Nick Gabaldon – A SoCal Surfing Pioneer

Surfing aficionados credit Nick Gabaldon as California’s first documented surfer of African and Mexican American descent. A skilled recreational surfer, his legacy has inspired many, especially surfers of color. Born Nicolas Rolando “Nick” Gabaldon, Jr. in Los Angeles, California to parents, Cecilia and Nicolas Gabaldon Sr., he grew up in Santa Monica.

 

A 1945 Santa Monica High School graduate, Gabaldon was one of the few African American students matriculating at the school during this era. He served in the United States Navy from 1945–1946. Upon returning home, he emerged as an honor student and writer at Santa Monica College and worked as a U.S. Postal Service Letter Carrier.

 

As a teenager Gabaldon began surfing at Santa Monica’s Bay Street beach. Anglos referencing the skin color of the beach-goers who visited the area derogatorily called this beach, the “Inkwell”. He and other African Americans in Southern California, however, transformed the hateful moniker into a badge of pride.

 

A handsome, athletic and well-liked young man, he taught himself to surf using the 13-foot rescue surfboard of a white lifeguard he befriended at the Inkwell. He honed and challenged his surfing skills 12 miles north at the famed, Malibu Beach. To get there and back, he paddled those full 12 miles.

 

Although he experienced a common bond in the water among the surfing community, prejudice was not far away on land or in the ocean. He was called derogatory names by some white beachgoers but rarely by fellow surfers. Nonetheless he exhibited the courage and dedication to be a participant in this particular sport heretofore associated mainly with white Southern Californians and the people of the South Pacific.