In an effort to buy this perfect painting of a perfect wave, Goleta Surfing stumbled into a classic surf
character turned artist, living right under our nose in the center of Goleta.
Jeff “Bullet”Campbell has lived the life of a pure surfer in the Golden Age right here on our coast. As is
true with many surf veterans, he has way more stories than photographs, but he managed to dig a few
choice photos up for us. And they are beauties!
The first picture he sent should be in a surf museum. This is the White Owl surf shop in
Summerland. Previously, it was a grocery store ,and the beer bar next door was called The Gopher
Inn. When they made it a surf shop, the bar changed to The Shanty and did a considerable business
just with the guys working in the shop. If you’ll look closely, there’s a guy at the bar inside with a
White Owl shirt on! All the guys ran a tab there.
Bullet started working here as a sander and repair man when he got out of the Navy in 1966. The
Jeep on the right belonged to the shop and they used it to deliver boards up and down the coast.
That’s Bullet on the far right. Notice the poster on the left, more on that later.
He had the shop to himself for repairs after closing time, and that’s when the mischief would begin.
They went through 55 gallon barrels of highly flammable acetone like water. It only cost about $50
a barrel back then, now it’s about $12 a pint. They would use it to wash their hands and just let it
run down the sidewalk, and throw the cups they mixed it in out into the field next door, occasionally
starting a fire. He would let the repair jobs pile up until he had about twenty and then go in with a
six pack and a baggie, crank the music up to ten and power out all night. Still, he usually owed the
shop about as much as he made because he always needed new shirts, trunks, wax, the occasional
new board and of course, the tab at The Shanty. Bullet also remembers chasing naked girls around
the shop, snapping them with a wet towel, but we didn’t get too many details about that….
Here’s that poster from the shop window. Jeff grabbed this one off a telephone pole when he
was walking back to his car after the contest. He’s pretty sure Mike Doyle won the contest.
A classic design from the Golden Age of surfing.
Jeff was never a stranger to the beach. He was born in Laguna Beach in
1942 where his dad was a lifeguard. He was on a paddle board with his dad
and body surfing as soon as he could walk.
Moving to Santa Barbara in 1948, he started surfing in 1959 with his buddy, Kit Christiansen, who
owned a balsa board shaped like a long tapering teardrop. It had a fin that was an elongated ridge
about 3 inches tall and it did not turn well. They would carry it from Kit’s house above Shoreline
Drive down to Ledbetter. It was about 10 feet long and it took both of them to carry it, especially
since it had dings and took on water every session. They laid it out to dry in the sun afterwards.
Regardless, they were STOKED.
In 1960, he bought a Gordie surfboard from underneath the Huntington Beach Pier Shop. Gordie
was shaping when he arrived and of course his board wasn’t done, so Gordie just gave him
someone else’s ordered board. He also recalls Gordie smoking a cigarette in the glassing room
and shooting the butt into a bucket of resin and acetone, unbelievable. But he had a brand new
fiberglass board that was marbled foam, and separated about 3 months later!
When Jeff graduated high school, he went to Oregon
State to play football and baseball. He got his nickname
from his kamikaze tackling style on the football field.
After a couple of years, he flunked out and came back to
Santa Barbara.
Soon after that, he did a four year stint in the Navy.
Bullet enjoying an empty lineup at Rincon on leave from the Navy.
Jeff and his buddies would drop off their dates at the end of the night and go sleep on the
asphalt hump on the side of the freeway at Rincon. They’d get powdered donuts and chocolate
milk at the little grocery store in La Conchita for breakfast, then surf all day. (He remembers
the huge sign the store had that was misspelled, “Grocries”.) The combination of donuts,
chocolate milk and saltwater made for some incredible burps. They’d stand around a fire on
the beach shaking with blue knees after a session and have belching contests while they
warmed up. No wetsuits back then!
This is a classic old photo that Jeff had hanging in his locker when he was in the Navy.
He’s 90% sure it’s Rennie Yater, but says he never asked him to find out for sure. He
snatched off the surf shop wall one day because it was getting all sun faded and he’s
taken good care of it since.
Here’s a surf contest sponsored by Owl Surfboards and held at Haskells Beach in 1966. They
liked the convenience of being able to drive right down to the beach. That’s Bullet on the far
left and the guy reading the score sheet is Michael Drury, a very well known artist today. He
thinks the guy behind the beach bunnies is one of the Hazzard boys.
A little smaller crowd than we see at contests nowadays, eh?.
Bullet was one of the esteemed judges this day and he recalls using his dog Venus to keep his
feet warm. Behind Bullet, with his arms crossed, is none other than Mike Haskell, one of the
contestants. The beautiful empty bluffs behind them is where the Bacara sits today.
Some of the action in the water that day. If you recognize any of these guys,
send us an email and we’ll put their name up.
Looks like a decent day at Haskells!
Today Jeff lives in Goleta with the love of his life Ruth and he enjoys another hobby,
painting.
This is morning at Haskells Beach.
A few years ago, Bullet had some heart trouble and the doctor said no more
surfing. Bullet said, ” No, I don’t think so….”.
Later that same day, he met Dave Johnson at Campus Point and he told Dave his
situation. Johnson turned him on to a kayak he had designed and within a week,
he was back in the water, charging.
Thanks Bullet, for sharing some of your stories and pictures with us.
See you at the beach!
