John Hughes, Executive Director of the Florida Surf Museum, which is housed in the Cocoa Beach Ron Jon Surf Shop, replied by email to the 

 dated February 20, 2022. The text below has been slightly edited.

Ron Dimenna is definitely one of surfing's more interesting characters. I have met him several times (which is not easy to do)—he is a personable but quirky guy, and his wife Linda is very nice. He has done a lot of the crazy shit that has been written about him. But as far as extra-legal activities, he is no worse than many of the surf gods who built their lifestyle on the drug business, including a good chunk of the surf apparel industry. Ron gave up day-to-day control of the business [Ron Jon Surf Shop] many years ago and it is now a well-run legit organization.

Ron is a savvy businessman who figured out earlier than most that surfboards don't make money. When he had his shop in the 1960s he carried all the best West Coast labels, along with the few local manufacturers that existed at the time, and did very well. By the '70s, Ron Jon had become "establishment" in the opinion of local surfers, who then began to patronize the new shops that had sprung up during the shortboard revolution. Ron Jon at that point couldn't give boards away, so Ron shifted to surf apparel and fashion and did very well again. At one time Ron Jon was the East Coast's largest retailer of Levi's jeans.

While Ron Jon isn't the kind of hardcore surf shop it was in the 1960s, it has always supported surfing, competitive surfing in particular, sponsoring events like the Easter Surf Festival and the National Kidney Foundation Surf Festival. They have also sponsored many local surfers—CJ Hobgood and Caroline Marks, to name two. Ron Jon always have a small selection of local surfboard brands in the store, even though the shop doesn't sell that many. And they have been very good to us.

I hope this gives a different angle on the Ron Jon story.

Mahalo,
John Hughes, Executive Director
Florida Surf Museum

“A DIFFERENT ANGLE ON THE RON JON STORY,” BY JOHN HUGHES

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