Echo Beach, a documentary film about the contagious, raucous surf scene that rooted itself in
We've spent a lot of time looking at the Echo Beach era of Orange County's surf culture. There was the touring schedule of last year's documentary film of the same name (see blog post from July 31st), and there was the Echo Beach Retrospective event at the Standard Hotel in LA on (see blog post from August 10th). We've even interviewed collectors and locals who have a connection to the Echo Beach era, like Kris Tom of TheVintageSurfboard.com and Ryan Hurley of Hurley International.
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The term Echo Beach originally referred to the stretch of beach often called Newport's “hottest hundred yards,” stretching between the 52nd and 56th Street jetties. The spot was known as much for its neon-colored clothing, parties and girls as it was for it's peaky sandbars and fast, steep waves. Some say the “Echo Beach” name was a reference to the hollow barrels you can still get on a good day in upper West Newport.
The documentary tells the story of this seminal era of Orange County's surf culture. It focuses on the roots of major companies like Quiksilver, Rip Curl and Stussy that went on to play a key role in building the now 10 billion dollar a year action sports industry. But it also tells the story of a local scene that helped solidify Orange County's place as one of the capitals of the surfing world.
