
2pm Children’s Story Time with Joel Harper
3pm Documentary “White Wash”
4:30pm Documentary “La Maestra (The Teacher)”.
*The Santa Monica Pier Aquarium will be free for all visitors in honor of Nick on Saturday, June 1st thanks to a grant from the California Coastal Conservancy and the Wilderness Society.

Heads up! For you dawn patrollers, Caltrans will be closing the right lane of Pacific Coast Highway (SR-1) overnight in Santa Monica and Topanga this week for paving work. Closures will be in place from 9pm-5am. Here's the notice:

Heads up! For you dawn patrollers, this week Caltrans will be fully closing the Topanga Canyon Blvd during the night. Here's their announcement:

Overnight FULL closures of Topanga Canyon Blvd (SR-27), from PCH to Grand View Drive, continue tonight. The closure will be in place Tuesday-Thursday from 10pm-5am. See the alternate route below.

The OFFICIAL @clistboards Board Swap flyer just dropped:




The first time for this new board swap, it's being held at The Waterfront Venice on Sunday, June 2. It starts at 9am.

The Waterfront
205 Ocean Front Walk,
Venice, CA 90291
(424) 309-5331

Dale Hope has spent his life in the garment industry in Hawai’i. He inherited his parents’ clothing business, bought and served as creative director of the legendary Kahala label, and worked with Patagonia to help develop our Pataloha collection.

The Patagonia Santa Monica store will have Dale, author of ‘The Aloha Shirt: Spirit of the Islands,’ give a fascinating presentation about the Hawaiian shirt. They will have a hula performance, a live Hawaiian band, snacks and refreshments. Also have books for sale and signing.

This event is free. Doors open at 7 PM. Event starts at 7:30 PM

Don’t forget to come in your favorite aloha shirt to be entered into a product raffle!

Patagonia Santa Monica store
1344 4th Street ,
Santa Monica , California , 90401



Can't make it, or want the book now, you can order via Amazon:

Got some updated info on that guy who had to be rescued after jumping off the Venice Pier.
By Peter Ruiz, head of Venice Pier Project

At 12:15 pm Tuesday, May 7th, an unidentified man jumped off the north side of the Venice Pier.


Under estimating the undertow and the wind, he struggled to swim away from the pilings. A set of 3- to 5-foot waves rolled in a few minutes later and slammed the man into not one but two pilings. A near by surfer, Wagner Lima, rescued the guy. Lima heard the guy screaming for help. Lima paddled over to him and had him grab onto his legs so he can paddle both of them out to the beach. A few minutes later LAFD was on scene. The man refused to be treated and was informed that it’s a fine or even arrest for jumping off the Venice Pier. Dazed and bleeding from all the mussels tearing into his torso, the man limped away to the showers.

Here's a couple shots from Sunset taken aon Saturday. These photos were shot by Six12 Media.










You can find these and a few dozen more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in this photo gallery:
Sunset - Saturday 5-25-2019 Gallery

If you were out there, we probably got some cool surfing shots of you, go check them out!


Wanna see photos from previous days at this and other surf spots?
Click Surf Spot Galleries for a list of past days.

Here are a couple of surf photos from Thursday shot at First Point by Brian Asher Photography. The link to the complete gallery of more photos is down below.




You can find more photos from this session in this photo gallery:

Malibu First Point 5-23-2019 & 5-24-2019 Photo Gallery

If you were out there, there's probably some cool surfing shots of you, go check them out!

Brian Asher Photography