by Kevin Cody
Photo by Matt Parker
Surfers checking the waves at 16th in Hermosa Beach Saturday morning instantly knew the meaning of the fluorescent red graffiti on the mouth of the storm drain whose runoff creates the sandbar that makes 16th Street worth checking every morning.
The graffiti read “Greg Lives. God Speed, Greg.” It meant Greg Browning was dead.
Browning grew up surfing at 16th Street. Everyone in the South Bay surf community knew him, or of him, if not from surfing with him in Hermosa, from seeing photos of him surfing in Hermosa when he was a pro, and videos of him surfing in Hermosa when he became a filmmaker.
After being diagnosed with ALS (Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis) in 2023, Browning embarked on a race to live as fully as the disease would allow. He had breakfast with friends every week at Eat At Joes. He thanked 15 pages of friends during his induction speech into the Hermosa Beach Surfers Walk of Fame last April. He finished what he knew would be his last and hoped would be his best film, “A Marble in the Jar,” about his close friend and World Surf League pro Tatiana Weston Webb.
He died on Friday, days before his 50 birthday, knowing he had done all he could do in this life.
Browning Lives. God Speed, Greg.
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Condolences to all of Greg’s family and friends here in the South Bay and beyond. I knew Greg only recently when we participated in a promo film for the South Bay Boardrider’s upcoming documentary. I also ran into him at a Beachlife Festival and at Eat at Joe’s in RB. But, his acceptance speech at his induction to the HB Surfer’s Walk of Fame was most touching and remarkable and will never be forgotten. Now riding light waves in Heaven, Mr. Greg Browning. Rest in Peace.