Early Dale Velzy Surf Boards and Shop
It is hard to believe that the worldwide fascination with surfing had a commercial beginning in Orange County as well as Costa Mesa T-shirt printing. In the early 1960s, the gentlemen Dale Velzy and Joe Quigg were surfboard makers in Newport Beach, California. They were competitors and very different. In the 1960s Dale was a legend, an icon and had a real presence. One time he pulled up to the Newport Beach pier in a Mercedes with a gulf wing. He was often known to bring experimental boards down to the pier, give them to prominent surfers and ask for their feedback. Surfers were always welcome at his shop and lots of guys hung out there. He had a big personality and seemed older and wiser than the rest of the surf tribe. When Mike Hardin visited his shop on the coast highway down from the river jetty, at the age of 12. He said Dale Velzy seemed like a God and liked his drink.
T-shirts for Christmas Gifts
The Hardin boys grew up to become screen printers in the early 1970s and printed t-shirts, bags, surf lams and signs. The business was in the OC or Orange County, specifically the area of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Out of respect and admiration for Dale Velzy Mike would print Velzy t-shirts as Christmas gifts for his buddies at the Newport Pier. He would roll them up, put a ribbon around them and give them away as gifts.
Dale Visits Hardin Graphics
Dale found out about this and made a visit to the Hardin Graphics screen-printing shop on 17th street. Even as a man in his fifties he was still an imposing force. Dale Velzy explained it that every time anyone gives away one of these shirts it is a shirt that Dale is not making any money on. He asked them to stop printing these t-shirts as gifts. The answer was you got it Dale!
Original Logo from Surf Lam
Many years later after Dale had passed on Hardin Graphics did print these shirts again. However it was a gift from a friend to the widow of Dale Velzy. It was the original logo taken from one of the first Velzy boards.
