Event

Before there was a Dream Inn, there was the first O'Neill Surf Shop, a shack perched on a rise overlooking Cowells Beach. Moms dropped their kids off there to hang out, surfer boys and girls plied the swells on their longboards and Jack O'Neill's neoprene invention gradually changed the sport of surfing. Construction of the hotel in the early 1960s forced the shop's closure, but it had already made an indelible impression on Santa Cruz culture.

Now the O'Neill Surf Shop gets its due. Councilman David Terrazas has spearheaded a successful effort to get the site designated a California Point of Historical Interest, which is like a Historical Landmark's younger sibling, with less self-importance and more pizzazz. When O'Neill has its Point of Historical Interest coming-out party this afternoon, it will join the likes of the Moss Beach Distillery, the Bob's Big Boy Restaurant in Burbank and the outdoor Forest Theatre in Carmel. The festivities begin at 5pm in the Dream Inn/Cowells Beach parking lot, where a very cool mural inspired by O'Neill and his contribution to Santa Cruz culture now adorns the retaining wall.

Read more about the shop in this Sentinel article by Dan Haifley, executive director of O'Neill Sea Odyssey.