Danica Elbertse

Dan­ica Elbertse is a tal­ented young Cal­i­for­nia surfer/artist. Equally adept at slid­ing waves as design­ing an art deco poster, Dan­ica has a unique style all her own. We took some time to learn more about what makes her tick.

What was your life like grow­ing up?
I’m the mid­dle child and the only girl. I have two broth­ers; we’re each a year apart. Week­ends were “fam­ily time.” My dad loves his boat so we were always, always on the water. We trav­eled to the Car­ribean and Mex­ico a lot but I def­i­nitely grew up in Dana Point Har­bor. If we weren’t near water, we went camp­ing in the desert.

We ain’t really city folk, so any chance we got we were out­side. My dad wouldn’t really let us watch tele­vi­sion… and he still doesn’t. Besides play­time, I also grew up with the fam­ily busi­ness, Amer­i­can Eagle Wheel (started in Hunt­ing­ton Beach). Been mak­ing wheels since 76’ in the U.S.A. and still do today. I remem­ber see­ing lowrid­ers at the car shows when we lived in Chino. When we moved to Orange County, my mom would pick us up from school in her low­ered sub­ur­ban and peo­ple would kinda trip out. This was before soc­cer moms had 20s.

When did you get your first surf­board?
I believe the very first board we got was when we moved back to Cal­i­for­nia. How­ever it wasn’t until I was sev­en­teen that I really knew what I wanted to ride and got my first log. It was a Model T by Don­ald Takayama. It changed surf­ing for me completely.

What was the feel­ing you had when you first stood up on a surf­board?
Wish I could remember,  though some days it feels like it’s the first time… .so I’d have to say good­ness – with a lit­tle bit of “woah”

Who did you look up to and admire when you were a young girl?
Well I looked up to Madonna a lit­tle but that all changed when she started rap­ping. I looked up to my mama and papa as well and thank God they have good taste in music. Peo­ple didn’t so much inspire me, I was more inter­ested in their cre­ative output.

Who/what inspires you?
Cul­ture, the West, Art Nou­veau, Mexicans, Christian Dior’s “New Look,” The Talk­ing Heads, jazz, blues, Egon Schiele, Geor­gia O’Keefe, Agnes Mar­tin, France, books, outer space, the South, my friend Matt Kim, Sophia of the Mer­maid Bones. And all the kids ‘round here doin’ some­thing cre­atively their own.

In surf­ing – inno­va­tors, influ­en­tials, shapers, and icons are all nec­es­sary… but I get more excited about the young “nobodys” who are strange and weird. Even the ones I will never meet. I like just know­ing they’re out there doing what they do. I saw some footage of Linda Ben­son the other day. It made me very excited.

What is your process when you cre­ate your art?
Can­dles. Tunes. And a mon­u­men­tal mess. Of course, me cry­ing my eyes out to Edith Piaf’s “Hymne a l’amour.”  SO French.

What is the great­est thing you have learned in your life?
Love, most impor­tantly. Also the hard les­son of learn­ing that my par­ents were in fact… right.

What are you most proud of?
At this point in my life, it is good to have all my fin­gers and toes in tact. Oth­er­wise, I am most proud that I am fol­low­ing my dreams – which two or three years ago didn’t seem believable.

Of all the places you have trav­eled to, what place in par­tic­u­lar stands out and why?
Mex­ico. It’s the wild. It’s what Cal­i­for­nia should be. I have wet dreams about Scor­pion. Never been, but once things set­tle down a bit, I’ll be dip­ping my toes in that fine perfection.

What mean­ing does surf­ing hold for you and how has it changed your life?
It seems like every­day surf­ing becomes more valu­able and nec­es­sary. There’s still those days when the water gets crys­tal clear, the waves are purr­fect, and its quiet. It’s a dif­fer­ent world. For me, I need that.

What brings you the most hap­pi­ness in the world?
Get­ting my belly rubbed.

Who are some of the peo­ple you feel are shap­ing the path for surf­ing today?
Joel Tudor, Alex Knost, Dane Reynolds, Tyler Warren, Kassia Meador, Belinda Baggs, Kelly Slatez, Chris­t­ian Wach, Robin Kegel, the boys at Gato, the boys at Almond, Terry Mar­tin, Mau­rice at Edit Indus­tries. As well as the influ­en­tials from the past; there’s still an impact being interpreted.

There’s still a void though for a truly styl­ish, fem­i­nine lady who can surf what­ever and surf it well like a woman should. One day…

What is your cur­rent favorite board? Your favorite surfspot?
My favorite board is my main squeeze, my laven­der Love Edit shaped by Terry Mar­tin. A Plank. And Mal­ibu ’til I cross the border.

What’s your favorite meal?
Spaghetti with but­ter and salt. French fries dipped in ice cream.

What are you cur­rently lis­ten­ing to on your iPod?
Nina Simone, Nouvelle Vague, Jorge Ben, Amy Wine­house, Cry­ing Time by Ray Charles, The Matt­son 2, Johnny Cash, Brenda Lee, B.I.G. and Vikki Carr live at the Per­sian Room on vinyl.

What are you most grate­ful for?
God, my fam­ily, my love and best friend, my pup Sofie and today. Oh, and cheese & chocolate.

What’s next for Dan­ica Elbertse?
Well, just did a job for Levi’s Europe. Fin­ish­ing my degrees in Fash­ion Design and then Busi­ness Man­age­ment. Start­ing my busi­ness. I would love to travel and film. A live appear­ance on the 24th at the Surf­ing Her­itage Museum and pos­si­ble col­labo in Sep­tem­ber. As for this evening, I think I’m gonna pack up the boy, pup and boards and get my sloice.

More infor­ma­tion about Dan­ica Elbertse can be found here. Dan­ica will also be appear­ing at The Surf­ing Her­itage Museum on Sat­ur­day, July 24, located at the South Coast Plaza, Costa Mesa, CA. Pho­tog­ra­phy by Dana Mor­ris.