You made it back alive. I've seen so many beautiful places and things destroyed over greed....Corruption has no boundaries. cheers and much love to you...
Having grown up surfing in Dana point in the 90s, killer Dana was the stuff of legend. We lamented the loss of a wave that we would never witness. Thanks for sharing this.
In the summer of 1965, I was 7 and we lived in Southern Cal. My Dad had a friend who surfed and somehow he arranged it that he'd teach my older brother and I how to surf, so one day we met at Dana Point and I went out with him and stood up and even got up on his shoulders. I was immediately hooked but because boards were so long and heavy in those days I'd have to wait until i was 11 to start regularly. Anyway, I didn't remember the boat harbor, so I did a little research and it actually hadn't ’t been built yet( finished 1966), so I can boast that I began surfing at 'killer' Dana Point when it was still 'killer.'
This is a great description of the death of Killer Dana. The bulk of the actual surfing footage is ours, and the primary surfer riding the waves is Larry Collins. So glad you found and enjoyed our old home movies. Not many photographers actually shot video of Dana Point. We are very grateful to have been there to do so. Loved the dialogue. Larry knew and surfed with all the legends you mention. Phil Edwards was the best. Most are celebrated at Waterman's Park at the entrance to Doheny. Glad they are not forgotten.
Oh Larry not Lance of wave tools Ritchie s Dad I learne fas by myself at Doheney pretty fast then when I had just learned on my single fin My uncle took my out on a big swell that did a number to the HB Pier was luck to get out fast and caught some big big eaves Rode yhem a good distance & pullrd out over thr top Glad I did it I hsve not been afraid of surfing bigger days Glad I chsnnged to a twin fin & then a Quad I got from some guys I know that my dad played baseball & basket ballwith Yhey owned pacific sunwear & wer cool to habg out with someyimes like out deep srs fishinh for s few days catching a lot of Tuna & seeeing the Lakers win a few championships Ibtroduced me to Corky Carrol Who wrote a good report for the club I booked & promoted I started with no experoence with that but through a Quicksilver party with permision booking ma band I am frirnds eith the members That were featured on quicksilverssurf video yjat year Theband Box Car Wino On the movie named afyer a dong rgey have on it Cheap & Deep the friday right between TheOP PRP & US OPEN in thenext besch city to the North HB & i lived righy on the border on the bat water next to therivwe & hag afriebd/neighbor I new from before & was AQyucksikvweREP & also knewthe band juat a bitI knowing them pretty well from HSSurfing & trips to the river I was happy to havw them play it went so well the head bartenderof many said the 12 or more bartenders he spoke with when he hAD ME AN A FRIENDi DID ITWITH iTWAS UNANIMOUS THE BEST fRI THEY COULD REMEMBER THERE oUR BARTABWAS 80 WENT TO UNLIMITED i HAD TO BE CAREFULL NOT TO GO TO FAR WITH IT WORKING i WAS KNOWN AS the good promoter BYTHE BANDS & TOLD BYA GREAT bANDi BOOKED bURNINgROOVE bEFORE THEYKNEW AT A DIFFERENT CLUB ON friday night to open for SUBLIME When Brad was still with them RIP BRAD he was cool & was 5 feet from my barstool that night Giving each othe the nod with respect I was one night I wont forget Another was a guy thatworked outfront of the club tok mw to see Motorhead at the Celebrity Theater in Anahiem CA with backstage & afterLemmy Killmister the bass player & singer of Motorhead said there nust be someplace nearjhere going on better than this . I understandably saw juastshruggeshoulders there & steppedover to Lemm & said I havwasugestion WhatsthatheaskwdI toldhim itisaplacenear herea big bar 2-3 pool tables decent drinks & music but what I like about it is the girls