by Will Watson
Surfing Santa and the South Bay Boardriders Club (SBBC) hosted their annual holiday photos and toy drive on Pier Plaza, in front of Spyder Surf, followed by a surf season with Santa on Sunday afternoon, November 23. The Boardriders photos with Santa and toy drive were part of the weekend-long Hermosa for the Holidays, organized by the Hermosa Chamber.
Hermosa for the Holidays continued into the evening with the traditional Pier Plaza Tree Lighting, and the Jeremy Buck and the Bang’s Rock For Tots concert.
Family photos with Surfing Santa, by SBBC photographer Ken Pagliaro, were made available for free on the Boardrider Club’s website.
“We love giving back to the community, and it’s nice to help reignite the Christmas spirit each year. You can see it in the faces of children and adults alike,” said Surfing Santa, and SBBC director Derek Levy.
Helping Santa stoke the holiday spirit was his surfing elf Jani Lange, coach of the Hermosa Valley School surf team.
SBBC is best known for hosting surf contests through the winter. But it also hosts a variety of charitable and community events.
“We’re a philanthropic non-profit disguised as a surf club,” SBBC Director Matt Walls said.
After two hours of posing for photos on the warm winter day, Surfing Santa and Surfing Elf, grabbed their boards and headed towards the water. Young groms posted up on the Tim Kelly statue while the older groms paddled out with Santa to catch some closed-out waves on the North (pole) side of the Hermosa Beach Pier. A friendly warning to you kids in the water: don’t drop in on Santa, or you’ll wind up on the naughty list.
Other SBBC programs include: the South Bay Surf Awards, the Ocean Fun Series, Grom O Rama, Free Youth Beach Day, Queen of the South Bay, San O Thursdays, SALT (Surfer Awareness Lifesaving Techniques), Pints Above Plastics Fundraiser, and the Storm Water Rapid Response Team/Beach Cleanup. The SBBC Toy Drive will continue through December 19. Unwrapped toys may be dropped off in donation bins at SBBC sponsor surf shops: ET Surf, Dive & Surf, Spyder Surf, Jack’s Surfboards, El Porto Surf Shop, and Wave Rave.
The SBBC Toy Drive partners each year with the Beach Cities Toy Drive, which is celebrating its 32nd year.
Another way to support the Toy Drive is to purchase a limited-edition Surfin’ Santa “ugly sweater” T-shirt, designed by Cruz of X31 Creations. A portion of the ‘ugly swearter” proceeds will help send the SBBC surf team to the 2026 World Club Surfing Championships at Snapper Rocks, on the Gold Coast of Australia on February 13.
To learn more about the South Bay Boardriders Club visit SouthBayBoardRiders.com. ER
Joyeux Noël