Did George Saunders Zimmerman “Peanuts” Larson (1916-1986) catch the biggest wave ever ridden in California?
]
A legend like that helped make “Peanuts” a Laguna Beach original. Now Craig
Lockwood–who grew up a surfer kid in Laguna, became a lifeguard in town and got his
first newspaper job for the old Laguna Beach Post under editor Betsy Rose and publisher Bud Dessenberg–has written a book titled, appropriately enough, Peanuts.
Lockwood, who has also written locally for the Daily Pilot and Surfing magazine, explores the myth, legend and Southern Orange County's surfing subculture archtype that was George Larson in Peanuts.
“'Peanuts' was,
first of all, the quintessential Laguna Beach waterman,” says Gene
Felder of the Laguna Beach Historical Society. “He'd been if not
San Clemente's first lifeguard, certainly among the very first. He
became a subject of great admiration and respect in his 20s when he
surfed a wave larger than anyone had ever seen ridden in California.
This single wave was witnessed by several other surfers whose
reputations cast them as wholly reliable and believable observers.”
Lockwood talks about his book when Felder's group meets from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. Monday in the Laguna Beach City Hall council chambers at 505 Forest Ave., Laguna Beach.
More details are in the latest Laguna Beach Historical Society newsletter:
Newsletter November 2009.pdf
OC Weekly Editor-in-Chief Matt Coker has been engaging, enraging and entertaining readers of newspapers, magazines and websites for decades. He spent the first 13 years of his career in journalism at daily newspapers before “graduating” to OC Weekly in 1995 as the alternative newsweekly’s first calendar editor.