Duke's dream, now realized, the focus of Huntington Beach surf exhibit

Ricky Blake sits with Victoria White's "Duke," at the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum.

By Matt SzaboStaff Writer

March 22, 2024 2:02 PM PT

Duke Kahanamoku has a remarkable legacy that is still being felt more than 50 years after his death.

Kahanamoku was a five-time Olympic medalist in swimming in the 1910s and ’20s. Yet, it was his efforts to popularize surfing and bring that sport to the Olympic Games that helped make the Hawaiian an icon in Huntington Beach — otherwise known as Surf City USA.

That journey is the focus of a new exhibit at the Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum. “Duke’s Dream Came True: Surfing’s Road to the Olympics” opened Thursday with a ribbon-cutting ceremony.

Surfing finally became an Olympic sport in 2020, with Italo Ferreira of Brazil and Carissa Moore of the United States becoming the first gold medalists. Duke’s dream was finally realized.

Brett Simpson looks over "Duke," a piece by fellow two-time U.S. Open of Surfing winner Courtney Conlogue, on Thursday.

The exhibit tells the story of Kahanamoku’s life, from the early 20th century growing up in Waikiki to his death in 1968, and how surfing was intertwined throughout it. It does it through 16 story panels as well as 18 original artwork pieces from figures also renowned in the surf culture world.

“We’re going to keep this exhibit up all year,” said Peter “P.T.” Townend, the International Surfing Museum executive director. “We’re going to have two new Olympic champions, right? So we’ll do a refresh when we get the new champions. Hopefully an American wins one, and I can get one of them to turn up. Maybe Carissa will repeat.”

This is the third exhibit at the museum in recent years, Townend said. The museum closed for a couple of months at the start of the year for a refurbishing, as well as to properly install the panels and art.

Townend, a Huntington Beach local, is a well-known figure in the surfing world in his own right as the native Australian was one of the best surfers in the world in the 1970s and ’80s. He is someone who surely appreciates Kahanamoku’s impact.

Ricky Blake shows some of the artwork reflecting the image and legacy of Duke Kahanamoku at the new exhibit.

“Sometimes you have to think bigger than doing it for the local community,” Townend said of the exhibit. “We have this transient population in Huntington Beach with our four big hotels. People are going to want to come because it’s about Duke Kahanamoku, and it’s an Olympic year. That was my whole idea, timing-wise. And, of course, we want the Olympics in 2028 for surfing, right?”

The artwork in the exhibit — all of which is for sale — highlights Kahanamoku at different points in his life. Surf museum board member Ricky Blake, himself a local artist from Huntington Beach, was in charge of getting the artwork together.

Orange County native Courtney Conlogue, a two-time U.S. Open of Surfing winner, contributed a piece.

Phil Roberts painted side-by-side portraits of Kahanamoku, one younger and one later in life. Victoria White used three surfboards to present him in a colorful way.

Then there is the detailed painting by Los Angeles native Sandow Birk, whose work is often political. But for this work, Birk captured Kahanamoku giving a surfing demonstration near the Huntington Beach Pier, circa the 1920s.

Brett Simpson, Ricky Blake and Peter "PT" Townend officially open the International Surfing Museum's new exhibit on Thursday.

“He was so stoked to go back to his surfing roots,” Blake said. “I’m asking him to do this art, and he is so detailed ... There’s not really any written history of [the demonstration]. There’s little stories but not really any photos and no story in the newspaper or anything.

“There is no image of it, but now we have this. That’s what is cool about being an artist. This is probably now the best image of that thing that happened.”

Blake added that Kahanamoku would often return to Huntington Beach for the U.S. Championships in the 1960s, shortly before his death. He’d stay at the house of the owner of the former Sam’s Seafood.

Thursday’s ceremony included appearances by Huntington Beach Mayor Gracey Van Der Mark and Councilwoman Natalie Moser, as well as a blowing of the conch shell by Duke Aipa.

Conlogue and another two-time U.S. Open winner, Huntington Beach native Brett Simpson, also were in attendance. At the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Simpson had the honor of coaching the U.S. Olympic team, and he used his instincts to help Moore come out on top.

A portrait of Duke Kahanamoku, painted by Rob Havassy.

“There was this right coming in out front and I said, ‘Carissa, do you trust me?’” Simpson said. “She really likes a plan, she has to have a plan and she goes and executes it. But I said, ‘Just trust me on this.’ She’s paddling out underneath the jetty, and she gets worked by a set. I could tell she’s getting a little bit frustrated, but she stayed the course, she got out the back, and all of a sudden the heat just played out perfectly.”

Simpson, who now works as a surfing ambassador for Hurley, said coaching Olympic surfing was “pretty darn special.”

“For ’28, hopefully we’re right back out front here,” he told the crowd at the ceremony with a smile. “Maybe I’ll make a coaching comeback.”

The Huntington Beach International Surfing Museum is open 11 a.m. to 5 p.m., Thursday through Sunday.