City moves forward with Surfer’s Hall of Fame

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The greatest athletes and contributors in the

sport of surfing will have their place among the honored.

The City Council unanimously approved local businessman Aaron Pai’s

plan to build a Surfer’s Hall of Fame in front of his Huntington Beach

Surf & Sport shop at 300 Pacific Coast Highway.

Pai, a lifetime surfing aficionado, will continue publicly what has

gone on in his business for years -- the immortalizing of surfing’s

greatest in concrete.

“The concept has actually existed in the store since about 1997,” Pai

said. “I think that it’s important to preserve this aspect of surfing

culture.”

In Pai’s surf shop, there are about 37 slabs of cement bearing the

hand and foot prints of of those honored, including those of wetsuit

inventor Jack O’Neill and resident Corky Carroll, a five-time surfing

champion.

The Hall of Fame will replace a decorative fountain in a plaza at the

corner of Main Street and Pacific Coast Highway with 260 spaces of

colored concrete featuring the imprints of surfing athletes and

contributors, akin to Mann’s Chinese Theater in Hollywood. A life-size

likeness of Hawaii’s Duke Kahanamoku, credited as being the father of

modern surfing, is also planned for the monument.

The plan passed through the Planning Commission in November, but was

appealed by Councilman Ralph Bauer, who wanted to be sure the monument

met city design review requirements, before city officials approved it

Feb. 20. A similar project was approved by the city in 1993, but was

never realized.

Officials with the International Surfing Museum said this monument

differs from the Surfing Walk of Fame across the street because it has

the ability to include anyone who’s made an impact on the sport, not just

its champions.

Andy Verdone, a Huntington Beach High School teacher in charge of the

school’s surf team, added that it was important to get the hall of fame

built before any other city got the same idea.

“I believe in this project, and I believe in Aaron Pai, plus this will

be a huge contribution to the sport of surfing,” he said.