A Life of Endless Summer

An interview with Dana Brown by Glenn Sakamoto

For many surfers, Bruce Brown’s The Endless Summer represented the never-ending search for adventure and following one’s dream. Over 50 years later, Bruce’s filmmaker son Dana Brown and his siblings take their dad out on one final adventure before his passing in 2017 – a road trip in a motorhome to see some of his old friends: Hobie Alter, Gerry Lopez, Jack O'Neill, Kenny Roberts, Mert Lawwill and a number of other notable surf and motorcycle legends. The resulting documentary is a beautiful love letter to his dad and about a life well lived. We spoke with Dana to learn more.

What was it like growing up with your dad?

Growing up with dad was great. He got us involved in everything and I learned to surf when I was 3. We were always doing something like going surfing or riding motorcycles. He was like a big kid – always fun to be around. Of course he was also old school and a strict guy. He would always tell us, “Straighten up and fly right!” – that was his favorite admonishment.

I’m often asked what it was like with him while he was making The Endless Summer. He never mentioned it. I mean, we knew of course, but he never got angry with us and said, “You know I’m important...” He was just Dad. 

I don’t think there was someone in my whole life who made me laugh as hard as my dad did. He was a very self confident guy – if he set his mind to something he was just going to do it. He also had a lot of humility – he just considered himself lucky. 

Your dad had friendships with so many heavyweights – Hobie Alter, Grubby Clark and Jack O’Neill. What was it that these men had in common?

They were all self-confident men with very little ego. They really didn’t need to be praised. And when they were – it made them all feel a bit uncomfortable.

How did your dad start making surf films?

He figured he would be drafted and he didn't want to go to college. He read in a Readers Digest magazine that if you joined the Navy, you could apply to submarine school in Connecticut. And if you finished first in your class, you get to pick the sub and port you were going to be on. So he literally did that. He chose a dry-docked sub in Pearl Harbor and brought along an 8mm camera to shoot his buddies surfing at Makaha and the North Shore. 

Later my dad moved to San Clemente, became a lifeguard and worked at Dale Velzy’s shop sweeping the floor. They would also show some of his 8mm movies. They would charge like a nickel and people would come watch and my dad would narrate them. Velzy said, “Hey, you're really good at this – let’s make a real one.” Dale and Hap Jacobs gave him like 5 or 6 thousand dollars and off my dad went to Hawaii with a group of surfers and made the 16mm film, Slippery When Wet. His career kinda just went from there.

What gave your dad the idea to personally narrate his movies at every showing?

It was actually a necessity. To afford an optical track, where the sound is actually on the print, was more money that they could afford to do. It was just cheaper for him to tour the film, narrate it live and play the music on a reel-to-reel. 

Did he read from a script or did he just improvise the words?

He just did it. My dad always said it was easier for him because he could read the room. He knew based on the mood in the room whether to make it a little more jokey or a little more this-or-that. And like I mentioned before, he was a very funny guy. His Hawaiian friends would marvel at how my dad was such a natural entertainer. 

He told me one of the hardest things he had to do was when the Endless Summer was picked up by a mainstream distributor in 1966. He had to go into a sound booth and actually record the narration for the film. He said it was really difficult.

 What made Endless Summer so special and why do you think it is remembered as one of the best films made on surfing?

That’s a good question. Gerry Lopez once told me that the movie popped this bubble of having a great adventure and the search for that perfect wave. There’s just something about the film that has magic and it just encapsulated everything. It truly represented something – like following your dream. 

Your dad liked to portray a diversity of the people featured in his films (men/women, young/old, etc.). How important was that to your dad?

He realized that that was the experience. The A-list guys at Pipeline, that’s great – the action and all – but what’s really interesting is the “other stuff.” For example, when you come back from a surf trip, you’re not telling stories of the greatest ride you had – you’re telling stories about the funny or interesting people and things you’ve experienced!. Nobody wants to see a film with a guy telling everyone how “bitchin”’ his ride was…

“On Any Sunday” is your dad’s ode to motorcycles and their riders. In your mind, how is the culture of both surfing and motorcycling connected?

Hobie and Dad, the Hoffmans and Grubby Clark – they all rode motorcycles and they raced in the desert for fun. My dad saw a lot of similarities between surfers and motorcyclists – they are both a very individualistic. It’s also a sport that a lot of people participate in that aren’t trying to be champions and are just doing it for fun. Overall I think it’s the freedom and the sense of accomplishment of it that makes it so similar to surfing.

What is A Life of Endless Summer and what inspired you to make this film?

My mom and dad over the years had the greatest love affair of all time. In 2006, my mom passed away from cancer and my dad didn’t leave his ranch much. My brother, sister and I said, “We’ve got to get him out of his house to see some of his old buddies.” So we got him into a motorhome and I decided to document it. 

At the time I thought I would just make some webisodes. I took along my friend Steve Matzinger (director of photography) and we tried to be like flies on the wall. We took the motorhome up the coast and we went to visit guys like Hobie, Jack O’Neill and Gordon “Grubby” Clark and Gerry Lopez. We also took him to Hawaii. He hadn’t been back to the Islands in over 20 years. We visited his old pals Buffalo (Keaulana) and Mark Martinson and all of his buddies there. 

After we got back, I never got around to finishing the project. Other things had come up. After my dad passed, it dawned on me that it became somewhat a different movie because we can really tell the story of his life.

In the film, your dad visits folks like Buffalo and Momi Keaulana and Henry Preece. How important was Hawaii and its people to your dad?

Hugely important. As a kid, we would spend every winter in Hawaii (because he was filming). He just loved the culture and the attitude there and they respected him a lot, too. The idea of Aloha and extended families. Of being a good person and not just chasing money (like on the mainland). In Hawaii, being judged “good people” is the most important thing you can be called – not what you own or what you might be able to get from someone. 

What are you hoping the audience will be left with after viewing “Life of Endless Summer”? 

After dad, Jack and Hobie passed it became a different film. We didn’t want to be maudlin about it – we wanted the film to be a celebration of “going for it” on all fronts. Of keeping your friends close and following your dream. That it is not only a loving tribute to my dad – but it’s about “a life well lived.” These things sound silly when I say it out loud – but I don’t think they are at all.

In the film, your dad’s dog Rusty practically steals the show. How’s he doing?

He’s doing good (laughs). My sister Nancy now lives in the house with her two dogs but Rusty is still there. He’s still humping everything. I guess he always knew he was a star. 

Now that your film has been released and streaming on multiple channels, what’s next for Dana Brown?

We’re working on a movie about the guys in the late 50s and early 60s known as “The Dana Point Mafia.” The fabrics for fashion, Surfer Magazine, movies, the manufacturing with Hobie – it all came, oddly enough, from these friends that lived within 10 miles from each other. It’s a movie about how a bunch of “knuckleheads” (The Hoffmans and Grubby, John Severson, and my dad) ended up in the Laguna, San Clemente and the Dana Point area and how they helped put modern surfing on its path.

"A Life of Endless Summers: The Bruce Brown Story" is available on multiple digital platforms and will be screened in Spring ‘21 at select theaters.