Aloha Leroy Grannis
Pioneering Hermosa Beach surf photographer Leroy Grannis has passed away at age 93.
During the Golden Age of surfing, in the 1960s, the pictures in people’s minds, worldwide, when they thought of the newly popular Hawaiian sport was almost certainly a photograph taken by Leroy Grannis. Dewey Weber cutting back at 22nd Street, Greg “The Bull” Noll at big Sunset, Mike Purpus at Makaha, “Mr. Pipeline” Gerry Lopez at Pipeline, Corky Carol on the podium at Huntington all made their way from the pages of Surfer magazine, which Grannis helped found, to Life, Sports Illustrated, and newspapers around the world.
Katie Tracy and Leroy Grannis at San Onofre in 1938. Leroy proposed to Tracie on the Beach in Hermosa, in front of the Grannis Hotel owned by his mother. Photo Courtesy of the Grannis family
If there was a preponderance of South Bay surfers in the photos, it was because Grannis was a third generation Hermosan. He was born on the kitchen table of his family’s beach cottage on Fourth Street, on August 12, 1917. Granny, as he was known to all, caught his first wave when he was 12, at 14th Street in Hermosa in 1931. Four years later he was a founding member of the Palos Verdes Surf Club. He would continue surfing for another seven decades, until age 84 and remain active in photography into his 90s. Three years ago, Taschen, the prestigious German publisher of coffee table books, released a 275 page collection of Grannis’ photos titled Leroy Grannis: Surf Photography of the 1960s and 1970s. A similarly lavish book of Grannis’ photos, titled Photo: Grannis, Surfing’s Golden Age 1960 – 1969 was published 10 years earlier by Surfer’s Journal.
Last Thursday, Granny passed away peacefully, in his sleep from no particular cause except that of a body well worn by good use. He was 93.
Leroy is survived by his children John, Frank, Nancy and Kit, daughter-in-law Lisa, grandchildren Alana, Kaylee, Liza, Alan, Cindy and Robert, great grandchildren Casey, Emily and Dane and a great great granddaughter.
He is also survived by Fenton Scholes and Dick Minie, the two remaining, founding members of the Palos Verdes Surf Club.
In response to Leroy’s request his ashes will be scattered during a paddle out at the Palos Verdes Cove. His son John said the paddle out will be held in June, when the weather warms. – Kevin Cody
Leroy Grannis' iconic photo of Dewey Weber at 22nd Street in Hermosa Beach.
Granny’s Golden Years
Leroy worked nights for Pacific Bell Telephone so he could surf and take surf photos during the day. His surfing experience is what set him apart from other surf photographers of his era. He regularly finished in the top third of the U.S. Surfing Association contests, which he helped run with his friend and race director Hoppy Swartz.
Leroy’s most famous photo is his iconic shot of Dewey Weber, “The Little Man on Wheels,” fading left while leaning right at 22nd Street in Hermosa Beach. But his favorite was Johnny Fain arching his back, carving up the face of a six-foot wall of glass at Malibu Point, a demonstration of the bottom turn in its purest form. The photo documents the inception of hotdogging.
1972 U.S. Surfing Championship at Huntington Beach (left to right)”Mr. Pipeline” Gerry Lopez (sixth), Hermosa’s Mike Purpus (third), Corky Carroll (first), Hermosa’s Dru Harrison (second)and future World Champion Rolf Arness (fourth). Photo by Leroy Grannis
When I was 12-years-old and just learning to surf, my friend Don Craig and I would raid Leroy’s trash cans the night before trash pick-up for the photos he had thrown away. We’d sell the photos we didn’t want to other surfers at Pier Avenue Junior High.
Leroy went to Hawaii every winter. One day, when I was 16 he caught me dropping in on a 20-foot face at Makaha. After the wave, he paddled over to me and said, “I got the photo. Now get out of the water.” I did what he told me to do. The photo was made into a poster.
Leroy was the first photographer to shoot big Hawaiian surf from the water. He would paddle out with his camera in a water-tight, wooden box, stuck to the nose of his board with suction cups. As the towering sets would come in, he would paddle from the channel into the impact zone. Then he’d sit up, take his camera out of the box, snap the photo, put the camera back in the box and race back to the channel to avoid the advancing avalanche of white water. The box, unlike the water housing used by most water photographers, enabled him to change rolls of film without paddling back to the beach
His son John told me that twice Leroy got caught inside at Waimea Bay, and pummeled. But his camera survived, undamaged.
Hawaiian surfing great Rabit Kekai with Leroy Grannis. Photo by Joey Lombardo
Leroy had the respect of the Hawaiians because he surfed big waves almost as well as he photographed them. The Hawaiians considered him family.
One afternoon during the late 1960s, Leroy was shooting the Duke Kahanamoku Surfing Classic from Val Valentine’s porch, right in front of the competition. The surf was 20 feet. Buffalo Keaulana was lifeguarding from his powerboat in the channel. By mid-morning, he had already rescued Rusty Miller, who broke his leg on a late take-off and a second surfer with two broken ribs.
Soon-to-be world champion, Australian Nat Young took off on a mountain of a wave and carved left off the bottom. But then he got sucked back up the face and pitched over the falls.
Nat came up uninjured, but lost his board. So he screamed at Buffalo to give him a ride to the beach. Buffalo told Nat to swim, that his job was to rescue injured surfers. Nat started to swim, but not before cussing out the big Hawaiian.
After the heat, Buffalo went looking for Young and found him on Val’s porch, talking to Leroy.
“Excuse me, Leroy, but there is something I have to do,” Buffalo said. Then he punched Young in the mouth and told him never to swear at a lifeguard again.
When Young picked himself up off the porch, he asked Leroy why he let Buffalo hit him.
Leroy answered, “If Buffalo hit you, he must have had a good reason.”
I owe a lot to Leroy, not because of all the photos he took of me that got me in the magazines, but because of all the things he taught me about surfing, life, and myself.
Aloha, Leroy. B
Palos Verdes Surf Club members Tulie Clark, Fenton Scholes, Dick Minie, John Grannis and Leroy Grannis. The original club members were all 91 when this photo was taken last year during their weekly Tuesday lunch at Hennessey’s Tavern in Redondo Beach. Tulie passed away this past May and Leroy this week. Photo by Becky Grannis