Hobie shuts its doors

Paul Clinton

For many years, Libby Wallace and her family stopped in to Hobie

Sports to fit themselves with boots, bindings and poles for annual

ski trips.

No more.

Stunned by the sight of the suddenly mothballed shop, on a drive

down East Coast Highway after Labor Day weekend, Wallace said she was

saddened that Hobie had closed its doors.

“It was sort of a landmark,” Wallace said. “It was there for a

long time.”

Wallace, now 41, remembers her first trip to the shop with her own

parents back when she was a 13-year-old girl learning to ski.

After a blow-out clearance sale on the Labor Day weekend, the

proprietors closed the doors for good. Neatly fitted strips of brown

paper taped to the window obscure the interior of the

4,000-square-foot shop. A friendly, yet cryptic, message -- “Thanks

for 28 Great Years” -- is scrawled in blue-and-white paint on the

window.

The shop is next door to the closed Port Theater at 2831 East

Coast Highway.

Why the shop’s two owners closed their doors after so many years

remains somewhat of a mystery.

“They’ve just decided to move on with their lives,” said Jeff

Alter, a Hobie spokesman and son of founder Hobie Alter. “I don’t

think it was a market reason.”

Two other Hobie surf shops, in Laguna Beach and the initial branch

opened by renowned surfer Hobie Alter in Dana Point in the 1950s, are

still running at a profit, Alter said.

Hobie granted a license to R. B. Alexander and Mike Mullen, who

both live in Newport Beach, to run the shop, which opened in 1974.

The two men brought their families and dogs into the shop on weekends

and created a buzzing community atmosphere.

A spokeswoman at the Corona del Mar real estate company that owns

the land, Welton & Co., said the two would not be available to

comment on the decision to shutter Hobie Sports.

Newport Beach Councilman Dennis O’Neil said he was surprised by

the closure.

“I’ve seen it many times as we’ve driven by the place,” O’Neil

said. “It’s unfortunate, because it is a longtime surf shop and is

part of the character of the Corona del Mar village.”