there do not push hsrd for your money like similar places where theey do. With a questionable look on his face I finishe eith after dancing topless on the stage Lemmy said firm & loud SOUNDS GOODLETSGO we did & I boughta couple rounds and satata table with hin 7 TALKEDFOR AN HOUR UNINTERUPTEDLIKEFRINDS iTWAS GREATTO HEAR HIM, TELL MEi WAS SMART& IT WAS NICE TALKING TO SOMEONE LIKE ME LIKE THIS SOMEONE WHO KNOWS WHATIS REALY GOING ON. & i TOLD HIM mOTORHEAD i KNOW IS CONSIDERED HARDROCK OR METAL FOR GOOD REASON THEY PLAYED THAT VERY WELL BUT i BEING WHAT i CONSIDER A sURF pUNK gEN x bOARDER SURF SKATEBOARD SNOW & WQQKEBOARSWE tHINKmPTOR HEAD ALSO HAD A GOOD pUNK SOUND TOO. hE STARTED NODDING YES WITH A BIG SMILE IN AGREEMENT & i FOUND OUT AFTR HOW RIGHT AI WAS hE kNOWS & HAS PERFORMED EITH the ramones & ALSO PERFORMED EITH AND DATEDwENDY o wILIAMS THE SINGER OF tHE pLAZMATICS hE SAID HE LIKED TO PLAY HIS WAY AND THAT IS WHAT pUNK rOCK IS ALL ABOUT i AGREED& TOLD HIM i PLAY PUNK TOOi PLAYED WITH A bAND THE DRUMMER MY FRIEND & AI STARTED & PLAYED A LOT OF kEG pARTIES iT WAS A LOT OF FUN oNE OF THE LAST WAS HUGE ON TH E BEACH NEXT TO p_ch iT GREW DO MUCH BIGGER THAN WHEN WE STARTED wE WERE PRETTY LOUD i PLAYED mY gIBSON lES pAUL ImODEL tHE pAULN FRONT OF 150 WAT FULL STACK& SANG THROU A 350 WATT POWEREDMIXER WITH HUGE SPEQKERS & MICED THE BAND EVEN THE DRUNMS THROUGH A NON POWERED MIXER INTO ONE CHANNEL OF IT.
Here are the original videos. The first is about the fourth generation copied from the original film to video to DVD. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-_1Wqx_Oc-tA.html The second is a re-digitized version of the original film. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-av71HDwBQxE.html. We have other early surfing films on RU-vid. ru-vid.com/show-UCeMRRBUYsFm6SApsR0pQIwQ
There’s at least a 50/50 chance I’m in one of these vintage films. Dana was THE spot I wanted my parents to drop me off at (I was like 13 years old) for an entire day in the water. 60+ years have passed and all my memories are of awesome days no matter how small, medium, or close out scary it was.
My neighbor and friend Ken Page used to tell me stories about Killer Dana when I was a kid growing up in S. Fla. I found an article in surfer about its destruction and showed him, he was devastated. He eventually died from agent orange poisoning in 95. I picture him surfing that long beautiful point in heaven!
Learned to surf at Doheny in the mid 70's. We used to call it "Slowheny," until I learned that, once upon a time, it was called Killer Dana and heard stories of the waves. Blew my mind.
Same here. We alternated between Cottons Point, Doheny, Dana Point when breaking. Sometime San Onofre (close friend’s dad was a member of the Surf Club; you otherwise didn’t get in unless you were military or snuck in.
The power of money was unstoppable. Today we have Surfrider and social media to fight those who would wreck great surf spots just to make a buck, and the fight goes on. On a big swell you can still see the remnants of Killer Dana, just a small space behind the parking lot of the maritime museum shops. Sad.
I saw it and surfed it and the 'other' breaks Meepees and Boneyard and a couple of others. Truly sad. The irony is my dad put a boat in that marina and I never set foot on it. Nice work, thank you.
I lived in Capo Beach for 10 years in my youth, and would ride my bike and board to Doheny to surf a few times a week. There were old pictures of Killer Dana in all the old shops and restaurants around capo beach and Dana Point. I always wished I could travel back in time and experience that wave and the culture that existed there. I moved to south oc in the 90s, and even as a kid then I knew I had missed out on the true glory days of southern California. Now it's all tract homes and shopping malls, and the march of "progress" goes on.
