Sunday, March 20, 2011

Vintage Roberts Surfboards


Robert Milner was one of the early legends of shaping. His shop was on Culver Boulevard in Playa del Rey. Sadly it's now a parking lot for a much needed coffee shop. His boards were always sturdy and stable to ride. 

4 comments:

  1. I have a vintage surf board..logo... Roberts surf shop.. I would like to know what it"s worth? Can i send someboby some pic:s e-mail obershome@cox.net

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  2. It's good to see someone's still recognizing Bob. I was a junior high school Ballona Creek / Toes surfer from 1964 through 1966 and used to hang out at Bob's shop. He was totally cool to us kooks. He even gave Jeff Ho a job brooming up foam; we were so jealous. Rory

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  3. Very cool... Bob was shaping boards in a small shop on Pershing Drive - Playa Del Rey. This is where he made my first board, an 8'10" with blue metal flake side panels. He was way cool, and in those days, we all thought of him as our surf god . He then moved into a bigger shop, down in the jungle section, on Culver Blvd. We all followed him and hung out when possible. I help paint the shop. In those days, we surfed Ballona Creek on big days, and Toes on smaller days. Also, we spent allot of time down at the D&W break, which was appox. 8 miles south. My neighbor Danny Schaffer and I, spend endless day and summers there surfing. On a Big day, you could ride a wave down Ballona Creek, all the way to the bridge. Bob was always kind, and inspired me to try and make something of myself, as we were all basically juvenile delinquents.

    Other notable names are : Bill Mayjack, who graduated Westchester High School around 1965. A great surfer himself, and would load us kids up into his Chevy ranchero, and take us up to his secret Santa Barbra surf spots. I still have photos of him. He would paddle into the jeddy, make a sharp cut back, and hang 5. Thank you Bill, as those glassy early morning waves are still with me.

    Jerry Booth (JB) was at the top of his game. Fearless surfer, who once road a large breaking wave from Ballona Creek, as it Brook over the jetty, onto the other side at Toes. Incredible...

    I left my board at a friends house when I moved over into the Valley. Eventually, I stopped driving back into Westchester, and lost it. If anyone has it, I would like it back, though I'm not holding my breath. These days, I have a beach house overlooking Nelscott Scott Reef. Here they hold each year, a large wave ridding contests. Ref: http://www.surfersvillage.com/surfing-news/58300#.URbErOjRrjE

    Check it out...

    Steve Clayton
    sclayton@steveclayton.com

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  4. I remember hitchhiking with a friend from Ventura county to the Roberts shop on Culver Blvd in 1967. We both bought boards. His was a 9'3' superkicked nose model and mine was a 9'8" Weber performer clone and both boards had Nuuhiwa noserider type fins glassed on. Both were awesome boards. I don't know what happened to either, but it sure was an adventure trying to hitchhike back home with two longboards.

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