Surfer statue

Santa Cruz, California, United States

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Public art

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Listed, not yet checked · Oct 2026

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"To Honor Surfing" is a bronze surfer statue on West Cliff Drive in Santa Cruz, California, near Steamer Lane. Created by sculptors Thomas Marsh and Brian W. Curtis and unveiled in May 1992, it honours the 1936 Santa Cruz Surfing Club and all surfers. Good Times gives its height as 18 feet.

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Surfer statue

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Site-level location · 36.9511° N, 122.0257° W

FIELD GUIDE

The story

Santa Cruz dresses its surfer. The bronze figure on West Cliff Drive is often given a jack-o'-lantern in October and a Santa hat at Christmas, Lookout Santa Cruz reported in 2022, and was dressed in a surgical mask at the start of the pandemic and a firefighter's helmet during the 2020 fires.

Titled "To Honor Surfing," the statue was unveiled in May 1992 where West Cliff meets Pelton Avenue, near Steamer Lane and the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. It grew out of the surviving members of the 1936 Santa Cruz Surfing Club. Good Times reports that Bob Rittenhouse and Doug Thorne formed a committee in 1987 after the death of club member Bill Lidderdale Jr., and gives the statue's height as 18 feet. Lookout puts the fundraising target at $60,000, with T-shirts donated by O'Neill Wetsuits bringing the project two-thirds of the way.

The figure is the work of sculptor Thomas Marsh. The City of Santa Cruz credits Brian W. Curtis as co-creator, and Lookout says Curtis made the base; Good Times names the base designer as Bill Curtis. Club members Bill Grace and David Steward shaped the board. Marsh told Lookout he wanted a figure that suggests a guardian or centurion, drawn from a well-known photograph of the club on Cowell Beach, and that his model was the 20-year-old son of a friend.

The design was not uncontroversial. Lookout reports that the city council once voted down a proposal as too big and unsafe, and Good Times says approval required engineering for an 8.0 earthquake and 100 mph winds. The plaque dedicates the monument to all surfers, past, present and future.

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WHAT TO EXPECT

A bronze statue on a pedestal in a tiny park, near Steamer Lane and the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum. Lookout reports that residents dress it for the seasons and that volunteers and the city's parks department look after it. A plaque is dedicated to all surfers.

ACCESS

At the junction of West Cliff Drive and Pelton Avenue, Santa Cruz, in a small public park beside the coastal drive, near Steamer Lane and the Surfing Museum.

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Animals and creatures

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3.0 km away

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