Patrick Moser - Surf and Rescue: George Freeth and the Birth of California Beach Culture

SPORT AND SOCIETY

Series Editors

Aram Goudsouzian

Jaime Schultz

Founding Editors

Benjamin G. Rader

Randy Roberts

A list of books in the series appears at the end of this book.

George Freeth and the Birth of California Beach Culture

PATRICK MOSER

2022 by Patrick J. Moser
All rights reserved

Frontispiece: George Freeth sporting a period bathing suit that highlights one of his major contributions to the development of beach culture in early twentieth-century California: teaching swimming at bathhouses from Los Angeles to San Diego. Courtesy Los Angeles County Lifeguard Trust Fund, Witt Family Collection. Map Courtesy Steven Sorensen.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Names: Moser, Patrick (Patrick J.), 1963 author.

Title: Surf and rescue : George Freeth and the birth of California beach culture / Patrick Moser.

Description: Urbana : University of Illinois Press, [2022] | Series: Sport and society | Includes bibliographical references and index.

Identifiers: LCCN 2021056962 (print) | LCCN 2021056963 (ebook) | ISBN 9780252044441 (Cloth : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780252086526 (Paperback : acid-free paper) | ISBN 9780252053443 (eBook)

Subjects: LCSH: Freeth, George, 18831919. | SurfersHawaiiBiography. | SwimmingCoaching. | LifeguardsCaliforniaHistory. | LifesavingCaliforniaHistory. | BeachesCalifornia. | CaliforniaSocial life and customs. | BISAC: SPORTS & RECREATION / Water Sports / Surfing | BIOGRAPHY & AUTOBIOGRAPHY / Sports

Classification: LCC GV838.F744 M67 2022 (print) | LCC GV838.F744 (ebook) | DDC 797.3/2092 [B]dc23/eng/20220125

LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056962

LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2021056963

For Linda, Miles, Julia, and Ryan,
who mean the world to me.

I am grateful to Sandy K. Hall for her friendship and generosity in sharing her research on George Freeth. Arthur C. Verge's work on Freeth has been an inspiration, and he was instrumental in securing photographs from the Los Angeles County Lifeguard Trust Fund. Doug Borthwick was kind enough to provide family information on the Freeths and guide me through Nuuanu Cemetery. Stevie Leigh offered thoughtful critiques of the manuscript and helped with the book proposal. My thanks to Jess Ponting and the organizing committee of Impact Zones and Liminal Spaces, a conference at San Diego State University where I presented research on Freeth in April 2019. The librarians at Drury University have been extremely supportive and helpful in processing numerous research materials: William Garvin, Phyllis Holzenberg, Katherine Bohnenkamper, Barbi Dickensheet, Holli Henslee, and Jacqueline Tygart. I am also thankful to work with supportive colleagues in the Department of Languages and Literature at Drury University. Special thanks go to my colleagues Kevin Henderson, Jennifer Silva Brown, and Beth Harville for providing funds to pay for photo permissions. My colleague Rebecca Miller was kind enough to enhance several of the newspaper photographs. Judge Bockman also worked his magic on a number of the photographs for this book.

I appreciate the help of Philip van Bergen and Alfie Windsor for information on Freeth Senior's life aboard the HMS Conway. General thanks go to Scott Laderman, Matt Warshaw, Scott Hulet, Geoff Cater, Skipper Funderburg, Charles Kroll, Jerry Person, Wendy Burton, Malcolm Gault-Williams, Gary Lynch, and Gary Kurutz. Dennis L. Noble provided information on the U.S. Life-Saving Service. Peter Meidlinger and Ed Peaco offered helpful suggestions on the manuscript. Many thanks to Tim Cooley, Peter Westwick, and the anonymous reader for the University of Illinois Press for their detailed comments on the manuscript. Their suggestions very much improved the final version. Thanks to Joe Ditler, Carol Clark, and Steven Sorensen for assistance with photo permissions, and to Kathy Moser for her knowledge of medical terminology. I appreciate the help of Daniel Nasset, Mariah Mendes Schaefer, Jennifer Fisher, Tad Ringo, Kevin Cunningham, Michael Roux, Roberta Sparenberg, Heather Gernenz, Jill R. Hughes, and the supportive staff at the University of Illinois Press. Thanks also to Tracy Dalton for her work on the index and to Jack Moser for his photography skills.

Over the years many friends and colleagues have been generous with their time, sharing knowledge of Hawaiian culture, language, history, and surfing: John R. K. Clark, Carlos Andrade, Mark Alapaki Luke, Tino Ramirez, Uilani Bobbitt, Kaluhialoha Eldridge, Mark Fragale, and Ian Masterson.

I have benefited greatly from the Carol Houck Smith Fellowship awarded by the Bread Loaf Writers Conference; my two summer workshops with David Shields and Patricia Hampl, along with the many attending writers, have been a true gift.

Numerous librarians and archivists have offered their help and expertise throughout the project: Charles Johnson (Museum of Ventura County); Ed Martinez and Douglas Thompson (Redondo Beach Public Library); Jane Schmauss (California Surf Museum); Tike Karavas (Redondo Beach Historical Museum); Renato Rodriguez and Natalie Fiocrel (San Diego History Center); Alberto Perez and Samantha Ely (San Diego City Clerk Archives); Susan D. Mazza (State Library of Pennsylvania); Tom McAnear, Sarah Waitz, Adebo Adetona, Kim Y. McKeithan, Stanley Coln, and Connie F. Beach-Sims (National Archives and Records Administration); Cara Dellatte (New York Public Library); Michael Holland (Los Angeles City Archives); Janine J. Henri (University of California at Los Angeles); Yuriy Shcherbina (University of Southern Calfifornia); Candice Hooper (Coronado Public Library); Frances Kaplan (California Historical Society); Lorna Hyland (Maritime Archives, National Museums Liverpool); Christina Rice (Los Angeles Public Library); Alison Harding (Natural History Museum at Tring); Susanne Spiessberger and Wendy Johnson (Hawaiian Audubon Society); Tommy Giaquintl (San Diego Police Museum); Suzanne Harrison and Robert Gordon (General Register Office, U.K.); Aaron Seltzer (National Archives at San Francisco); Dore Minatodani (University of Hawaii at Mnoa); Michael Herlihy (National Library of Australia); Krystal Kakimoto (Bishop Museum Archives); Clara Hur (Hawaii State Archives); Lisa Caprino, Brian Moeller, and Manuel Flores (Huntington Library); and David Gallagher (Western Neighborhood Project). I am also indebted to the friendly and knowlegeable staff at the Hawaii State Library, the Honolulu Bureau of Conveyances, the First Circuit Court in Honolulu, the San Francisco History Center, and the San Diego Central Library.

Family and friends generously provided lodging and good company in Los Angeles, San Diego, and Sonoma County as I conducted research: Chris and Pati Moser; Steven and Jackie Moser and Carie Monseratte; Greg Schneider; Theresa Moser; Pam and Pat Pesetti; Tam Gonsalves; and Miles and Julia Butler. I am thankful for Ryan Moser and for Linda Trinh Moser for their love, thoughtful feedback, and unwavering support.

I have followed contemporary usage in writing Hawaiian words and names by including diacritical marks (the