Quick Take
The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum will celebrate its 40th anniversary Saturday with music, Hawaiian cultural performances and the unveiling of a newly restored beacon at the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse. The restoration was made possible by more than $90,000 raised by the community.
The Santa Cruz Surfing Museum will unveil a restored beacon at the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse on Saturday as part of a celebration marking the museum’s 40th anniversary and the enduring connection between Santa Cruz, Hawaii and the history of surfing on the California coast.
The celebration begins at noon and will feature live music, speakers and Hawaiian cultural performances. The museum will also unveil a “Keepers of the Light” plaque honoring community donors who made the restoration possible.
Tony Elliot, Parks and Recreation director for the City of Santa Cruz, said that Community Foundation Santa Cruz County and resident Bill Simpkins led efforts to raise over $90,000 to restore the beacon and preserve it with the new Keepers of the Light Fund.
“The new light in the lighthouse was a process really inspired and led by Bill Simpkins, who has volunteered and supported the lighthouse for a long time,” Elliot said. “The Keepers of the Light Fund will support and sustain the light in the lighthouse for decades to come.”
Elliot said the restoration reflects the community spirit that helped establish the museum in the first place, 40 years ago.
“All of this is made possible through partnership and through community. The Surfing Museum really tells the story of Santa Cruz in many ways, and specifically those who have shaped our surfing heritage,” Elliot said. “It’s a testament to the community and folks coming together to make something happen that really none of us could do on our own, but together we’re able to make this happen and allow the lighthouse to shine bright for the next generation.”
While there was a lighthouse built near Steamer Lane in 1868, the Abbott Memorial Lighthouse was constructed in the 1960s. The Surfing Museum opened in June 1986.
The museum was built around surfboards, photos and memorabilia donated or loaned by local residents. It partners with the Community Foundation, the Museum of Art and History and the Santa Cruz Surfing Club Preservation Society to preserve the sport’s history and identity in Santa Cruz.
“The community around the surfing museum really brings it to life,” Elliot said.
Elliot said the artifacts at the Surfing Museum represent the sport’s history dating back almost 150 years, when surfing was first documented in the continental United States, here in Santa Cruz.
In the summer of 1885, three teenage Hawaiian princes came to Santa Cruz on summer vacation from their San Mateo boarding school and surfed the break at the San Lorenzo River mouth, starting the craze.
“The museum has been celebrating that history and telling that story, and will continue to tell that story as it evolves into the future,” Elliot said.
Mary Verutti, who has worked at the Surfing Museum for the past 20 years, said she’s excited to celebrate its history. She’s grateful the museum connected her with members of the original Santa Cruz Surfing Club, including co-founder Harry Mayo.
“Hearing their stories of surfing in Santa Cruz in the ’30s, I learned a lot,” Verutti said. “They built their boards in high school woodshop. They would ride one wave a day at Cowell’s and be so happy just to get one wave, because their boards were as big as boats.”
She said her love of history, surfing and lighthouses drew her to the job, where she interacts with plenty of locals and tourists each day.
“So many people come through here,” Verutti said. “They speak all different languages, but we make it work to communicate about surfing.”
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