Bill Andrews (photographer)

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Bill Andrews (born August 18, 1944 (1944-08-18) (age 63)), documentary photographer and archivist, is the Studs Terkel of San Diego surf life.

Andrews surfed his first wave in 1957 at La Jolla Shores. He joined the line-up at Windansea Beach in the early sixties and was one of the first to discover and surf the world class waves at Black's Beach. In 1964 his surfing skills won him the cover of Surfer magazine (in a classic Ron Stoner photo) and membership in the notorious surf gang, MacMeda, who terrorized southern California in the 1960s with wild pranks, police riots, and massive baccanals.

Andrews claims to have been among the Macmeda members who chased novelist Tom Wolfe away from the real surf scene at Windansea down to the surf wannabe outcasts hanging out at the Pump House, thus casting doubts about the authenticity of Wolfe's reportage for his non-fiction classic, "The Pump House Gang".

Andrews has been cited in numerous articles and videos on surf history including "Welcome to Windansea" by Chris Ahrens, [1], "The Strange Disappearance of Ron Stoner" by Matt Warshaw, [2] "Photo / Stoner" by Matt Warshaw [3] and Ty Ponder's "Sea Level Pressure" [4]

In recent years, Bill Andrews has become one of the major archivists of modern surf culture with his eclectic online chronicle A Day with BA.

[edit] References

  1. ^ SURFER'S JOURNAL (Summer 2000)
  2. ^ SURFER'S JOURNAL (Summer 1995)
  3. ^ PHOTO / STONER (2006)
  4. ^ SEA LEVEL PRESSURE (2006)

[edit] External links