Relive giant waves, see vintage surfboards at surfing museum
The Surfing Florida Museum has caught its biggest break yet in West Palm Beach.
After drifting around for three years at high-rent spaces in Delray Beach and Lake Park, the nonprofit museum has landed in the city’s trendy Warehouse District, with a grand-opening party set for Saturday, Oct. 20.
Founded in 2008 by a board of veteran local surfers, the museum recalls the camaraderie of South Florida’s rollicking surf culture in the 1960s and ’70s. First occupying a former Delray Beach art gallery in 2015, the museum has since struggled to find a permanent home to house its vast collection of surf memorabilia. At 8,657 square feet, the museum’s cavernous West Palm Beach warehouse is its largest space.
Here’s what to expect from the Surfing Florida Museum as when it reopens this weekend.
What’s so special about the Surfing Florida Museum?
If you’ve ever chased waves up and down Florida’s coast, or admired the intrepid and dogged surfers who do, this museum is for you. Once called the Palm Beach County Surfing History Project, the museum now boasts a 15-member board of directors led by Tom Warnke and Fred “Deadeye” Salmon, both longtime local surfers. (Even Jimmy Buffett sits on its advisory board.)
What’s on display?
A large chunk of the collection includes color photos by M.E. Gruber, nicknamed “Mr. Gruber” in the 1960s by young surfers who often spotted the Palm Beach postman standing with his camera on the sands of Palm Beach County beaches. Salmon acquired some 5,000 Gruber photo slides, which capture the ‘60s beach scene, surfing contests and the large crowds who watched from the shorelines. There are also 50 vintage surfboards (longboards and shortboards) on display, along with placards from Florida Atlantic University’s “Surfing Flor-
ida” collection, which revisit the time Palm Beach County banned wave riders in the 1960s. Finally, there are images and T-shirts depicting bygone South Florida surf clubs such as Cripple Creek and Possum Reef.
What and where is this Warehouse District?
Think of it as Fort Lauderdale FAT Village before it was surrounded by highrise condos. This roughlooking warren of warehouses just south of Okeechobee Boulevard and I-95 has gotten a face-lift, and is now home to a food hall, two breweries and soon a distillery.
What will happen during the grand opening?
Visitors can see a new surf mural from South Florida surfer-artist David “DaveL” Lavernia, along with three live bands, food and drink. Perhaps the most eye-popping artwork is a massive, barreling wave constructed from 1,600 plastic bottles. Early museumgoers have already posed with the Instagram-friendly piece, titled “#sicktube.”