Santa Cruz, California: First Surfers Plaque, Museum with Shark Bite Board
First Surfers plaque is bolted to outside of the world's first -- and smallest -- surfing museum, a one-room lighthouse, with historic boards hung from the ceiling, including a board with a large chunk bitten off by a hungry shark in 1991.
- Address:
- 701 W. Cliff Drive, Santa Cruz, CA
- Directions:
- Plaque is in the outside and the museum is on the inside of the small Mark Abbott Memorial Lighthouse on W. Cliff Drive. From the Dream Inn Hotel, walk along the metal railing overlooking the ocean for a quarter mile. The lighthouse is directly in front.
- Phone:
- 831-420-6289
-
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Small one-room museum, but full of boards and background.
[Ed Eldridge, 08/13/2011]Nearby Offbeat Places
Dead Surfers Memorial, Santa Cruz, CA - < 1 mi.
Surfing Monument, Santa Cruz, CA - < 1 mi.
Kitchen's Court of Mysteries, Santa Cruz, CA - 1 mi.In the region:
Wax Last Supper Diorama, Santa Cruz, CA - 3 mi.
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One highlight is a board with a big shark bite taken out of it, and a couple of the teeth pulled out of the board. A plaque outside notes that surfing came to Santa Cruz during the summer of 1885, courtesy of three Hawaiian princes.