Chapter: 3
Malibu Swing
- Freezing the Moment with Doc Ball
- A Touch of Glamour
- Bob Simmons, Gnarled Genius
- Darrylin, Oh Darrylin
- The Magic Wave
- Velzy's Pig
- Dewey Weber, Hotdog Jesus
- Tubesteak Abides
- A Rebel for All Seasons
- The Valley Cometh
- Hawaii Calls
- Rocket to Makaha
- Buzzy Trent, King of Beasts
- Surfing's Beat Generation
- France and Peru Join In
- A Restart for Australia
- Bud Browne Presents
- Point Surf '58
- The Viking King of Mead Hall
- An Exorcism at Waimea
- A Farewell to Clubs
The Valley Cometh
Miki Dora, Malibu. Photo: Grant Rolhoff
Malibu, 1963
Malibu, mid-'60s. Photo: LeRoy Grannis
Miki Dora. Photo: Don James
Surfing was the best thing in Miki Dora's life, Malibu was the best thing in surfing, and from 1955 onward, as he watched newcomers dividing and multiplying across the Malibu lineup like Fantasia broomsticks, mostly what he felt was loss and anger.
Miki Dora brimmed over with dark charisma and hypnotic wave-riding talent. For those reasons alone it was hard to take your eyes off him. But surfers—West Coasters in particular—felt connected to Dora for another reason as well: their collective frustration over the decline and fall of Malibu. By the late 1950s, the original perfect wave was fast becoming the sport’s original lost utopia. While s...
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