Michael Dormer

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Michael Dormer is a San Diego-based artist, cartoonist and entrepreneur, perhaps best known for his 1963 sculpture, "Hot Curl" and his more than 50 years as a contributing illustrator for San Diego Magazine.

Hot Curl was a 400-pound concrete statue, constructed on the rocks near the surf shack at La Jolla's famous Windansea Beach in San Diego, California. The 6-foot tall statue portrayed a shaggy haired, knobby-kneed surfer with a can of beer in one hand and a surfboard in the other. Hot curl was later released as a model kit. [1]

A childhood protege of artist Louis Geddes, Dormer won national recognition at age twelve by taking first prize in a National Fire Prevention poster contest. By the time he was 18, Dormer was working as a freelance illustrator and cartoonist for a number of nationally published men’s magazines.

In 1957 Dormer established a painting studio in La Jolla. He also performed as a part-time night club comic and jazz poet at the Pour House, a coffeehouse he opened in Bird Rock with partner Lee Teacher. He also published an art and poetry magazine, titled Scavenger.

In 1964, Dormer’s artwork was featured in the opening credits of Muscle Beach Party, featuring the first film appearance of “Little” Stevie Wonder. He also served as a talent scout for that film, recruiting actual surfers and surfer girls off the beaches of La Jolla to serve as extras.

In 1967 Dormer created and co-launched Shrimpenstein, an off-beat children’s television show which aired live weekdays on Channel 9 in Los Angeles. The program, which featured a miniature Frankenstein monster, ran for a year and gained a huge following among college students throughout Southern California.[2]

Dormer currently resides in Ocean Beach in San Diego, California and appears frequently as a lecturer.