TIL: Today I Learned

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

It is my understanding that the Swastikas on the Pacific Homes Systems boards were added before the rise of Nazism, and had nothing to do with fascism. BTW, those boards are worth Bank now ($$$).

Also, in Greg Noll’s biography he tells about the members of the Windansea Surf Club dressing up in Nazi uniforms that they borrowed from their fathers who brought them back as war trophies after WWII. As I remember it, wearing the uniforms was basically kids just trying to be outrageous rather than some expression of solidarity with the Nazis.

I think Duane is reaching here. I’ve never encountered any surfing fascists in CA, and one spray painted swastika does not a movement make.

[Nicholas Carey]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

It is my understanding that the Swastikas on the Pacific Homes Systems boards were added before the rise of Nazism, and had nothing to do with fascism. BTW, those boards are worth Bank now ($$$).

It speaks to the origins of surf culture (blond hair, blue eyes?) and its territoriality. And it's not just one op-ed piece. Take a look (long — it runs more than an hour) at the video in my original post.

From the article I quoted:

The first commercially made surfboards sold in California, in the 1930s, had swastikas burned into their tails and were marketed as the Swastika model by Pacific System Homes of Los Angeles.

Die Freunde des Neuen Deutschland (FDND — The Friends of the New Germany) was formed — on the orders of Rudolf Hess — in April 1933. It was a successor to the Free Society of Teutonia, created by the German Nazi Party in Chicago in 1924. It later morphed into die Amerikadeutscher Volksbund (the German-American Bund), because the powers that were in Germany wanted a more palatable public face.

They had rallies in Los Angeles in the summer of 1933. And they were in court in Los Angeles in January 1934.

The first page of Chapter 1 of Hollywood's Spies: The Undercover Surveillance of Nazis in Los Angeles, Volume 11 in the Goldstein-Goren Series in American Jewish History, published by the NYU Press:

https://nyupress.org/9781479855179/hollywoods-spies/

NAZIS IN LOS ANGELES

In the spring of 1933, a police report submitted to LAPD captain William “Red” Hynes noted “considerable quantities” of Nazi literature littering the streets of downtown Los Angeles. A new group in town, Friends of the New Germany (FNG), was thought to be the source of this sudden burst of Nazi propaganda. Over the next several weeks, Captain Hynes of the LAPD’s Red Squad assigned men to keep an eye on the new group. On August 1, 1933, Hynes sent detective R. A. Wellpott undercover to attend FNG’s second public meeting.

The meeting was held at 902 South Alvarado Street in a mansion the group had converted into a German American community center, of sorts. It housed an old-style German restaurant, the Alt Heidelberg; a new bookshop, the Aryan Bookstore; and a meeting hall. Approximately one hundred people gathered in the hall for the meeting. Wellpott re-ported that a makeshift stage was set up in the hall, with a speaker’s podium flanked by an American flag, the imperial German flag, and the Nazi (swastika) flag. Fifteen young men dressed in brown shirts, “whose arms bulge with excess power,” were scattered about the hall, “guarding” the meeting.

The meeting began with a phonograph recording of a German march. The West Coast leader of Friends of the New Germany, Robert Pape, called the meeting to order. Pape presided over a full agenda of speakers, many of whom addressed the audience in German. The first speaker reported on FNG’s first national convention in Chicago, which had concluded just days before. A keynote speaker spoke on “the German-Jewish conflict,” explaining that Nazis wanted to prevent the “bastardization of Germany” by eliminating Jews from power. When several people in the audience jumped up in protest, they were swept out of the meeting by the brown-shirted attendants.

Here's a picture of them in court on January 19th, 1934, courtesy of the UCLA Library.

Description: Photograph appears with the article, "Attempts to Impede Justice Disclosed in Three Courts," Los Angeles Times, 19 Jan 1934: A1. Superior Judge Bush, presiding over the Nazi case, has received several threats. Each of the four men raises their left arm above their head in the Heil Hitler salute.

