IN THE PIPELINE:

On Tinker Street, the main drag up in the woodsy hamlet of Woodstock, N.Y., there’s a great little bookstore called The Golden Notebook. When I ducked in there recently to avoid a soft summer storm, two things caught my eye.

First, three entire shelves were bursting with books about Bob Dylan (who lived/recorded up there in the mid 1960s — in fact his mysterious motorcycle accident happened just minutes from the store).

Second was a blue-and-orange cover; a recent book called “When We Get To Surf City — A Journey Through America in Pursuit of Rock and Roll, Friendship and Dreams” written by the exceptionally talented Bob Greene (NPR commentator, “Nightline” correspondent, New York Times bestselling author).

Could any self-respecting Huntington Beach resident resist a title with Surf City in it? Not this one, and so later that night, the family snug and asleep in the Catskill woods, I lost myself in this marvelous story.

Some background from Publisher’s Weekly: “In 1992 … Greene was invited onstage to sing the song ‘Surf City’ with the 1960s surf duo Jan and Dean. Greene didn’t know it at the time, but he would spend the next 15 years touring and performing with them. Overall, the structure of the book mirrors perfectly life on the road — a blur studded with moments of great intensity.”

I was so taken with the book that when I got home, I wanted to talk with both him and longtime Huntington Beach resident Dean Torrence about the journey. I’d never spoken with Greene before, but his narration is so personal and engaging that after 300-some-odd pages, I felt like I’d put in a few miles myself with him and the boys. The road-tested friendships, band camaraderie, the delicate balance between Jan and Dean, a smattering of celebrity encounters and Greene’s gift for detail (filtered through his own pinch-me-I-must-be- dreaming appreciation of the moments he experienced) give the book a natural sparkle.

His enthusiasm in discussing the book is no less refreshing. He worships surf music, the soundtrack of his youth, and so the chance to join one of the genre’s A-teams as a guitarist/singer was (and still is) something very special.

“Every night we played we’d experience this rare thing,” he told me from Chicago. “The looks on people’s faces as we played, what this music did to them — the joy — it’s so timeless and reassuring. This was a dream for me that I still have trouble comprehending. I mean, playing on stage with Jan and Dean for so many years, I still don’t believe it. Plus the friendships I made, the moments we all shared together — I really wanted this book to give a reader the sense of just how incredible this experience was for me.”

“I would have been disappointed had he not been writing a book,” Dean Torrence told me when I asked if he was aware that Greene was documenting the experience. “But it really is a great read. It sort of made me tired in a way because I didn’t realize we did so much in all those years. You just don’t think about it while its happening.”

Today, Torrence continues to tour steadily (Jan Berry died in 2004) and from time to time Greene finds himself back onstage with his cohorts. When not on the road, Torrence lives here in Surf City with his wife and two daughters (“Two girls for every boy — this boy anyway,” Torrence chuckles as he clips a line from Jan & Dean’s iconic surf anthem). As for his desire to write a book about his life as one of pop music’s most popular duos, he’s working on it now, transcribing hours of audiotape.

At the International Surfing Museum here in town, running through October there’s an exhibit featuring Jan and Dean memorabilia, a loop running old Jan and Dean clips and concerts from the 1960s and some other surprises. And at jananddean.com you can learn more about the group and catch up on all of Dean’s latest performance dates.

Bob Greene remembers playing here in Surf City with the group years ago, but for him, the essence of the term is not defined by just a spot on the map.

“One thing I came to realize is that ‘Surf City’ is truly a state of mind,” he told me. “That special, elusive place just around the corner where you are always trying to get to. Where everything is better.”

“When We Get To Surf City” is available wherever books are sold, and I encourage you to read it this summer. It is joyous, loving, funny and touching, like a salty breeze blowing memories across the page. And it puts that music — that wonderful music — right back in your head where it belongs.

CHRIS EPTING is the author of 14 books, including the new “Huntington Beach Then & Now.” You can write him at chris@chrisepting.com.