This stupid small harbor did not need to be built. Had the planners had even a bit of imagination, they would have dredged the "river" that came out into Doheny and put a harbor in Capo Valley. If you watched the immense rocks they had to move in the harbor, you would understand this was a feasible plan -- AND, the valley would have had an amazing boat harbor that ran into the valley and all that farmland which was built on by cheaply overpriced track homes would have been worth so much more as there would have been a harbor in front of their canyon home. But they didn't listen to me, a young architect. They ruined surfing, they ruined the best shell collecting and places for abalone. I truly hate stupid developers and most are exactly that.
This is a very sad story. I'm not a surfer or from California and it makes me mad. I'm 60 years old and many of the places where I grew up hunting, fishing, swimming have been ruined by development and pollution. It's like having your heart ripped out.
I started surfing Doheny when I was 12 years old, that would be 1974. My mom would drop me off and I would surf all day till she came and picked me up in the afternoon, best times of my life. I heard all the stories about killer Dana but sadly never got to see it for myself. We use to camp at the harbor when it was being built. It is too bad they had to ruin such a beautiful peace of history.
Thanks for posting this- I'm going to show it to my dad who used to glass for Hobie and has told me stories about Killer Dana my whole life. He's 80 now and he's come to terms with it but i don't think he's ever gotten over it entirely.
The upside is guys like Bruce Brown had to find new surf spots. In his case, created a film "Endless Summer" which created an interest in traveling the world seeking new surf spots. We lost Killer Dana, gained thousands of better, more exotic places. Life is a series of trade offs.
Yes they did. But the El Nino of 82/83 my buddy Jon and I surfed inside the harbor at Belmont Shore on some 5 foot breaks. It was unreal to see it breaking there. I was living up the street and just walked there.
@@scottgorman7166 Hey Scott, That’s cool , I surfed it that year as well. It was the same day that the Seal Beach pier went down . I was in 11th grade and my buddies and I skipped school to get it . We were probably out there at the same time.
@@bobbellamy7075 fun times in the water that year. Surf was unbelievable all over the coast. Unfortunately I left Cal 14 years ago, (my buddy left in 89) couldn't deal with the costs of living there and politics. Been surfing since I was 11 and I'm 70 now. But sure do miss mother ocean. Stay safe in the swells. Save some money and go surf the world, it will always stay with you (and replay it when talking to buddies).✌
I know this area quiet well, it was a tragedy against nature for the sake of money. Dana Point and the adjacent areas were naturally stunningly beautiful, now they area is filled with a polluting yacht harbor and trinket shops and class B restaurants surrounded by overpriced homes that do not complement the natural beauty of the area.
PS the neighborhood behind it isn't million dollar homes it's the rental apartments,there actually was a mobile home park closest to doho till 2000.....you don't know shit about the area....I grew up there. My kids were born when I lived on la Serena drive off golden lantern. Your a kook
I don't see it this way. But I was born and raised laguna Beach1963. Lived there till I was 30. Making surfboards. My mom and dad still live in the same house I grew up in laguna . My dad surfed killer Dana on its big days but brook street was his mainstay. I learned to surf at Doheney. The perfect easy wave. I used to play in Dana point Harbour and fish off the jetty every weekend. I used to go fishing on the cattle boats and learned to windsurf at the baby beach. I have very fond memories of the Harbour. Jet skie, windsurfing,sailing. We had a hobie. I go there every morning when I visit my parents.So my life was definately improved by the Dana point Harbour. Can't imnagine I would ever trade those memories for a slow right hander that looks to me like a below average wave in southern California. I surfed tresstles a lot before high school. That's a real wave at lowers. That's my point of view
I agree Evin. I do feel really sad for those impacted by this. But I’m quite young and have no reference for pre-harbor Dana.. I simply wish to preserve Dana Point how it is NOW. I find the harbor charming, and lively without being overcrowded. How will the people who think Dana Point is “ruined” now feel about the major harbor remodels/expansions and 2 new luxury hotels that are proposed…is Dana Point too crowded, greedy, commercial, etc now? Then what will it be if developers try to turn it into Newport 2.0?
I never surfed Killer Dana, but Boneyard was a very sweet spot and the tidepools and reefs were gorgeous. Sad that it wasn't appreciated for its natural beauty and surf. What a bummer!
