PACIFIC BEACH – Renowned surfboard and skateboard manufacturer Gordon & Smith is going back to the future — by returning to its original shop in Pacific Beach.
The fabled local surfboard shaping company is going back to its roots where it began, opening a new retail outlet in a re-imagined space along with café Boards N’ Beans at 763 Turquoise St.
G&S was founded in 1959 by legendary surfboard-building pioneers Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith. Both founders married sisters, so their joint company has been a family-run business from the start.
For the past 10-plus years, the company has been run by the brother-and-sister team of Eric and Debbie Gordon. The pair pushed the reset button for G&S in 2014, setting up their manufacturing and control of production in both surfboards and skateboards in San Diego.
At its current surfboard factory at 5151 Santa Fe St., Suite A, located half a mile from its original 1964 factory, G&S not only glasses its own surfboards, but glasses other top-shaper brands as well.
The company continues to pride itself by continuing to build on its legacy of quality craftsmanship, which has defined G&S over 60 years in business. The company has four experienced employees who hand-shape all of its boards at its factory site.
Conducting a tour of their surfboard factory, Gordon introduced head shaper Chris Darby.
“It’s just a basic room specially designed with lighting to see the contours of the board,” he said of his workspace, where he was currently working on a board for a surf shop in New Jersey. Darby added that he loves his job and the freedom it provides him, allowing him to take a break on occasion when the waves are especially good before returning to work.
Surf and skateboards are made to order at G&S.
Debbie Gordon talked about how her family got a toehold in the local surf and skate industry.
“We started in a garage,” she said. “Then (we) moved to 763 Turquoise St., which is where we’re re-moving in. Boards N’ Beans invited us to have all our stuff in there.”
Photos on the wall of the new shop document the beginnings of Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith at 763 Turquoise St. (Photo by Thomas Melville/Times of San Diego)
Of their game plan for the new location, Gordon said, “We’ll be doing shaping exhibitions and meet-and-greets with our shapers. It’s plugging into the community.”
Gordon noted that 763 Turquoise St. is just a couple of blocks from Tourmaline Surf Park, where a memorial bench sits above the surf honoring her late father and his work.
A documentary book, “Gordon & Smith: One Long Ride,” outlining the history of their family and surf/skate business, will be on sale at its Turquoise Street location.
Gordon said that G&S wasn’t the very first company to make surfboards, by any means. But in 1959 when G&S started, everything was balsa, heavy, and hard to carry to the beach. Women and kids had a hard time with that weight.
“My dad and my uncle saw the need for foam boards, which became a sought-after commodity,” Debbie Gordon said.
“We made it out of the short-board revolution that came in the late ’60s, where boards went from being long to being very short all of a sudden. G&S was one of the only brands that made it through that transition. We were also one of the first surfboard companies to go international as well.”
Gordon added their company continues to adapt to changing tastes and times.
“We can duplicate your favorite board, come up with a custom design from one of our newest model templates, or pull a design from our library of five decades of proven models to suit your needs,” reads the company’s promotional materials.
They are also producing reissues and new models in collaboration with some of their skate team riders.
How to build a surfboard
A surfboard’s core is typically made from some sort of foam, which is then covered by a skin, traditionally fiberglass. Running through the center of the foam is the stringer, typically a single strip of wood that adds strength and rigidity.
- Decide on a surfboard design.
- Make a stringer.
- Glue stringer between block foam.
- Remove bulk foam from the block foam.
- Rough shape the blank.
- Cut out rough shape of the surfboard.
- Refine the blank.
- Add artwork.
Finally, enjoy your new surfboard.
