Thursday, November 12, 2026 at 7:00 PM
Skylight Books, Los Angeles
The definitive guide to the infiltration of underground surf culture into 20th century popular entertainment and a coffee table history of the music, art, design, film, and fashion from the Bohemian Surf Boom. From the original beachcomber personalities like the Waikiki Beach boys of the early 20th century, to the postwar rise of southern California as a creative epicenter for music, art, and film, Pop Surf Culture traces the roots of the surf boom from its earliest days as an insular, regional Hawaiian subculture, to its proliferation nationwide in mainstream teen fads and entertainment. Criss-crossing through the 1950s Beat Generation, 1960s counterculture, 1970s punk rock, the book illustrates why surf culture is a vital art movement of the 20th century. Pop Surf Culture covers the highs and lows of surf’s mainstreaming, including the popular “beach” movies of the 1950s and ’60s which featured such stars as Annette Funicello and Frankie Avalon and the music of Dick Dale & His Del-Tones, Brian Wilson, the Pyramids, Gary Usher, James Brown, and Little Stevie Wonder. 1960s art figures Michael Dormer and Rick Griffin—as well as the surf magazines which promoted their art—are featured alongside the progenitors of “surf music,” from the little known (the Centurians) to the wildly popular (the Beach Boys). From Duke Kahanamoku, the Gas House, Gidget, surfing on television, the bohemian surf aesthetic, surf music hot spots, and Mickey “Da Cat” Dora, the entire spectrum of pop surf culture is covered within these colorfully illustrated pages. Domenic Priore is a writer and producer specializing in pop culture, sociology and music. He is the author of Riot on Sunset Strip: Rock 'n' Roll’s Last Stand in Hollywood, Pacific Ocean Park: The Rise and Fall of Los Angeles’ Space Age Nautical Pleasure Pier (with Christopher Merritt), Shag: The Collected Works, Beatsville (with Martin Macintosh), and Smile: The Story of Brian Wilson’s Lost Masterpiece. Domenic wrote the liner notes, sourced photographs and helped sequence the music for The Beach Boys: Smile Sessions box set (Capitol Records), which won the 2013 Grammy Award for Best Historical Album. He also did the booklet for The Decline of Western Civilization Collection four-DVD box set and was the primary writer of the AMC documentaries Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The Early Years 1955-1970 (narrated by Ringo Starr) and Hollywood Rocks the Movies: The 1970s (narrated by David Bowie). His bylines have appeared in Billboard, Sports Illustrated, Surfer and The Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Fame Induction Dinner program. He lives in Los Angeles. Brian Chidester is an art historian, author, documentarian, and journalist. Exhibitions he has curated include: One Day You’ll See: A History of Afrofuturism and Charles A.A. Dellschau and the Mythology of Flight. He is a contributor of articles and reviews for The American Prospect, The Atlantic, L.A. Weekly, Paste, and The Village Voice, and is the author of Pop Surf Culture: Music, Design, Film, and Fashion from the Bohemian Surf Era (Santa Monica Press). Chidester has also been a writer/researcher/producer of documentaries for the BBC, PBS, and Showtime, and is the director of the feature-length film As the Wind: The Enchanted Life of Eden Ahbez. He lives in New York City.