Haskells beach was a wonderland for a kid back in the early seventies. Empty
beaches, wilderness on the bluffs and a huge pier that no one seemed to care about.
One kid who was lucky enough to enjoy it was Elliot Harris. He and a few friends lived
right across the freeway in a rural neighborhood called Rancho Embarcadero.
Look how long the pier was!
Elliot and his neighbor, Harry Moffet, learned to surf together at Haskells when they were
about 11 years old. They would stash their boards and trunks in the bushes down at the beach.
There was a guard at the pier, but he didn’t pay much attention to who walked out on it.
Check this swell rolling through, and can you see the rainbow?
Mr. Harry Moffet.
Cold winter day, early 70’s. If Harry’s wearing a spring suit, it must be cold.
1974. Haskells pier in the background.
Elliot and his buddies climbed the drilling towers at the
end of the pier many times.
This is a classic shot. That’s Dave Galtez getting ripped off by Danny House.
Water shots in the seventies! Thank you Elliot.
Tim Church.
In the early seventies at Haskulls, real men
didn’t need no stinking wetsuits!
Nice winter view up the Gaviota Coast, before anybody called it that.
Tim Kelley, aka Tim Tube.
That’s tar in the lip. Elliot says they used to use it to patch the dings in their boards.
Another classic photo.
Harry Moffet
I dunno, you think this guy’s a local?
1985.
Up at El Cap, this is Joe Coffey digging a deep bottom turn.
That’s a sweet wetsuit in the foreground, eh? And the dude’s sponsored by Aleeda.
Wonder where he’s from….hmmm
Greg Murray, 1977, in the curl. Notice the tree top in the background.
That’s where the hotel is now.
Greg’s sporting a state of the art Animal Skin by Oneil. The first wetsuit
these guys had seen that had a gasket around the neck and a back zip
entry. High tech and big bucks.
Pete Galtez, on a winter day with a short, short john.
Elliot took these water shots with a cheap Instamatic 110 camera that he had customized
to increase the shutter speed. He put it in an Icolite water housing used for scuba diving
that he got at the Divers Den on Anacapa. It was clear plastic with a long handle.
Pretty cutting edge for a Goleta boy back then.
Greg Glasby, winter, no wetsuit.
These were some of the heavies at Haskulls at the time. Elliot was a lot younger than
them, so they didn’t kick his ass, but he was old enough to hang around on the sidelines.
One of those solid ground swells that come straight in and close out. Didn’t stop
these guys from giving it a go. Check out the offshore winds blowing the lip back.
Gary Taggert, Haskulls Enforcer.
Most guys surfed under the cliffs up by the pier back then. If you went out
south of the creek, there were lots of submerged pier pilings that were
deadly sharp. The oil companies finally cleaned it up in the early 80’s.
Before the Bacara, you could drive to the cliff top, sit under some big trees and
check the surf up north, or just take in a beautiful sunset. This was the extent of surf
forecasting at the time. If you wanted to know if a swell was rolling through Goleta,
you had to go to the beach and look. What a concept…
Thanks Elliot.
