Fifty Years of Gordon & Smith

Surf Industry Pioneer Celebrates 50 Years of History at Wave House San Diego

Fifty years ago a chemistry student and his friend teamed up to make some of the best polyurethane foam surfboards on the coast. With help from Larry Gordon's chemist father George and working out of Floyd Smith's garage, Gordon and Smith provided quality foam blanks to surfers in the San Diego area. They had timing on their side and were perfectly positioned to supply the surfing explosion of the 1960s. Like a batch of polyurethane foam gone berserk and taking out the mold and garage walls, the G & S label expanded into one of the founding companies of the surf industrial complex, responsible for some of the most innovative surfboards, skateboards and surfers of the last 50 years.

On Saturday, October 3, all 50 years of Gordon and Smith were on display at Wave House San Diego, as hundreds of surfers, skaters, shapers and surf culture aficionados came from as near as La Jolla and as far as Florida and Hawaii to celebrate Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith, and all they have done for surfing and sidewalk surfing.

Wave House was the perfect venue for the event, as the FlowRider and FlowBarrel are taking the La Jolla/San Diego reputation for innovation into the 21 Century. Some of the world's best flowboarders showed their stuff on the FlowBarrel Bruticus Maximus while guests and VIPs mingled and schmoozed. There were dozens of surfboards representing all the eras of G & S from Hynson Red Fins to the modern fish.

A timeline detailing all that G & S has accomplished since it began to bubble and pop in the Smith's garage ran along one wall and there were many famous faces who had gone on to great things in the world of surfing and skating on there: Hynson and Hester, Frye and Kuhn, Peralta and Hogan. The timeline was a tribute to G & S history, but that history was also there in human form as Mike Hynson, Skip Frye, Henry Hester, Doug Saladino, Jim Hogan, Charlie Kuhn, Stacy Peralta and many others made the pilgrimage to Mission Beach to accept certificates of appreciation from G & S, and express their appreciation for all G & S had done for them.

All eyes were momentarily turned from the exhibits to the FlowBarrel Bruticus Maximus for a display of world class flowboarding. The likes of Greg Lazarus, Eric Silverman, Kristin Barney and Tyler Danek busted the very latest moves including Eric nailing a strapless backflip. Silverman also wowed the crowd by entering the wave with a frontside flip from the high rail.

On the other side of Wave House a soundstage was set up next to the FlowRider. To tremendous applause, Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith took the stage and looked out over a sea of smiling faces. Larry Gordon began the ceremony with a special shout out to his father George Gordon. The guys thanked the crowd and handed out certificates of appreciation to a long line of surfers, shapers and skaters famous and anonymous, all of whom had been helped by G & S and in return moved the label along out of the 1950s and through the many eras and evolutions of the following decades.

Most people associate Stacy Peralta with Dogtown and Santa Monica, but it was G & S who gave Peralta his big break as a 17-year-old skater, and Peralta set aside his Hollywood projects and came down from Cayucos to say thank you.

The awards and speeches went past sunset and into the night as first timers and pros tried their feet on the FlowRider and the FlowBarrel, and surfers watched historic surf movies on the Wave House big screen.

The party continued on into the night, to the Hawaiian sounds of Pau Hana. G&S have brought boardriding into this millennium. If they start making flowboards maybe in 2059 we'll be celebrating their involvement in helping another boardsport explode.