Tourmaline Surfing Park
The Strange Story Behind America's First Surf Park
Greg Ross
CEO / Owner - Nancy's Vacation Rentals
SAN DIEGO WEIRD HISTORY
Tourmaline Surfing Park: The Strange Story Behind America's First Surf ParkLongboards. Woody wagons. Surf clubs. Angry homeowners. City Hall battles. And a few legendary surfers who originally thought the whole thing was a terrible idea.
Today, Tourmaline Surfing Park feels like it has always belonged here.
Tucked into a canyon at the northern edge of Pacific Beach, “Tourmo” is one of those wonderfully San Diego places where time seems to move a little slower.
Longboarders glide across gentle waves.
Surfers sit on tailgates drinking coffee.
Boards lean against old cars.
People talk about waves they caught this morning — and waves they caught 40 years ago.
But Tourmaline wasn't always this peaceful.
In fact, its creation came out of a surprisingly heated battle over surfing in San Diego.
And what emerged from that fight was something remarkable:
America's first surfing park.
🏄 Before Tourmaline Was Tourmaline
Surfers had been riding waves around Tourmaline Canyon and nearby Pacific Beach Point since at least the 1930s.
But the area looked very different.
In 1960, much of Tourmaline Canyon was still undeveloped private property.
No large paved parking lot.
No bathrooms.
No showers.
No landscaped entrance.
The canyon was rugged open land leading toward the ocean.
According to the San Diego History Center, someone standing there around 1960 might have thought they were somewhere in Baja California.
Local surfers simply called it:
“The Canyon.”
🌊 And Tourmaline Wasn't Even the Wave Surfers Wanted
Here's one of the strangest parts of the story.
The Tourmaline we know today — famous for gentle waves and longboards — wasn't really the attraction in the early 1960s.
The cove was mostly rocky and had far less sand than it does today.
During summer, there often wasn't much of a wave there at all.
The serious surfing happened nearby at Pacific Beach Point, which was also known by names including Sun Gold Point, False Point and Gunners Point.
During big winter north swells, surfers flocked there.
And that's when the trouble started.
😡 Surfers vs. Homeowners
Surfing exploded in popularity during the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Suddenly San Diego's coastal neighborhoods were dealing with something relatively new:
Huge numbers of young surfers chasing waves.
When the surf was good, surfers parked throughout the residential streets near PB Point.
Residents complained about traffic, noise, changing clothes near cars, honking, litter and crowds.
Surfers, meanwhile, simply wanted access to the waves.
The conflict became so intense that some residents pushed to restrict surfing in the area.
And it wasn't happening only in Pacific Beach.
San Diego was struggling with the same question up and down its coastline:
Where exactly were all these surfers supposed to go?
🏄♂️ December 1960: Surfing Chaos Hits San Diego
Then came an extraordinary December day.
On December 17, 1960, San Diego experienced an unusual combination of warm Santa Ana weather, warm ocean temperatures and big surf.
Word spread throughout Southern California.
Surf's up.
Surfers poured into San Diego.
Popular breaks became overwhelmed, surfers spilled into restricted areas, and complaints from coastal homeowners intensified.
The City began seriously considering new rules governing where surfing would be allowed.
There was even discussion of licensing surfboards.
That idea ultimately went nowhere.
But the City recognized that San Diego needed a longer-term solution.
🚫 Imagine Needing Permission to Surf
This is hard to imagine today.
Surfing is now practically part of San Diego's identity.
But in the early 1960s, the City was actively designating specific stretches of coastline where surfing would be permitted.
Officials were trying to balance swimmers, surfers, homeowners, tourists and increasingly crowded beaches.
One proposed solution was surprisingly forward-thinking:
Instead of simply banning surfers, why not give them a place of their own?
Tourmaline Canyon became the answer.
🏗️ The City Decides to Build a Park... For Surfers
The City began pursuing development of Tourmaline Canyon specifically to provide surfing access.
The plan included an access road, parking and facilities leading directly to the beach.
It was an unusual concept.
Today we build skateparks.
We build soccer complexes.
We build mountain-bike parks.
But in the early 1960s, San Diego was proposing something almost unheard of:
A municipal park specifically designed around surfing.
📺 AND THEN IT GETS REALLY GOOD...