Still a break on the right swell (two a actually) out at the headlands. Can get quite good and its one of the very few spots left that isnt really well known.
I was lucky to grow up on Oahu in the '70's. Surfed big Pipeline when 10 guys was a crowd. Hawaii got too expensive, so I had to move to the mainland in 1980. I was working on tugboats in Long Beach with a crew member who told me about surfing in Long Beach, before they built that huge long jetty. He said it was a blast, and they surfed all the time on long peeling waves. IMHO, Hawaii is also now ruined by all the wealthy mainland Haolis who have bought up most of the property. I just get sad when I go back to Kailua - it no longer has its soul.... now only for the rich.
my father surfed there in the late 1940,s early 50,s before Korean War etc.Another beautiful surf area was Long Beach that whole area was a south swell magnet. Some where I have some photos from before the Long Beach harbor was built.
Rode my first wave at Doheny sometime in the late 80’s and spent a lot of my childhood there. Even without knowing the whole story or ever having seen Killer Dana with my own eyes, it was always a solemn place, like a haunted house. I’ve always wanted the breakwater in my native Long Beach to come down, but I’d defer if Killer Dana could be brought back to life. OUTSTANDING video, thank you 🤙
The biggest day of my surfing career was at Dana point. And I’ll never forget it. My brother and I sat on our boards on the beach for a half an hour before we mustarded the courage to go out. It was really hard to paddle into the set waves. And if you tried to do it and failed, there was a cleanup set right behind it and that was death. My brother was scrambling furiously to paddle up the face of a really big wave, when he decided to bail. Ironically, his board made it over the top, but he got crushed. We had to drive down to Doheny to retrieve his board.
Started surfind in SoCal in the early 60s and camped at Doheny St. Beach every summer. We'd go look at Dana Pt. and, for some reason, never paddled out. Our loss, but Doheny was usually just great. It has been ruined by yet another breakwater, like so many spots on the Calif. coast. Good to see those waves and riders.
Old timers say that they’d go to Dana Cove when all other spots were closing out. They knew “Killer Dana” was the last spot in Southern California to hold big swells and didn’t disappoint.
Before the landfill that widened the lanes for cars, Copacabana in Rio de Janeiro was perhaps the best beach break in the city. The sandbars offered excellent surfing conditions. Until the landfill project in the late 1960s and early 1970s, which widened the beach with coarser sand and created more space for cars. Today, it's not a shadow of what it once was, to the sound of bossa nova and the Beatles.
As a surfer from So Cal, there is definitely a different vibe at the beaches that had artificial harbors installed or that just don't have any rideable waves. My sister lived in Dana point for many years so I would go there sometimes. Definitely more of a boater vibe. Nothing wrong with that but places like Newport and Huntington have both surfing and boating cultures. They don't really mix with each other much but they both fit in. So when I'm in Dana Point or Long Beach it just feels like a huge part of the experience is missing.
Bravo, 5 Stars, great doc. Bro im sick, I sailed to the turn around for years as one of my fav, but now I see what was. I will dream of that next time, see you at the boneyard. B.N.W. Peace.
Man I kept my boat there in the 90’s, I had no clue that had happened! Also learned how to surf in Doheny beach! How utterly sad, it’s a great marina but I would’ve been totally against it being built knowing now what I know!!
I’m far too young to have ever surfed Killer Dana but I grew up surfing the beaches on the other side of the point. Even 80 years after its destruction I still see photos and hear stories about that break. Sad story
My cousin Hal Sachs loved DANA, he was the first lifeguard at Doheny beach and had many stories about his Pals in Surf culture there. It was a harmful blow hard
if you catch it just right you can still get those big waves ive ridden it at 15ft with pitching barrels before the wind kicked up and blew it out dosent happen often but it dose still happen
I loved surfing Dana Point from 63 to 67. The funky winding road down to the parking lot. 5th grade to 9th grade. 63 to 67. My friend's mom liked the spot and we'd sometimes stay in a funky motel up from the Hobie Shop for a nice weekend. All that property along the cliffs was vacant. From up there we would watch a spot that always had lines but never saw it break. It would have been a foiler's dream. I can't believed they destroyed it with that harbor. Hear it messed up Doheny as well. They could have put that jetty south of the pier and saved Dana Point and still had the harbor all the way to Doheny. We used to save the word Killer for Killer Capo which was the name for the Capistrano Pier that could hold a big beach break swell. I never got to see Dana Point big but the lifeguard there used to tell us stories about it.
