A-frame

Aaberg, Denny

Aaberg, Kemp

Abberton, Koby

Abbruzzi, Sid

Abellira, Reno

Abubo, Megan

academia and surfing

Adler, Tom

advertising and surfing

Aeder, Erik

aerial

Aguerre, Fernando

Aichner, Scott

Aikau, Clyde

Aikau, Eddie

Aipa, Ben

air-drop

airbrush

Airshow

Ala Moana

Alabama

alaia board

Alaska

alcohol and surfing

Alexander, Kala

Allen, Chuck

Alms, Paige

aloha shirt

Alter, Hobie

Alvarez, Pepe

Ancell, Kevin

Andaman Islands

Andersen, Lisa

Anderson, Craig

Anderson, Simon

Andino, Kolohe

Angel, Jose

angle

Angola

Angourie

Antarctica

Apocalypse Now

Arabian Sea

Aragon, Janice

Arakawa, Eric

Archbold, Matt

Arena, Eduardo

Ashton, Juan

Association of Surfing Professionals (ASP)

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August, Robert

Aurness, Rolf

Auster, Ken

Australia

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Azores

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backside attack, Pipeline

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Bain, Rob

Baja California

Baker, Bernie

Baker, Grant “Twiggy”

Baker, Tim

Bali

Ball, John “Doc”

Ballard, Bill

Ballard, Rochelle

balsa

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Banks, Jim

Barbados

Barilotti, Steve

Barland, Michel

Barreda, Sergio “Gordo”

Barry, Michael

Bartholomew, Wayne

Baxter, Jackie

Bay of Bengal

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Beacham, Debbie

beachboys

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Becker, Phil

Bedford-Brown, Stuart

Belgium

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Bendall, Ma and Pa

Bennett, Barry

Benson, Becky

Benson, Blanche

Benson, Linda

Bermuda

Bertlemann, Larry

Quirky pre–World War II surfer and boardmaker from Laguna Beach, California; a model for the irrepressible and irresponsible Southern California surfer. "He was the buffed, blond, attractive, intelligent California-surfer prototype," surf historian Craig Lockwood wrote. "A skilled shaper and designer, a free and adventurous spirit, a kind of surf-shaman, with an enduring nickname 'Peanuts.'"

Larson was born (1916) and raised in Laguna, and began surfing in the late '20s. During the depression he made surfboards, usually out of redwood and balsa, using a draw-knife, for most of the two or three dozen Laguna surfers.

In 1939, Larson rode a wave at a spot called Church, just south of Trestles, that became legendary among Southern California surfers of the period. "The whole thing walled up and crashed on him," eyewitness Hevs McClelland recalled in 1953. "Nobody'd ever seen anybody ride a wave that big." Larson, a first-rate raconteur, later told a female friend, "My god, honey baby, that thing was 40-feet high! I was smokin' through the tunnel with my candle lit!" A photo of Larson on a smaller but still impressive wave at Dana Point, taken around the same time by Doc Ball, became an iconic image of early California surfing.

Larson sometimes worked as a Laguna Beach lifeguard, but was essentially unemployed throughout his life. He died in 1986 at age 70, still living at his mother's trailer house in Laguna Beach.

Larson is featured in two surfing photo books: Ball's seminal 

Larson, George "Peanuts"

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Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features

Encyclopedia of Surfing

History of Surfing

Interviews

Features