The Surfers Didn't Want the Surf Park
This might be our favorite part of the entire story.
On January 30, 1963, San Diego television reporters went to Tourmaline Canyon to interview surfers about the City's plan.
The footage still exists.
And these weren't random surfers.
The reporter spoke with:
- Mike Hynson
- Mike Diffenderfer
- Bill Caster
Names that would become deeply connected with Southern California surfing and surfboard design.
The City was reportedly planning to spend roughly $150,000 developing the canyon for surfers.
And the surfers' reaction?
They basically thought it was a waste of money.
They wanted good waves — not a government-built surf park.
The irony is wonderful.
More than six decades later, Tourmaline is one of San Diego's most beloved surfing institutions.
And you can still watch that 1963 interview today.
▶️ WATCH: Surfing Legends React to the Proposed Tourmaline Surf Park — 1963
🇺🇸 America's First Surfing Park
Construction didn't exactly go smoothly.
The project took longer than expected, and even the newly paved parking area reportedly suffered damage after people moved barricades and drove across fresh asphalt.
But the project continued.
In February 1965, the San Diego City Council officially approved the Tourmaline Canyon development as a City park.
Then came the big day.
May 29, 1965.
Tourmaline Surfing Park was formally dedicated.
It became the first park in the United States officially dedicated to surfing.
🎉 San Diego Threw a Surfing Parade
And San Diego didn't exactly open the park quietly.
The dedication coincided with the Pacific Beach Aquafair and Western Regional Surfing Championships.
There was even an unusual parade of surfers reportedly led by a fire engine.
Sixteen-year-old surfer Barry Adams paddled up to Tourmaline to accept the new park on behalf of the surfing community.
Waiting at the dedication were San Diego Mayor Frank Curran, Pacific Beach community representatives and City officials.
The City Council proclaimed the final week of May:
Surfing Week in San Diego.
America's first surfing park was officially open.
😂 There Was Just One Problem...
The surf contest couldn't actually be held at the new surf park.
Why?
There wasn't enough surf there.
The Western Regional Surfing Championships instead took place farther south near the end of Emerald Street.
More than 350 surfers reportedly entered the event, with thousands of spectators watching.
It's wonderfully San Diego:
Dedicate America's first surfing park...
...then hold the surfing contest somewhere else because the waves aren't good enough.
🌊 So How Did Tourmaline Become the Wave We Know Today?
Nature — with a little help from humans.
Years later, sand dredged from the San Diego River was deposited along the coastline.
Sand gradually began filling the rocky cove at Tourmaline.
Then large El Niño storm systems during the early 1980s helped reshape the beach.
The sand became more established.
And the character of the wave changed.
The place originally chosen largely as a convenient way to manage surfers eventually developed into an actual surf break beloved by generations of San Diegans.
📺 Tourmaline in 1969 — And You Can Watch It
There's another remarkable piece of San Diego history preserved online.
On April 4, 1969, TV 8 reporter Nicki Pierce visited Tourmaline Surfing Park for the station's Young America series.
The original footage survives.
You can see surfers carrying longboards, hanging around the beach and talking with the reporter about one of surfing's eternal problems:
Is the water too cold?
The water was around 60 degrees.
Apparently San Diego surfers have been complaining about cold water for a very long time.
▶️ WATCH: Surfing at Tourmaline Surf Park in 1969 — Original TV 8 Footage
For anyone who loves old San Diego, this video alone is worth the click.
🏄 From Shortboards to Longboards
Tourmaline gradually developed a personality completely its own.
Today it is especially associated with:
- Longboarding
- Beginning surfers
- Older surfers
- Traditional surf culture
- Friendly, slower-rolling waves
- Generations of local regulars
You'll certainly find excellent surfers here.
But Tourmaline generally isn't about showing off.
It's about catching waves.
Talking story.
Hanging around the parking lot.
And enjoying being in the ocean.
Locals sometimes call it “Old Man's” — a nickname that says a lot about Tourmaline's longtime connection to traditional longboard culture.
🚙 The Parking Lot Is Almost as Important as the Surf
If you've never been to Tourmaline, here's something you need to understand.
The parking lot is part of the experience.
Surfers back their cars toward the ocean.
Tailgates come down.
Coffee appears.
Boards get waxed.
People change into wetsuits.
