New documentary explores Orange County's ascendence to surfing, skateboarding epicenter

Los Angeles Times

01-03-2025

It took producers Scott Hays and Terry Corwin about 18 months to make their new documentary 'The Surf-Skate Business Evolution: The OC Effect.'
The Laguna Beach residents ended up reaching a conclusion in considerably less time — namely, that Orange County is the epicenter of the surf-skate culture worldwide.
Many of the industry's bright minds showed up as the documentary held a private premiere Thursday night at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach.
'The people in this room tonight launched an industry that currently is worth $13 billion,' said Hays, the founder of nonprofit multimedia company OC World. 'That's billion, with a 'B.''
Steve Van Doren, the son of late Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren, continues to play a key role in the family company, which is celebrating its 60th anniversary next year. He flashed a 'shaka' hand sign associated with the surf culture as he entered the theater.
Bob McKnight, co-founder and former chief executive of Quiksilver, entertained the guests during a post-documentary question-and-answer session moderated by Hayes. He described how Danny Kwock once stole board shorts from the brand's initial beach house at 56th Street on the Newport Peninsula.
Kwock later ended up a team rider for Quiksilver.
'Eventually, he ran marketing for the whole damn company,' McKnight said with a laugh.
Quiksilver, like many others, had humble beginnings in Orange County. The brand was first sold at the Hobie store in Dana Point, McKnight said.
'We were selling as many as we could make,' he said. 'It was on fire. Not just us, but the industry was just rabid for anything new and cool. Especially from Australia, so we were really lucky in that regard, that it came from Australia.'
'The Surf-Skate Business Evolution: The OC Effect' documentary is narrated by Sugar Ray lead singer Mark McGrath and tells the story of decades of influencers.
It features interviews with 30 innovative surfing and skating personalities, Hays said. Many either came from or did business in the area of Costa Mesa and Newport Beach.
Van Doren is a proud Estancia High School graduate, Class of 1973. He maintains those community roots, noting that he recently had a reunion with some of his Eagles football teammates and coach Phil Brown.
'It's a little feather in the cap to be able to stay in business these days and make it through,' Van Doren said. 'It's all about the action sports, the surfers and skaters and BMX riders. They might not have lived in Costa Mesa, but they always had come to businesses, coming down to see Quiksilver or Hurley or Vans. Everybody found their way down here to Costa Mesa and Newport and Huntington.'
The industry has hit a time of transition. Authentic Brands Group, which had previously acquired Volcom, purchased Quiksilver, Billabong, Roxy, RVCA and several other popular brands from Boardriders in 2023. Authentic recently pulled licenses previously held by Liberated Brands and gave them to new operators.
Then, in January, Liberated closed its corporate office in Costa Mesa and laid off nearly 400 employees.
Boardriders had acquired Billabong in 2018, creating the world's largest action sports company.
McKnight said the recent headlines looked bad, but he still believed in the brands of Boardriders.
'Wherever they are, they're really good brands, and it's really hard to kill a global, good brand,' he said.
Newport Beach resident Thom McElroy, who attended Thursday's premiere, is a Volcom co-founder who designed the now iconic stone-shaped logo. Originally from Huntington Beach, he made the National Scholastic Surfing Assn. national team, traveling the world with coaches Peter 'PT' Townend and Ian Cairns.
'There weren't a lot of rules,' McElroy said. 'It was more of a playground growing up for us. The beaches were playgrounds, the parks for skating were playgrounds. Everything was. It was brand new, and it wasn't expensive to get into these sports back then.
'You could buy a cheap surfboard and a cheap wetsuit, and you're out surfing. The same thing with skateboarding. As things progressed, you could use better equipment, but it was an open environment to express yourself. You were able to wake up in the morning and then do what you wanted to do all day.'
McElroy said he never would have dreamed then that the industry would evolve into what it has become.
'When you got a box from a sponsor, you cherished it,' he said. 'You knew that it was coming out of a warehouse, and they needed to sell that stuff.'
Surf industry pioneer Dick Metz, 'Five Summer Stories' producer Greg MacGillivray and Volcom co-founder Richard 'Wooly' Woolcott were also among the Q&A panel members Thursday.
Corwin, one of the documentary's producers, was the founder of nonprofit Lion's Heart, a platform that connects teenagers to volunteering opportunities. This was her first documentary.
'We're excited to see the reaction from the people that are in the industry,' she said. 'All of these companies started right here, and more. It's kind of crazy.'
She added that the documentary will be submitted to film festivals, and the producers hope to sell it to a larger audience platform.