Building surfing’s sacred ‘cultural anchor’: Dale Velzy and the first retail surf shop

The ocean is a sacred space to all waveriders. The ocean, however, is not the only space of sacrality for surfers. This article argues that the ocean was not the primary space that nurtured, developed and exported California’s surf culture. Instead, the surf shop, a bricks-and-mortar space offering both function and familiarity, enabled a modern surf culture to be born from its humble foundations. This article will discuss how the first retail surf shop, owned by Dale Velzy, opened in 1950, and how this novel blueprint built a distinct, radical and modern surf culture in southern California, that has been exported globally. With a focus on spatial studies, this article argues that the surf shop should be defined as a sacred ‘Thirdspace’, worthy of scholarship.