I lived in Hawthorne and got hooked on surfing the summer before fifth grade. I was 11 years old and we were selling our home to move to San Bernardino. My mom took us down Rosecrans at 8 am and dropped us off at Manhatten Beach and picked us up at 5 pm summer of 63. I body surfed, mat surfed, and built and rode my own skim boards. At the end of that summer I defied my mom and rented my first surfboard at Hermosa Beach for 50 cents an hour. Caught and rode the soup and I was hooked.
Guess I need to edit that timeline as I was living inland and when we found out we could get on Camp Pendleton and surf San Onofre with our Norton AFB sticker that"s where we went 8th and 9th grade and trips to Doheny and Dana Point stopped so I knew they were going to build a harbor there but never saw the destruction. I let for England in 67 and returned in 70 to Santa Cruz.
Having spent the last 50 years living in south OC, I can appreciate the historical significance of Killer Dana. Having said that, I haven't seen any footage that would suggest it was a good wave. Definitely not a Rincon or Malibu. It appears to have been a mushy, sectiony, warbly wave. Nonetheless, building that harbor sucked.
I love the history of killer Dana. San clement and Dana point . Such a beautiful place. I have a feeling the beach will be brought back by mother nature. Unfortunately many places will not be there. Due to our early climate. It’s difficult to read , to see and know California, little secret is being challenged hy Mother Nature this year 2024 . God bless Dana Point and San Clemente and all who love this beautiful place !
Diving too, my mom took me there to the place i had been reading about in dive books when i was 10 in 65. Just a giant breakwater that i looked at dissapointedly. Interesting to think its still there tho...just remove that breakwater or parts of it. Ok could have been 66
judging from this film, the original surfers who rode there may have said it was ruined first by the crowds and kooks and then by the breakwater. What would it have been like today?
@@kai_surfs7701 Yeah, I wouldn't know. Great Lakes and Mexico in the winter surfer here. Think I saw Malibu from the highway. I do remember camping out on the Torre Pines Country Club woods in my VW van. Long ago.
Well done with this. Begs one to consider was this our taste of the misfortunes begotten by indigenous peoples everywhere? Sadly, I believe so. Man can’t seem to get out of his own way in trying to prove what he is capable of.
Watching this was heartbreaking. However, wow guys. The history and film with story was tops. I am so greatful for our Jetty. Its been my lifeline and surfing home for 42 years. Come on down the waters fine. Uncle Bobby
You have to be a certain age to say you've surfed there. Such a sad sad story of greed, land grab & coastal destruction. So many reef breaks (Neepees) where I learned to go left at 13 yrs old. I could never look over the cliff at KD. Unless yet an old dude, that sticker on your wave wagon means nada.
so sad to see that area which I love the way it was suppose to be...the same as Mr. Dana saw it himself. Such a waste, as the harbor dilapidates and those who still pull the strings for cash continur to make plans to revamp it. slowly pushing the small people out and disallowing entry with planned higher and higher rates.
We demolish dams to fix rivers why not breakwaters that damage our(we the people's) coastlines under the coastal commissions policies, anyone thought of that?
@@N3vDawg sucks for surfing, but at least the freeloaders can still camp around there in vans and surf easy waves. It's an overcrowded break now, but still friendly for people learning. There's a bit of everything that people go to the coast for. Surfing, whale watching, boating, hiking, diving, bird watching etc. Surfers don't pay the bills, but someone has to.
@@N3vDawg your comments are very bitter. I'm a boat owner and glad I'm in Dana Point harbor. Thousands of visitors every week come to enjoy the place without getting robbed. Long Beach is mostly ghetto, and full of cruise and container ships.
