Spreading the Surf City image

Tariq Malik

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The International Surfing Museum will soon have a

new weapon in its fight to bring the sport of surfing to the masses.

The museum at 411 Olive Ave. is planning to take its show on the road

this summer using a new customized trailer packed with information on the

sport’s history, legends and memorabilia.

Though still under construction, museum officials are looking forward

to the mobile surfing museum, which will sport the look of a woody car

and serve as a microcosm of the main branch.

“It’s like having a satellite that’s on wheels,” said Natalie Kotsch,

the museum’s founder. “And it will certainly portray the museum better

than a card table and some fliers.”

The mobile museum could cost up to $20,000, a cost that is expected to

be covered primarily through sponsorships and donations from dedicated

surf aficionados.

Some donations from craftsmen include wood veneer for interior walls

and cabinetry, as well as plans for local artists to deck out the

trailer’s aluminum outer skin.

The mobile museum will measure 28 feet long, stand 8 feet tall and 6

feet wide. It will have an entrance at one end, an exit at the other,

with plans for an entertainment center to play scenes from surfing films,

music and actual surfers in action.

Kotsch started the surfing museum in 1988 to commemorate a culture

indicative of the community’s Surf City image, as well as a sport that

has gripped her passion since 1982. The mobile museum is an outgrowth of

that aimed at spearheading the main branch’s community outreach effort.

At present, the museum can only reach out to the public with what its

leaders can stuff in the backs of their cars.

During festival and out-of-town events, the museum’s volunteers pack

their cars with card tables, fliers, merchandise, and a photograph

exhibit attached to a number of painted doors in an attempt to bring

information on surfing to residents living between the northern end of

Los Angeles County to San Diego.

Keith Jackson, the surfing museum’s business manager in charge of

turning the mobile unit into a reality, said the trailer-turned-surfing

resource has a dual purpose.

“Not only does it bring to light the rich history behind surfing and

its culture to people who have never been exposed to it, but it promotes

the city at the same time,” he said. “For example, visitors at the Fender

Museum in Corona came from the Inland Valley, some of whom had never been

to Huntington Beach. They bought T-shirts, learned about surfing and the

city’s pier, and before you knew it they were interested in visiting.”

All that’s missing now, he said, is a truck to tow it.

FYI: For more information about the International Surfing Museum

call (714) 960-3483, e-mail at o7 intsurfing@earthlink.net,f7 or visit

the Web site at o7 https://www.surfingmuseum.org

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