Visiting Huntington Beach for the first time, I tried to see as much as possible during the less than 24 hours that I was there. My photo shoot took up most of my time, so that left very little for exploring. I was definitely in a "shoot now research later" mode. Walking along Highway 1 (aka the Coast Highway), I encountered this surfer statue. Click...click...click...move on.
When I looked him up online upon my return home, it turns out the sculptor, Edmond Shumpert, wanted the statue to have a classical appeal, so he made the surfer completely nude. Did I even notice? Nope. Apparently it has stirred up some controversy, but has remained riding the eternal wave since his installation in 1976. The irony: public nudity was banned here in 2006. Oops.
Plenty of real-life surfing still goes on, as you can see from these early morning sunrise shots that I captured as I walked around the pier.
More Huntington Beach photos at my main website.
"Nude Dude," I love the name, lol!
ReplyDeleteGolden Bear in Huntington Beach was a popular place for kids in my high school in the early 60s to go to for Battle of the Bands and to see new surf groups like The Beach Boys, Dick Dale and The Ventures. Knew Huntington well from the early 50s on - it was 'on the path' of our drive down to our family beach club, Balboa Bay Club (which was pretty funky still in the early 50s).
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