It’s official, La Jolla’s Windansea surf shack is a historic part of San Diego.
The iconic 76-year-old shack was designated historic by the San Diego Historical Resources Board back in May 1998. Now, 24 years later, the City has created an official plaque for the beach structure, fashioned from eucalyptus tree trunks and palm fronds, which was unveiled at a March 20 ceremony.
It was a special occasion as Mayor Todd Gloria also officially designated Sunday, March 20 as “Surf Shack at Windansea Beach Day” in the City.
Melinda Merryweather, one of the founding members of Friends of Windansea, a group of La Jollans dedicated to preserving the area’s natural environment, said the shack is emblematic of the community and surf culture.
“It’s to remind people to honor the guys coming back from the war in 1946 who built it for shade and aloha (love and fellowship),” said Merryweather. “It honors the people who had the shack designated as historic, including Hanz Newman and myself, and all the people who’ve managed it over the years.”
Added Merryweather: “It is absolutely one of the most important symbols for the surf culture in Southern California. It represents surfing and surf history. We won a Jewel Award (for exemplary achievements in housing) for it, which is usually given only to historic houses. This is the first Jewel Award ever given to a building without walls, which is pretty impressive.”
One of San Diego’s oldest and most high-profile beach landmarks, the shack’s palm-covered hut was first constructed in 1946 by Woody Ekstrom, Fred Kenyon, and Don Okey. The trio came up with the idea for the shack in 1946 when Okey’s wife asked him to build some shade on the beach for their kids. They went to Scripps Hospital and cut down some eucalyptus trees to build it, thinking it could also become a local surf haven. It quickly became a hugely popular venue for social events for surfers up and down the coast.
Destroyed and rebuilt numerous times over the years, the shack earned its reputation as a party hangout for surfers back in the day, as evidenced by the formation, in local surf lore, of the “Mac Meda Destruction Company.” Mac Meda was a party-loving underground society of surfers and locals known for its rowdiness and propensity for destruction (hence the name). The group was actually mentioned in “The Pump House Gang,” Tom Wolfe’s famous chronicle of teenage surfers who hung out at Windansea Beach in La Jolla.
Wear and tear on the shack over time forced it to be moved away from the oncoming waves near shore. It ended up where it is today, back toward the rocks underneath the bluffs of Windansea beach.
In addition to surfing, site-seeing, and Instagram posing, Windansea is famed for its massive swells and shore-break waves. Without a 24-7 lifeguard presence and a very strong southbound current, this beach is for strong swimmers only. The consistency of massive waves, fueled by a large drop-off in the sand not far from the beach’s edge, makes for an entertaining time at all hours of the day.
“Hanz (Newman, owner of famed Su Casa restaurant) and I worked to get the shack designated as historic, and it was at that point that it went down in a storm,” said Merryweather. “The City could have come in and said, ‘You can’t rebuild it without a permit.’ Luckily, Scott Peters (former District 1 City Council member), and Howard Wayne (former State Assembly member), came to our aid.
“It’s a treasure, a gift. It’s an honor to take care of it. People in our surf community consider it our church,” Merryweather said.
