Customer Reviews

Surfing Guide to Southern California

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I thoroughly enjoyed every word and nostalgic picture in this book. I surfed many of the spots listed and it was insightful to re-visit them and realize that the book contained information that, as a 60's surfer, always was just plain instinctual. We knew when the good spots were breaking, we knew where, we had our favorites and our preferences for quality waves never ceased. Surfing Guide to Southern California provides insight to all of the surf breaks from Point Conception to Mexico,complete with surfing pictures and arial photography. It provides an enjoyable subtle humor so often lost in today's busy world. In addition, it successfully promotes, both then and now, the genre that is surfing. I was able to locate the book through Mountain and Sea Publishers, PO Box 126, Redondo Beach, California 90277, phone 310-379-9321.

Cleary and Stern capture the essence of SoCal surfing from the "golden years". Their descriptions of local surf spots are thorough and complete (unlike the bullet-point descriptions found in Bank Wright's "Surfing California", which is STILL a classic for the combination of photos, diagrams and general vibe). The authors obviously did their homework, and the grainy black and white photos add immeasurably to the feel and flavor of the time. Oh, yeah, the descriptions of the spots are pretty right on, too!

I've probably spent more time with this book than any other, except for the Bible. That's because SURFING GUIDE is the Bible of surfing guidebooks. For me, it's more than nostalgia. I actually used it quite a bit when it first came out, and I found its information very accurate. Of course, since I've been away from the Pacific for lo these many years now, it has become essentially a nostalgia trip. And since the surfing scene is so different now than when it was written, unless you're a full-bore retro longboarder (and I know there're lots of you out there), it's probably almost per se an exercise in nostalgia. But don't let that put you off. Cleary and Stern are very clever fellows and shrewd observers. Their wry observations and sly sensibilities propel this book out of its homely little genre and into the vast ocean of truly great reads.

As a late 50's and early 60's surfer growing up in Imperial Beach, CA. I could have used this book on our excursions north to surfers paradise, take your pick, this book list them all. Gosh what can I say what a trip, I found my book at a flea market and paid 50 cents for it. I would pay easy for this book what they are asking for it. Original price 8.95 for my 2nd edition. If Ida only known. My son moved to Ventura last year and I loaned him the book and he was so jazzed. He found all the places mentioned and got to surf a lot of them. He wants me to win the lottery and move to Hollister ranch. I had forgotten about sneaking into Hollister back then. Awesome Surf and a very special little book. Thanks to the authers for a great trip down memory lane.

When Bill Cleary and I lived three houses away from each other at Topanga Beach and he began to write this book, we never dreamed that it would become the appreciated classic that it has. I simply want to thank the surfing public for having expressed their appreciation many times during the 40 years since we wrote it.

In 1998 Bill and I we brought out what we called the "35th Anniversary Nostalgia Edition." In 2002, when the first printing sold out, we reprinted it.

And then, on July 4, 2002, my friend Bill died. Of a heart attack. At age 64. He was the first surfer I ever saw (it was 1959), and he was then one of the fittest athletes I'd ever seen. The last 15 years of his life he had Parkinson's Disease, which destroyed his coordination and made his life hell. May he rest in peace.

But for me, life goes on. I now live in Jerusalem, Israel, and I don't surf much any more. In fact, even by my own minimalist definition of catching at least one wave per calendar year, I'm an ex-surfer, because I last went out in the year 2001.

When the present supply of books sells out, there will be no more reprintings.

Happy surfing!

Southern California equals warm waters and crowded breaks. So just find yourself someplace to lineup that's just about within kissing distance of an ugly boil or exposed rock and you might find a little breathing room. Or, when that crowds-up, find some ice cream headache of a break in someplace that THEY will never find out about. And then, thirty years or so later, when strength is somewhat more tenuous and time somehow seems ever more precious, you can turn some pages in a book like this and be transported to a time when you first learned to walk on the water, and dream of returning, and of youth, and a world that seemed endless.

And my brother and I remember the day that there was the girl in the lineup at Dana Point, one four-foot day, who memorably, not too gently, called out to those who had ears to hear, the news about her boyfriend, that had slipped off of his board into the water for a moment, "Hey guys, look at him . . . he's whizzing!"

Wish they all could be California . . .

Dear Product,
Amazon is making you look bad.

Usually I get notified when items ship.
Never did.
Wouldn't know how to judge the delivery
or if it was ever received.
Amazon sucking...