Meeting Gidget

Surfing's Flashpoint

I want to welcome you to the 7th volume of Wood, Water, and Soul. In creating this film, I faced many challenges and opportunities. Each one taught me something; sometimes, the lessons were complex and demanding, and other times I was overwhelmed by pure joy. Reflecting on this journey, I'm grateful for everything that happened. The story I'm going to tell today is one of pure joy.

As Addicted to Joy developed, I went on the search for some of the original women that were involved in the origins. Ultimately, I met up with four powerful and unique voices - Joyce Hoffman, LeAnne Graves, Fran Velzy, and Kathy Kohner Zuckerman (the original Gidget). I interviewed Joyce and Kathy on the same day. Joyce was a fantastic experience. She shared her inner strength and spirit, which I found so inspiring.

Kathy gave me an address in Pacific Palisades that sounded familiar. Driving through Pacific Palisades, I came to the street my wife and I had lived on in the late 80s. This really could not possibly be true. I turned off the main boulevard and started looking for the address. There it was, the bench my wife and I used to walk down to in the evening to watch the sunset with our glasses of wine. The bench was directly in front of her house. I sat in the car for 5 minutes and shook my head at the connections and the circumstance.

From the beginning of the project, I asked everyone I interviewed what impact the film "Gidget" had on the explosion of surfing in the early '60s. Some laughed at me, others took a pretty deep dive into the "normalization" of surfing that the film had brought about, and I included them in the film. Here I was on her doorstep.

She greeted me warmly, and I knew that I was in for a unique experience. For the next hour, Kathy transformed her living room into the '50s on Malibu Beach. I was captivated by her recall of events and people. I saw the original diary she had kept, and I felt honored to look at what some might consider sacred documents.

After we finished and I had turned off the cameras, she asked me if I wouldn't mind dropping her off at a friend's in Malibu. I was gobsmacked; I was driving up PCH with the original Gidget riding in my car. After I dropped her off, I continued on PCH into Ventura and onto the 101 for my drive home. I think I listened to "Good Vibrations" on repeat the whole way.

Here's a link to our entire interview from that day; I hope you enjoy it.