WETSUIT PIONEER JACK O’NEILL’S SPIRIT LIVES ON.
When the surf is sweet in Pleasure Point, there are plenty of waves to ride between The Hook and 30th Avenue. With nearly a dozen famous surf breaks, this neighborhood is a regular destination for skilled surfers. It was also a longtime favorite spot of the late Jack O’Neill, a local legend whose death in June garnered condolences from surf communities around the world.
O’Neill, surfing pioneer and creator of the first surfing wetsuit, first started his Surf Shop business in 1952 in a garage on the Great Highway in San Francisco.
“Jack coined the term ‘surf shop’ and trademarked it, but never pursued anyone who later used it,” says Brian Kilpatrick, vice president of marketing communications for O’Neill Wetsuits, LLC.
O’Neill’s initial focus was shaping surfboards. However, in a search for flexible, wearable insulation to allow coldwater surf sessions of longer than 30 minutes, he began making neoprene vests. In 1959, while developing early wetsuit designs, O’Neill moved to Santa Cruz, taking his business with him. His Surf Shop overlooked Cowell Beach, one of the most popular surf spots in the city.
Today, you can find imprints of O’Neill’s influence all over town, if you know where to look. And in a sport that’s constantly pushing the boundaries, there’s always been a nostalgia for its earlier days and the legends that have kept it going. In light of O’Neill’s passing, these places have taken on new meaning. Here we’ve compiled a Santa Cruz tour of all things Jack O’Neill that may leave you with an essence of why he’s so beloved in this surf town.
Start at the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum in the Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse overlooking Steamer Lane. The displays at the museum, founded in 1986, trace more than 100 years of Santa Cruz surfing — from redwood plank surfboards to early wetsuits to the account of the sport’s introduction to the United States in 1885 by three Hawaiian princes riding massive boards made of local redwood. O’Neill-specific memorabilia include: two surfboards, an original wetsuit, surfboard leashes and many historic photographs. Walk outside and if the waves are good, you’ll see surfers riding the break at Steamer Lane.
A five-minute drive away, in what is now the parking lot of the Dream Inn, a beachfront hotel above Cowell Beach, is the site of that first retail store O’Neill opened in 1959, Surf Shop. He sold custom-built foam surfboards and “thermal barrier” suits (the common name for wetsuits at the time). Since 2012, the spot has been designated by the state as a
California Point of Historical Interest.
But more than just a historical spot, it’s been home since 2014 to a 55-foot-long, 6-foothigh mural of porcelain-coated steel that features archival photographs of milestones in O’Neill’s personal history: the Surf Shop’s early days; the first-generation wetsuits; and O’Neill wearing his signature eye-patch. (He lost his eye in an incident involving a surfboard leash.)
Head inside the Dream Inn, where a new display of replica O’Neill surfboards represents those used from 1950 to 1990. Just past the lobby is the Jack O’Neill Lounge, established in 2014 as a laid-back ode to the man. Walls are covered with framed photographs showing the original Surf Shop in San Francisco and O’Neill’s home on East Cliff Drive in Pleasure Point.
The wetsuit in a glass display case is an O’Neill Animal Suit, launched in 1989. Built with a neoprene-injected mold, which was a new concept at the time, the suit features segmented panels that provide more flexibility in the water. Hanging over the bar is a surfboard shaped in 1978 by local legend Joey Thomas for Tim O’Neill, Jack’s son. Want to drink like Jack? Order his favorite, the Legend, a Ketel One martini.
The newest tribute to the surf pioneer is Jack O’Neill Park in Pleasure Point, a 15minute drive from the Dream Inn. The rugged, undeveloped plot offers unspoiled views of the spectacular coastline. Known as the Dirt Farm by locals, the stretch of dirt and sand is an area that O’Neill cherished. He bought the property, immediately adjacent to his home, and kept it undeveloped and open to the public — part of his drive to connect people to the ocean. In July, it was the launching point for thousands of surfers who participated in a massive memorial paddle to remember the surfing legend.
Before you leave the area, visit the O’Neill Surf Shop on 41st Avenue in Capitola, which also serves as the corporate office for O’Neill Wetsuits LLC. This was the first Surf Shop that O’Neill added his name to, and if you climb the stairs to the wetsuit room, you’ll spy one of his first wetsuits.
“It looks archaic when you compare it to the modern suits in the wetsuit room,” says Kilpatrick. “But it’s a good reminder of the humble beginnings of the industry, back when Jack began to wonder how to stay warmer in order to surf longer.”