SOUL SURFER, The TRUE Story of Nick Gabaldon/Ink Well Beach

SOUL SURFER

A song and webpage in honor of Nicolas R. Gabaldon... California's 1st Surfer of African-American Descent

and the true store of the history of Ink Well Beach of Santa Monica, California

Disclaimer:

I am not a surfer, nor have I ever surfed. I do not and will not claim to be a surfing "expert." I acknowledge that I am speaking from outside of the surf culture. This video and webpage is just about an interest I have as an amateur historian in learning about and documenting the almost forgotten history of people of color living West of the Mississippi. To me, Nick and Ink Well Beach are integral parts of that history. It's my desire to use music and poetry and photography to get the information out there to the general public for both education and entertainment.

I encourage you all to support two different full length film documentaries that expand upon what I've just touched on here. They are by people who are actually surfers and are part of the surf culture worldwide. The documentaries are entitled "Soul On A Wave" and "A Black Surfer's Story" You can read more about these two worthwhile film projects at their respective websites. See clips and links below.

Nicolas Rolando Gabaldon (1927-1951) was an early surfer who is credited by surfing experts with being California's first documented surfer of African-American descent. Despite being an amateur recreational surfer rather than a professional competitive surfer, many surfers of color consider him as a role model and an integral part of the history of surfing.

Nick was born February 23, 1927 in Los Angeles, California to Nicolas and Cecilia Gabaldon (nee Raines). He had an older half-sister named Geraldine. Very little is known of Nick's childhood. He lived most of his life in Santa Monica, California and was one of 50 black students attending Santa Monica High School during the 1940s. Nick was an ambitious student who earned good grades, and was popular with his fellow students...as well as people in the community.

Nick taught himself how to surf at a 200 foot roped off stretch of demarcated beachfront which was officially part of Santa Monica State Beach. This area of beachfront was informally referred to by names such as "Ink Well Beach", "Negro Beach", and other more derogatory names.

After the forced closure of African American owned and operated Bruce's Beach near Manhattan Beach in 1924 , a portion of Santa Monica beachfront near Pico Blvd and Bay Street became the only beach in Southern California that racial minorities were freely allowed to use without harassment or violence. This area remains popular with African American Angelenos to the present day.

Wait!

There was a segregated beach?

In California?

Yes!

It is sad...but TRUE!

One of the best kept secrets in history was de facto segregation was practiced in more places than just in the Southern US. Such separation was implemented and enforced on beaches and lakefronts and communities all over the United States. In fact, California at that time had some of the strictest segregation and so-called "sundown" laws in the nation! At that time, both Compton and Hawthorne, CA (hometown of the Beach Boys) were off limits to black people.

However, Nick apparently decided that he wasn't letting all that stop him from having a full life.

After high school graduation, he enlisted in the Navy, and served at the tail end of World War II mainly at Great Lakes Naval Station in Chicago. Upon his discharge, he returned home, enrolled in Santa Monica College where he divided his time between pursuing his studies, surfing and working as an "unofficial" lifeguard at Ink Well Beach.

In the summer of 1949, ten years before the "surf craze" swept mainstream America, Nick began surfing at Malibu, California's famed Surfrider Beach. Despite the beaches of Malibu technically being "off limits", Nick was accepted without question by several mainland surf pioneers. His friends and surf contemporaries included Greg Noll, Mickey Munoz, Ricky Grigg, Matt Kivlin, Charles "Buzzy" Trent, Robert Wilson "Bob" Simmons and Les Williams.

Since Nick did not own a vehicle, he would either get there by hitching rides on the Pacific Coast Hwy (called the PCH by locals) or he would use his surfboard to paddle the 12 miles to Malibu by way of Santa Monica Bay. According to The Encyclopedia of Surfing by Matt Warshaw, Nick did this waterway commute for a number of weeks.

On June 6, 1951, Nick died when he crashed into the Malibu Pier while attempting a surfing move known as a "pier ride" or "shooting the pier". This is described as riding a surfboard on between the pilings of a beachside pier.

At that time, there was a south swell that came on, creating some of the biggest waves known in that area. Nick's surfboard was found immediately, but it would be 3 to 4 days before his body was found washed up on Las Flores Beach, further East of the Pier.

Most of his Malibu-based surfing peers had attended his rosary and funeral at St. Monica Catholic Church.

Nick is buried at Woodlawn Memorial Cemetery in Santa Monica. He is buried next to his mother Cecilia. She died later that same year.

Six days prior to his death, Nick had submitted a poem for submission to the Santa Monica College literary magazine. It was entitled "Lost Lives" where he describes the sea as "capricious", "vindictive" and where men "do battle but still die." Some see the poem as being somewhat prophetic in light of how he died.

There is also a brief reference to Nick's death in the 1957 novel, "Gidget: The Little Girl With Big Ide" by Frederick Kohner. He is not mentioned by name, but in the story, the protagonist, Frances Lawrence, refers to her parents being opposed to her surfing because of what happened to that "colored boy" who crashed into the pier.

This reference does NOT show up in the original 1959 movie starring Sandra Dee.

For decades, people throughout the Southland have talked about a young boy who died hitting the pier, but eventually some began to believe it was just an "urban legend." While the people of Santa Monica have not forgotten Nick, you'll find that if you travel to Malibu, CA today, you will meet some people who have no historic recollection of Nick and what happened to him, and unfortunately, you will meet some will even insist that the incident never occurred. One surf shop owner even went so far as to tell this songwriter that it was "internet nonsense." Her exact words were, "There are NO black people who surf...and there NEVER have been!"

Shocking someone would believe that in the 21st century, isn't it? However there are....as this KCAL Ch 9 Los Angeles news report will attest.

Well, there are many people worldwide who admired Nick's passion for his chosen sport, and his willingness to step out of his comfort zone in order to pursue the activity he loved, and are very proactive in assuring that Nick's memory will not relegated to the fate of the forgotten. So a variety of people have stepped forward to ask that he be remembered. Their efforts have finally come to fruition.

On September 7, 2007, officials for the City of Santa Monica announced plans to commemorate the stretch of Santa Monica State Beach called the Ink Well, and to post a bronze plaque to honor Nick Gabaldon's contribution to the sport of surf. The plaque was officially dedicated on February 7, 2008. The commemorative plaque can be found at the corner of Ocean Walk and Bay Streets, not far from the historic Casa Del Mar Hotel. This songwriter had the privilege of visiting the plaque, Ink Well Beach and paying her respects at Nick's grave side on May 29, 2008, and is determined (along with many other people worldwide) that Nick's legacy will NEVER be forgotten!

Original Song: Soul Surfer: The Ballad Of Nick Gabaldon

Works Cited:

Encyclopedia of Surfing by Matt Warshaw. Available at most public libraries and for purchase in bookstores.

Surfer Magazine, Vol. 24 #8, August 1983 "Black Surfers Of The Golden State" By

The Surfer's Journal, Vol 14, #1 Early Spring 2005 "Nick's Pier Ride" By Les Williams

Article at The Surfer's Path magazine "Wet Sand" website

Newspaper Articles:

Popular CC Youth Dies In Surf Tragedy, Santa Monica Evening Outlook, 6 June 1951

Grim Foreboding Stalks Through Lines Of Poem by Tragedy Fated Student, Santa Monica Evening Outlook, 14 June 1951

(Note: The Santa Monica Evening Outlook is now defunct. You can find the articles on microfiche via interlibrary loan through your local library system)