Surf museum exhibit focuses on '70s

A wave of nostalgia has broken at the Texas Surf Museum in Corpus Christi,

Surfers cut through a wave off Mustang Island. with 'Surfin' thru

the '70s', a new exhibit celebrating surf culture in Texas and beyond during the grooviest decade of all.

The exhibit that opened June 1 features:

- Surfboards made in the 1970s, with all of the far-out designs unique to that era;

- Rare movie footage of surfers riding waves along the Texas coast during the '70s;

- Never-before publicly exhibited photos of Texas surfing in the '70s;

- Mood rings, Pet Rocks, Farrah Fawcett-Majors posters and all the other loveable pop cultural relics of that era.

A new exhibit set to open this fall will be a gallery of photos of inland surfers shot by Erich Schlegel, an award-winning photojournalist with the Dallas Morning News and longtime Texas surfer. Schlegel's exhibit will feature Texans who remain dedicated surfers despite liv- ing nowhere near a beach. The exhibit tentatively is scheduled for Nov. 17 to May 18.

The Texas Surf Museum has garnered high praise from thousands of visitors since it opened in June 2005. The only surf museum in Texas, one of its co-founders is Pat Magee, a former state champion surfer who operated a surf shop in Port Aransas for many years.

The Texas Surf Museum explores the general history of surfing and showcases the Lone Star State's unique place in that history. The museum exhibits more than 50 classic boards dating from the early 1960s, plus replicas of wood boards made in the 1930s and '40s.

The museum displays scores of other pieces of surf memora bilia, much of it rare, including original surf movie posters and surf art. A mock garage shop, complete with the tools used for making surfboards, stands along one wall of the museum; and so does a small theater where surf movies are shown every day.

The museum displays hundreds of photos of surfers riding waves throughout the state's 367-mile coastline. Also featured are pioneering Texas surfers and some of the state's top competitors.

The Texas Surf Museum is located at 309 N. Water Street, next-door to the Executive Surf Club, in downtown Corpus Christi, Texas. Admission is free but donations are appreciated.

Hours are 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Sunday; 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. Monday through Wednesday; and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Hours might change after Labor Day.

The surf museum occasionally closes to the public when it is reserved for private functions. Call ahead. Phone: 361- 888-SURF (7873). On the Web: www.texassurfmuseum.com