--- product_id: 16003756 title: "Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966 (Images of America)" price: "VT11341" currency: VUV in_stock: true reviews_count: 13 url: https://www.desertcart.vu/products/16003756-southern-california-surf-music-1960-1966-images-of-america store_origin: VU region: Vanuatu --- # Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966 (Images of America) **Price:** VT11341 **Availability:** ✅ In Stock ## Quick Answers - **What is this?** Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966 (Images of America) - **How much does it cost?** VT11341 with free shipping - **Is it available?** Yes, in stock and ready to ship - **Where can I buy it?** [www.desertcart.vu](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/16003756-southern-california-surf-music-1960-1966-images-of-america) ## Best For - Customers looking for quality international products ## Why This Product - Free international shipping included - Worldwide delivery with tracking - 15-day hassle-free returns ## Description Dick Dale & the Del-Tones began holding weekend dances at the Rendezvous Ballroom in Balboa, California, in the summer of 1960. Over the next year and a half, Dale developed the sound and style that came to be known as "surf music." The result was the development of more powerful guitar amplifiers, a dramatic increase in the sales of Fender guitars and amplifiers, and a shift from New York to West Coast recording studios. More and more people were drawn to the sport of surfing, which became an important part of teen beach culture at the time. Even landlocked teenagers were captured by the moment, carrying surfboards atop their woodies in Phoenix or bleaching their hair blonde in St. Paul. For hundreds of thousands of kids, though, the attraction was not the connection to surfing; it was the connection to the music pioneered by Dick Dale. Review: The perfect document of the first wave of surf music - and a true gift to the fans! - John Blair is thee surf music historian and a true fount of knowledge about this highly underground genre. In this book he gives us a treasure-trove of photos and posters - the result of a lifetime of collecting all this stuff. Surf music fans – and I count myself in that group - are truly fortunate to finally have access to all this material in one highly-professional book. And for those that don’t know much about surf music, this book is simply the perfect introduction. The most important fact about this book is that Blair captures in it the *romance* of surf music, which I suspect is the biggest part of what drew most fans to it in the first place. Through photos and short-but-highly-effective descriptions, band histories, chapter introductions, etc., he really captures the feel of that era. There was just that short four-year period where the music and the lifestyle came together in one of the most perfect settings imaginable. To be a teenager in SoCal of that time, to drive your hotrod or hearse or woodie to the beach and surf during the day and then go to a surf music show at night (at least in the summer and the weekends), does it get better than that? I think not. That's the romance of this genre, what hooks most of us. And then we start listening to the music - and we realize, wow, this stuff was GOOD! Contrary to silly and badly uninformed stereotypes, ‘60s surf music was incredibly creative and individual. While there was a unifying approach, many of the bands still managed to create their own signature sounds within the constraints of the genre. Bands were constantly pushing the envelope, trying to do something different, something *more* – which they generally did. And they did it despite all basically using the same tools and mostly looking the same! The uniformity of the instruments and band images was certainly not translated into uniformity of sounds. ‘60s surf bands truly unleashed their imagination and creativity, with the only restrictions being these fairly limited tools and what they were able to do with them. Turns out that these restrictions were not really very restrictive. And that is absolutely remarkable. Reading this book brought back all these aspects of why I fell in love with surf music in the first place. Thank you, Mr. Blair, for rekindling those feelings inside me. This book is really the perfect document of the first wave of surf music. It's a true gift!! PS My favorite quote came from Murray Wilson, the father of the Wilson brothers from the Beach Boys as well as the manager of the band, describing the sound of surf music on page 61: "The basis of surfing music is rock and roll bass beat figuration, coupled with a raunchy-type weird-sounding lead guitar... Surfing music has to sound untrained with a certain rough flavor to appeal to the teenagers."(!!!) Review: Unique collection of surf music photos says it like words alone can't. - John Blair's "Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966" is an excellent book for the casual fan of surf music and the Early Sixties Southern California scene to read about the phenomenon and also a wonderful adjunct for the fan who already has some of the more in-depth books on the subject. It is part of Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series of books, an amazing series of over 7300 volumes. The series began by seemingly covering every small town and suburb in America and has now expanded to include cities, ethnic groups, and cultural phenomena like the surf music scene. The books are primarily collections of photos as "Images" would suggest, accompanied by enough explanatory text to let even someone who knows nothing about the subject understand it. Still, the photos are the real subject and like the other volumes, "Southern California surf Music" is filled with rare photos from many sources creating a truly unique and valuable collection. No matter how much you may like surf music or have read about it, the pictures here fill in the look of the people and places involved in a way that imagination can't. Included are the key places like Balboa and the Rendezvous Ballroom, the original posters advertising surf music shows, trade ads, album covers and its real glory, a large number of the surf bands themselves from the famous (Surfaris, Chantays, Dick Dale), less known (Lively Ones, Pyramids, Challengers), and little known (Blazers, Expressos, Squirts). If like me you were a fan of surf music in the Early Sixties but geographically far away, or a younger fan born after the era, the photos will help you connect with the music and the scene that created it in a way that nothing else can. If you were there at the time I an't think of a better scrapbook of an incredible time. ## Technical Specifications | Specification | Value | |---------------|-------| | Best Sellers Rank | #1,582,631 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #3,135 in Music History & Criticism (Books) #3,712 in Rock Music (Books) #19,780 in U.S. State & Local History | | Customer Reviews | 4.8 out of 5 stars 88 Reviews | ## Images ![Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966 (Images of America) - Image 1](https://m.media-amazon.com/images/I/61y-8rvwRyL.jpg) ## Customer Reviews ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ The perfect document of the first wave of surf music - and a true gift to the fans! *by I***. on May 1, 2015* John Blair is thee surf music historian and a true fount of knowledge about this highly underground genre. In this book he gives us a treasure-trove of photos and posters - the result of a lifetime of collecting all this stuff. Surf music fans – and I count myself in that group - are truly fortunate to finally have access to all this material in one highly-professional book. And for those that don’t know much about surf music, this book is simply the perfect introduction. The most important fact about this book is that Blair captures in it the *romance* of surf music, which I suspect is the biggest part of what drew most fans to it in the first place. Through photos and short-but-highly-effective descriptions, band histories, chapter introductions, etc., he really captures the feel of that era. There was just that short four-year period where the music and the lifestyle came together in one of the most perfect settings imaginable. To be a teenager in SoCal of that time, to drive your hotrod or hearse or woodie to the beach and surf during the day and then go to a surf music show at night (at least in the summer and the weekends), does it get better than that? I think not. That's the romance of this genre, what hooks most of us. And then we start listening to the music - and we realize, wow, this stuff was GOOD! Contrary to silly and badly uninformed stereotypes, ‘60s surf music was incredibly creative and individual. While there was a unifying approach, many of the bands still managed to create their own signature sounds within the constraints of the genre. Bands were constantly pushing the envelope, trying to do something different, something *more* – which they generally did. And they did it despite all basically using the same tools and mostly looking the same! The uniformity of the instruments and band images was certainly not translated into uniformity of sounds. ‘60s surf bands truly unleashed their imagination and creativity, with the only restrictions being these fairly limited tools and what they were able to do with them. Turns out that these restrictions were not really very restrictive. And that is absolutely remarkable. Reading this book brought back all these aspects of why I fell in love with surf music in the first place. Thank you, Mr. Blair, for rekindling those feelings inside me. This book is really the perfect document of the first wave of surf music. It's a true gift!! PS My favorite quote came from Murray Wilson, the father of the Wilson brothers from the Beach Boys as well as the manager of the band, describing the sound of surf music on page 61: "The basis of surfing music is rock and roll bass beat figuration, coupled with a raunchy-type weird-sounding lead guitar... Surfing music has to sound untrained with a certain rough flavor to appeal to the teenagers."(!!!) ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Unique collection of surf music photos says it like words alone can't. *by J***F on November 8, 2015* John Blair's "Southern California Surf Music, 1960-1966" is an excellent book for the casual fan of surf music and the Early Sixties Southern California scene to read about the phenomenon and also a wonderful adjunct for the fan who already has some of the more in-depth books on the subject. It is part of Arcadia Publishing's "Images of America" series of books, an amazing series of over 7300 volumes. The series began by seemingly covering every small town and suburb in America and has now expanded to include cities, ethnic groups, and cultural phenomena like the surf music scene. The books are primarily collections of photos as "Images" would suggest, accompanied by enough explanatory text to let even someone who knows nothing about the subject understand it. Still, the photos are the real subject and like the other volumes, "Southern California surf Music" is filled with rare photos from many sources creating a truly unique and valuable collection. No matter how much you may like surf music or have read about it, the pictures here fill in the look of the people and places involved in a way that imagination can't. Included are the key places like Balboa and the Rendezvous Ballroom, the original posters advertising surf music shows, trade ads, album covers and its real glory, a large number of the surf bands themselves from the famous (Surfaris, Chantays, Dick Dale), less known (Lively Ones, Pyramids, Challengers), and little known (Blazers, Expressos, Squirts). If like me you were a fan of surf music in the Early Sixties but geographically far away, or a younger fan born after the era, the photos will help you connect with the music and the scene that created it in a way that nothing else can. If you were there at the time I an't think of a better scrapbook of an incredible time. ### ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Surf fans delight *by A***E on November 4, 2024* Great little book about the 60s Surf music scene. Great pictures and very cool band info. No Gremmies --- ## Why Shop on Desertcart? - 🛒 **Trusted by 1.3+ Million Shoppers** — Serving international shoppers since 2016 - 🌍 **Shop Globally** — Access 737+ million products across 21 categories - 💰 **No Hidden Fees** — All customs, duties, and taxes included in the price - 🔄 **15-Day Free Returns** — Hassle-free returns (30 days for PRO members) - 🔒 **Secure Payments** — Trusted payment options with buyer protection - ⭐ **TrustPilot Rated 4.5/5** — Based on 8,000+ happy customer reviews **Shop now:** [https://www.desertcart.vu/products/16003756-southern-california-surf-music-1960-1966-images-of-america](https://www.desertcart.vu/products/16003756-southern-california-surf-music-1960-1966-images-of-america) --- *Product available on Desertcart Vanuatu* *Store origin: VU* *Last updated: 2026-05-12*