The iconic Ocean Beach seagull logo has been sold.
What that means remains to be seen, but new logo “steward” John McCoy, owner of Ocean Gifts & Shells at 4934 Newport Ave., is open for suggestions.
“I purchased the hand-drawn logo created back in the ’60s by Bob Sorben about three months ago,” said McCoy. “I carried it (seagull logo) in my store for 21 years.”
McCoy, who sells T-shirts as well as seashells and other ocean-oriented merchandise, said he’s “talked to people about carrying products (with the logo),” which he produces in quantity, since he purchased it.
“I’m willing to talk to people about licensing it (logo),” McCoy said, noting, “I paid a lot of money to get a copyright for it.”
The story of the OB seagull logo is interesting.
Its originator, Bob Sorben, still owns and runs Peninsula Graphics in Point Loma.
According to a recently released history of the OB seagull logo, Sorben, who was born and raised in OB/Point Loma, always liked to draw. Growing up, he and his friends, all of whom surfed, used to hang out at the foot of Newport Avenue. In the ’60s, Sorben and his friends would buy OB stickers and letters to put on their cars to personalize them.
Sorben’s OB seagull decal was created in 1973 out of his love of Ocean Beach. In an interview with The Beacon, Sorben said he created the logo — and has since sold it — with the community strictly in mind.
Discussing the origin of the symbol he chose for the beach community, Sorben said the idea was “to come up with something that wasn’t too common.”
Admitting the seagull is common, he nonetheless said that experimenting with the size, position and details of the bird is what ultimately made it so unforgettable.
“A friend of mine and I came up with the (seagull) idea and we toyed with it, placed and sized it just right,” Sorben said adding they tried other ideas for symbols that simply didn’t work.
“We tried a lot of different things, like a fireball with flames with an O and a B, and everything just seemed too trendy, and not the perfect, classic thing we wanted,” he said.
Is Sorben satisfied with the end result?
“We were amazed,” he answered but was quick to point out, “We thought it might last maybe five years. You just never know.”
It’s been 44 years now since the seagull became OB’s logo. Sorben said he was willing to sell it “at the right price to the right person.” McCoy turned out to be that individual.
“He was capable of handling it,” Sorben said. “He’s got a store right on Newport. He’s one of the few people that I had talked to about it. He was willing to keep the logo’s history intact and actually promote the history.”
Sorben added that, from the beginning, his intention was that the seagull logo “should be kept from getting too commercial. We could have gone up and down the coast in the ’70s and sold it, but we just wanted to keep it for the people of OB. I think we’ve been successful with that over time.”
According to the OB logo’s history, the design is copyrighted for 95 years. The decal first appeared at a time when Ocean Beach society was close knit, almost tribal. It has been seen around the world ever since.
Sorben went back to City College in 1995 to learn computer graphics. While there he entered a nationwide design contest with the seagull logo and won first place. The Anheuser-Busch Design contest awarded a prize of $10,000, which was split between the school and Sorben.
In 1997, Sorben was awarded the Landmark Award in recognition for the OB seagull logo. The etched wooden plaque was given by the Ocean Beach Merchants Association.
Today, Sorben and his wife Sue operate Peninsula Graphics on the corner of Cañon and Scott streets in Point Loma Village. They continue to produce the “OB Seagull” and “Tunaville Fisherman” shirts and other products, decals, hats and other local apparel.