There were 3 major milestones in my 60+ years of surfing: Foam boards, the short board revolution, and tow-in surfing. There were of course many smaller milestones, but those were the major ones for me.
The first surf book I had (just before foam boards made the scene) was
Surfriding by OB Patterson. This was a few years before Surfer Magazine, so quite an influential book in its day. Here are some of the better photos from the book (I couldn't scan without destroying the binding, so I just took photos):
The "modern" balsa surfboard design:
Waikiki on a "First Break" day (which while common during summers in '50s & '60s, is quite rare today):
Ala Moana break was the closest we had to a glassy California type wave:
Young Fred Hemmings @ Ala Mo:
The most popular big wave break was Makaha .. Here's a medium-size "Point Break" day:
To the left of the above photo of Point Makaha is "The Bowl" .. the end section of Makaha's wave. Making it from the Point all the way through the Bowl section was a big deal .. at least in those days. Usually, you either surfed the point and proned out, or you took off at the Bowl. My worst wipe-out ever was at Makaha Bowl (I remember it like yesterday).
Rabbit Kekai was one of the young, handsome Beach Boys in Waikiki, and a wonderful mentor to us young kids. In his prime, it seemed as though he scored a new lovely co-ed every day. Rabbit at small Makaha:
