OCEAN PARK — At the center of the controversy surrounding whether or not a historic surf and skate shop in Ocean Park should be demolished is the man who started it all, the man often regarded as the godfather of the surf and skate subculture.
Though he might not have the same name recognition as, say, Barry Bonds or Michael Jordan, Jeff Ho has a cult-like following among hardcore skaters and surfers the world over; such a huge following that “half pipe” aficionados will travel to see the man credited with helping to revolutionize skateboarding.
“People come all over the world to meet me here at the shop,” Ho said last week, standing in front of Horizons West Surf Shop, the storefront that once housed Zephyr and Jeff Ho Productions in the 1960s and ’70s.
Wearing his Zephyr “Tokyo” T- Shirt, a product he created for a recent trip to Japan, and sporting a backwards baseball cap, Ho talked about his two biggest concerns with the potential closing of the surf shop — finding an alternative place where he could meet fans while in Santa Monica, and losing a shop where he could sell his famous Zephyr-brand surfboards.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on February 5, 2007. Read the original PDF.