Caption: Text from newspaper caption: NAZI-LIKE GESTURE PHOTOGRAPHED IN COURT Witnesses for the Friends of New Germany were photographed in court yesterday at the suggestion of Judge Bush, who is presiding at the sensational Nazi case. Significance of the "Heil Hitler" attitude, particularly inquired into by the court, was disclaimed by witnesses. left to right, Dr. Konrad Buchardi, Herman Schwinn, Ludwig Leithhold and Hans Winter halter.

From the Smithsonian article, "The Nazis’ Plan to Infiltrate Los Angeles And the Man Who Kept Them at Bay: A new book explores the deadly and nefarious plots designed by Hitler and his supporters" (https://www.smithsonianmag.com/histo...s-180966961/):

Southern California was a particularly appealing locus [for the Nazi Party]: about one-third of disabled veterans lived there, and the region had 50 German-American organizations with 150,000 members, which the Nazis hoped to unite. Compared to New York City, the port of Los Angeles was largely unguarded, perfect for trafficking in propaganda from Germany. Additionally, the area was ripe for Nazi messaging: it was one of the strongest centers outside of the South for the Klu Klux Klan, with large gatherings held throughout the 1920s.

There was a sizeable Nazi (and Klan) presence in 1930s Los Angeles.

[edited to note] Here's an exhibition from Cal State Northridge, In Our Own Backyard: Resisting Nazi Propaganda in Southern California, 1933-1945: https://digital-library.csun.edu/in-...orical-context

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

I admit I haven’t watched the entire video, Nicholas, but I see nothing in your post actually linking Surf Culture with Nazism. Regarding the Pacific Homes Systems surfboards, see this:

Little is known about the first Pacific System Homes boards, produced either in late 1929 or early 1930, except that they were made from redwood strips held together with lag bolts, and were probably 10 feet long and weighed about 70 pounds. Pine and redwood boards replaced the all-redwood boards by 1932; full-length redwood-edged balsa boards, weighing as little as 45 pounds and costing less than $40, were introduced in the mid-’30s. A swastika symbol—used by American Indians, Vikings, and Greeks as a sign of good luck and harmony—was wood-burned or print-marked onto the back of all Pacific System Homes’ Swastika boards up until 1937. The following year, after the swastika-decorated German military invaded Austria, Pacific System changed the line name to “Waikiki Surf-Boards.”

https://surfboardhoard.com/pacific-s...rd-late-1930s/

BTW: Surfers have blond hair because they spend many hours in the sun, not because they believe in the Master Race.

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

The “territoriality” as you call it, did not begin until after the book “Gidget” was released, I think c. 1959. In surfing, there is ‘Pre-Gidget’ and ‘Post-Gidget’, because after the book became a sensation, the numbers of surfers exploded, and suddenly the lineups of popular surf breaks became crowded. “Localism”, as it is known in surfing is much less prevalent than people think, but is concerned strictly with keeping one’s own surf break for Locals Only. I have seen similar sentiments expressed many times here in the Bilge when people lament Californians (or some other group) moving to their area and “ruining it”. It is not linked to antisemitsm or fascism, but simply represents selfishness.

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

I might note that I have been surfing for over 40 years, up and down the coast, and I’ve only encountered Localism a handful of times. Is Localism part of Surf Culture, sure, but it is a very small part (in my experience).

[Paul Pless]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

I have seen similar sentiments expressed many times here in the Bilge when people lament Californians (or some other group) moving to their area and “ruining it”. It is not linked to antisemitsm or fascism, but simply represents selfishness.

a popular bumper sticker in az reads

"don't californicate my arizona"

[Canoeyawl]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

a popular bumper sticker in az reads

"don't californicate my arizona"

Fools that they are
I'm thinking you must be glad to be out of Arizona and might not have turned down an opportunity to Californicate a bit...

A other trump pardon keeps a criminal ahole out of prison...
the list of crimes is too long to list

FCEC3CD6-9750-4C39-85A4-CB8F163DCA8F.jpeg

[Mrleft88]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

I prefer warmer waters.... Like Tobago, Montego..... Even freakin' Point Judith in August is warmer than SoCal surfing.