Old friends talk.
New friends become old friends.
Someone inevitably starts discussing how much better the waves were yesterday.
It's less like a parking lot and more like an outdoor clubhouse.
🤙 The Tourmaline Tailgaters
That parking-lot culture eventually became organized.
The Tourmaline Tailgaters Surfing Association has helped preserve the community atmosphere surrounding the park and worked with the City and other organizations on improvements.
Tourmaline has also remained closely connected with the Pacific Beach Surf Club and San Diego's broader surfing community.
The idea isn't simply to protect a surf break.
It's to protect a culture.
🧱 The Tourmaline Surfer Memorial
Look around the park and you'll find another reason not to rush straight into the water.
The Tourmaline Canyon Surfer's Memorial was completed in 2008.
It honors surfers who helped shape Tourmaline and San Diego surfing culture.
The names connected with the memorial read like a chapter of Southern California surf history, including legendary surfers, board builders and members of local surf clubs.
Among the people honored are figures associated with San Diego surfing history such as:
- Skip Frye
- Mike Hynson
- Larry Gordon
- Floyd Smith
- Doc Paskowitz
- Woody Brown
- And many more
But perhaps the best part of the memorial is its philosophy:
“Surf Well, Spread Aloha, Share Waves Without Judgment.”
That may be the best description of Tourmaline you'll ever read.
❤️ Why Tourmaline Still Matters
San Diego has more dramatic surf breaks.
It has bigger waves.
It has more famous beaches.
But Tourmaline represents something different.
It's a living piece of San Diego surf history.
The surfers who once fought for access eventually became caretakers of the place.
The park that some legendary surfers thought was unnecessary became one of the city's most enduring surfing institutions.
The rocky cove that barely had a summer wave became one of San Diego's best-known longboarding spots.
And a conflict between surfers and homeowners ultimately helped produce something neither side probably imagined:
America's first surfing park.
🌴 Visiting Tourmaline Surfing Park
Tourmaline sits at the northern end of Pacific Beach where Tourmaline Street descends through the canyon toward the ocean.
The park includes beach access, parking, restrooms and showers.
Even if you don't surf, it's worth visiting.
Grab a coffee.
Walk down to the beach.
Watch the longboarders.
Read the memorial.
And imagine what this canyon looked like more than 60 years ago when San Diego was trying to figure out what to do with all those crazy kids carrying surfboards.
Turns out, they were onto something.
🏖️ Stay Near San Diego's Surf History
Tourmaline sits right between Pacific Beach and La Jolla, surrounded by some of San Diego's most iconic coastal neighborhoods.
It's also exactly the kind of place we love sharing with guests at Nancy's Vacation Rentals.
Not simply the famous attractions.
The places that actually make San Diego San Diego.
Nancy's Vacation Rentals has been helping guests experience San Diego for more than 25 years, with professionally managed vacation homes throughout many of the city's coastal communities.
Find Your San Diego Vacation Rental →
Changing the way you vacation.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why is Tourmaline Surfing Park famous?
Tourmaline is historically significant because it became the first municipal park in the United States officially dedicated specifically to surfing. Today it is also famous for its traditional longboard culture and welcoming atmosphere.
When did Tourmaline Surfing Park open?
The formal dedication of Tourmaline Surfing Park took place on May 29, 1965, during Pacific Beach's Aquafair and the Western Regional Surfing Championships.
Is Tourmaline good for beginner surfers?
Tourmaline is known for relatively gentle, slow-rolling waves and is popular with longboarders and newer surfers. Ocean conditions can change dramatically, however, so beginners should always evaluate current conditions and follow lifeguard guidance.
Why is Tourmaline sometimes called Old Man's?
The nickname reflects Tourmaline's longstanding reputation as a traditional longboard break popular with generations of older surfers. Today you'll find surfers of virtually every age there.
Can non-surfers visit Tourmaline?
Absolutely. The beach, ocean views, historic surfer memorial and classic San Diego surf culture make Tourmaline interesting even if you never step on a surfboard.
SAN DIEGO WEIRD HISTORY
The stories hiding in plain sight around America's Finest City.
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Discover the surprising history of Tourmaline Surfing Park in Pacific Beach — America's first dedicated surf park, born from a 1960s battle between surfers, homeowners and the City of San Diego.
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