A pioneer of skateboarding’s mid-1970s explosion, Don “Waldo” Autry pivots past vertical in a concrete spillway below Mt. Baldy. This widely published photo was clicked by Jim O’Mahoney, now the curator of the Santa Barbara Surfing Museum and 2015 recipient of the Skateboarding Hall of Fame’s Icon Award; part-time Santa Barbara resident and 11-time world champion Kelly Slater, 43, is widely considered the best all-around surfer in history.
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P H OTO G R A P H S : TO P R I G H T, S T E V E B I S S E L L ; B OT TO M L E F T, JIM O’MAHONEY; BOTTOM RIGHT: GLEN E. FRIEDMAN
Before the urethane-wheel revolution of the early 1970s, TOM SIMS and Chuck Barfoot—New Jersey natives renting an adobe hut on Mountain Drive—built boards from old waterskis, clay rollerskate wheels, and a grippy topcoat of resin laced with Hammonds Beach sand. Sims foresaw the coming wave, launching Sims Skateboards with a team of the region’s best guys and girls who tested prototype equipment in dry reservoirs at an abandoned Montecito estate. Innovations in board design are credited to Barfoot as the company grew into one of the era’s biggest. Sims passed away in Santa Barbara in 2012. Barfoot, based in La Conchita, builds skateboards and snowboards.
Santa Barbara-based artist and activist PEGGY OKI (pictured below)—then a Santa Monica surfer girl skating with the now-legendary Z-Boys team—claimed the tall trophy at the inaugural Santa Barbara City Championships on May 18, 1975. Coincidentally, a crowd favorite at that contest was a 10-year-old local named TOMMY CURREN (pictured top left), who has since become one of surfing’s most revered and influential living legends. (And just five years ago, Curren’s daughter, Lee-Ann, was a shortlist contender for the women’s world title.)
1970s standout Robin Alaway.
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