[Nicholas Carey]

TIL: Today I Learned

The “territoriality” as you call it, did not begin until after the book “Gidget” was released, I think c. 1959. In surfing, there is ‘Pre-Gidget’ and ‘Post-Gidget’, because after the book became a sensation, the numbers of surfers exploded, and suddenly the lineups of popular surf breaks became crowded. “Localism”, as it is known in surfing is much less prevalent than people think, but is concerned strictly with keeping one’s own surf break for Locals Only. I have seen similar sentiments expressed many times here in the Bilge when people lament Californians (or some other group) moving to their area and “ruining it”. It is not linked to antisemitsm or fascism, but simply represents selfishness.

Might point put that Kathy Zuckerman neé Kohner, the actual Gidget, is Jewish, the daughter of refugees from Nazi Germany, who lived in Brentwood, who surfed in LA in the 1950s. After her dad published Gidget, and it came out that she was actually a Jew, her family's house got "decorated" with stars of David and swastikas.

[And, apparently, she still surfs!]

[Garret]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

I prefer warmer waters.... Like Tobago, Montego..... Even freakin' Point Judith in August is warmer than SoCal surfing.

Great surfing @ Pt. Jude... Watch out for the rock in the middle of the anchorage though.

[Jim Mahan]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

a popular bumper sticker in az reads

"don't californicate my arizona"

Oregonians, too, love to use that clever neologism. Ironically, though, the most vociferous of the anti-Californians are those who emigrated from somewhere in California themselves, but in a prior decade, 'discovering' it and getting their real estate deal before it got spoiled by people like themselves, prior to whatever latest expansion is making them frothy about it. Mostly (my take) is that retirees sell their California house for a mint compared to prices in Oregon, buy a 'country' house, or if they're lucky, on the river somewhere, and then vote down all the bond measures locally that would do things like provide school buses and new libraries and etc. Because they shouldn't have to pay for someone else's kids since they already paid their taxes for their kid's schools in California. Then they complain about other aspects of living where there is awesome scenery and fishing but economic deprevation, with a lack of decent job opportunities, due to being in the middle of the fcking woods, duh, no good stores nearby, and you can't get a plumber on a weekend because the only one still in town is out fishing and hunting season starts soon so next week is out too. Can't you just pee in the back yard til then, sweetheart?

[Ralphie Boy]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

I’m afraid I don’t have a lot of sympathy for places that hate newcomers-we have experienced this type of influx in California for a long time. People have been moving to California from all the other states for over 150 years, mostly for the economic opportunity. This is why there are so many people here. Now that some Californians have some money, they are moving back, and the other states are pissed off? Cry me a river.

[Mrleft88]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

"Robert Pape".... Where have I heard that name before?

[Nicholas Carey]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

"Robert Pape".... Where have I heard that name before?

I imagine that that 1930s Robert Pape is not the same as Robert Pape at the University of Chicago — professor, author, and Director of CPOST (the Chicago Project On Security and Threats):

https://political-science.uchicago.edu/directory/robert-pape

https://cpost.uchicago.edu/people/profile/robert_pape/

[Canoeyawl]

Re: TIL: Today I Learned

Oregonians, too, love to use that clever neologism. Ironically, though, the most vociferous of the anti-Californians are those who emigrated from somewhere in California themselves, but in a prior decade, 'discovering' it and getting their real estate deal before it got spoiled by people like themselves, prior to whatever latest expansion is making them frothy about it. Mostly (my take) is that retirees sell their California house for a mint compared to prices in Oregon, buy a 'country' house, or if they're lucky, on the river somewhere, and then vote down all the bond measures locally that would do things like provide school buses and new libraries and etc. Because they shouldn't have to pay for someone else's kids since they already paid their taxes for their kid's schools in California. Then they complain about other aspects of living where there is awesome scenery and fishing but economic deprevation, with a lack of decent job opportunities, due to being in the middle of the fcking woods, duh, no good stores nearby, and you can't get a plumber on a weekend because the only one still in town is out fishing and hunting season starts soon so next week is out too. Can't you just pee in the back yard til then, sweetheart?

I bought a home in Palo Alto in the late sixties, and as the 70's came on most of my hippie friends from that area realizing they could sell here and buy north at almost an order of magnitude moved on to northern climes. But the northern "investment" they made could never realize enough "profit" to bring them back to the bay area.
Which if you get out of the town bustle just a little bit, like maybe a mile, is a very nice place to live...