20 Vintage Surfing Photos That Capture The Golden Age Of The Waves
I’ve never tried surfing, but I’ve always been drawn to old-school surf culture. These vintage photos capture everything that made it so cool. There were big boards, sun-faded beaches, and surfers who made it all look effortless.
Even from the outside looking in, you can feel the freedom in these old school pictures. Here are some vintage surf photos that show why surfing’s golden era still feels iconic today.
1. “Women surfers going to the waves in 1960s. Is me or the boards look longer than the ones today?”
2. “Surf’s up, 1966”
3. “California Surfer Girls, 1964”
4. “Surfer girls – 1950s”
5. “All women group The runaways surfing, Los angeles, California, April of 1976”
6. “Surfing Oahu’s North Shore in 1974.”
7. “My mom and her surfboard circa 1980 something”
8. “A California teacher teaching the physics of surfing (1970)”
9. “California surf culture from the 60s”
10. “SoCal surfers in the 1960’s”
11. “Duke Kahanamoku, ‘The Father of Modern Surfing,’ and Viola Hartman surf in Corona del Mar, CA, 1922, spot he’d first surfed in 1913. Kahanamoku born in Oahu taught surfing in Malibu from 1926-1930. He won 3 Olympic medals for swimming. In 1925 he rescued 8 drowning men in Newport Beach.”
12. “Surfing, Hawaii – 1938”
13. “1970s beach in California”
14. “Surf culture in the 50s”
15. “Surfing in Hawaii (1959)”
16. “California surf culture from the 60s”
17. “My grandfather surfing in Hawaii, 1923”
18. “Surfers at Waikiki Beach in Hawaii – 1930”
19. “A surfer holding his Star Wars surfboard at Cardiff Reef in California. Photo by Jeff Divine (1979)”
20. “California surfer girls (1960s).”
