Pacific System Homes Waikiki Paddleboard Solid Wood Surfboard, Original 1930s

Late-1930s Pacific system Homes wood surfboard. Features an intricate design created with redwood and pine wood. Beautiful embellishments in the form of nose and tail blocks complete with an early style surfboard fin with low profile. This early surfboard weighs approximately 100 lbs. This incredible relic of surfing history has been held in the same Long Beach, CA family since new, handed down through several generations. This listing represents a seldom offered opportunity to own an remarkable early wooden surfboard from the 1930s. Little is known about the first Pacific System Homes boards, produced either in late 1929 or early 1930, except that they were made from redwood strips held together with lag bolts, and were probably 10 feet long and weighed about 70 pounds. Pine and redwood boards replaced the all-redwood boards by 1932; full-length redwood-edged balsa boards, weighing as little as 45 pounds and costing less than $40, were introduced in the mid-’30s. A swastika symbol—used by American Indians, Vikings, and Greeks as a sign of good luck and harmony—was wood-burned or print-marked onto the back of all Pacific System Homes’ Swastika boards up until 1937. The following year, after the swastika-decorated German military invaded Austria, Pacific System changed the line name to “Waikiki Surf-Boards.” The 1939 Waikiki board came in 10-, 11-, and 12- foot models, as well as a 14-foot paddleboard, and five- or six-foot “kiddie boards.” All were typical of the plank period: blunt-nosed, squared off at the tail, with near-parallel sides. Pacific System Homes boards were made in production runs of 15 on sawhorses in a designated dust-free area of the company’s 25-acre site, and were sold in beach clubs, sporting good stores, and high-end department stores like Robinson’s and the Broadway. Custom-made Pacific System Homes boards were also available, built by top California surfer-boardmakers like Pete Peterson and Whitey Harrison. California boardmaker Dale Velzy...

1920s original plank-style surfboard made for the waves at Waikiki Beach, Hawaii. Before Hawaiian surfing patriarch Duke Kahanamoku, early surfboards w...

Mid-late 1930s “Kookbox” hollow wood surfboard. Features wood panels joined by metal fasteners and cork water-plug. Patented interior ‘Skin and Frame’ construction method, inspired by the design of airplane wings. This breakthrough surfboard building method was invented in the early 1930s by the legendary Tom Blake...

1930s Replica Tom Blake hollow wooden surfboard. Wooden panels joined by metallic fasteners with daffodil yellow outline. Patented by the late Tom Blake (1902-1994) in 1931. The inte...

Author Jenni Kayne, Foreword by Vincent Van Duysen. Jenni Kayne, the creator of the laid-back, luxe California lifestyle brand, shows us how to create s...

Vintage 1970s Ocean Pacific (Op) wave mural surfboard. Features stunning airbrushed work of art depicting a nocturnal wave mural. Rounded pintail shape design. A beautiful example of...