CALIFORNIA - "one of the most surf-immersed cultures on Earth."

"Nothing represents the California Dream better than surfing -- riding the waves and living in harmony with the beautiful beaches and ocean of our Golden State. Surfing in California has a rich history and culture. The surfing lifestyle attracts people from all around the world and generates over $6 billion in annual retail sales. Surfing is an iconic California sport and an important part of the multibillion dollar California coastal economy, particularly in the tourism and recreation industries."  ​California Assembly member Al Muratsuchi (D-Torrance). 

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​"And the image’s hero, the surfer, was a new kind of hero. Well, he was old and new. If he’d been born a hundred years earlier, he’d have been a cowboy. He had the cowboy’s instinctive loathing of fences, love of the great wide-open. And what was standing at the farthest edge of America, surveying the Pacific, but the next logical phase of Manifest Destiny and lighting out for the territory and Westward ho. The surfer, though, was new in the sense that he preferred to be in harmony with nature rather than in opposition to it, was seeking not to conquer but to coexist, and beautifully because if he was an athlete he was every bit as much a poet too. A dharma bum turned beach bum." ​Lili Anolik.

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"My sense is that the image’s diffidence is what draws you in, turning you into the aggressor, the one who’s got to have it or else, and that the simplicity is what makes you stay, elevating as it does the young men’s quest, trivial to the point of absurd in one sense (looking for a wave to ride on? pfft, kid stuff), ultra-profound in another (these guys are trying to walk on water, defy the laws of nature, do what Jesus did!), to the level of myth. The Endless Summer, one of the great movie titles, is an idea that its protagonists are trying to embody: follow summer around the globe so that it goes on indefinitely, keep moving and time stops, stands still—you never grow up, never grow old. You yourself are that perfect wave, one that forever crests, never breaks." Lili Anolik

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California makes history with first listing based on surfing. ​

The Keeper of the National Register (National Park Service, Department of Interior) has listed Los Angeles' iconic Malibu surfing area in the National Register of Historic Places. This is the first National Register listing centered on surfing history and recognizes Malibu's worldwide contributions to the sport made in the years following World War II -- from surfboard design and production; to a distinct, relaxed, and "cool" style of surfing; to the beach of Gidget and the explosion of surfing's popularity.
The 160-acre Malibu Historic District is entirely composed of public property and includes: the First Point, Second Point, and Third Point surf breaks, the Malibu Pier, and portions of both Surfrider and Malibu Lagoon State Beaches. The immediate area of eastern Malibu now has three periods of California's cultural history represented in the National Register: the Chumash Humaliwo village site; Stiles O. Clements' Adamson House; and now the Malibu Historic District.
The Malibu Historic District listing establishes a new pathway for coastal conservation -- complimenting established protection models based on natural habitats or important species with those based on historical and cultural significance. The listing is site-specific and secures protections in state and federal coastal project planning explicitly from the point of view of the area's significance, in this case surfing. The listing serves as a qualifying step for additional state protections based on historical significance.
​Said Henry Stern, California State Senator (D-27), whose district includes Malibu: "Never before has a surf spot been officially recognized as a historic place in our National Register. Nowhere is more fitting to be first than First Point, and the magical place that is 'Surfrider.' The iconic wave, deep cultural roots dating back thousands of years, and timeless style have always made surfing Malibu historic. Now it's official."