WEBVTT - 3. Gidget Goes to Hollywood, Pt1 0:00:15.036 --> 0:00:22.036 Pushkin. Hey, Lost Hills listeners, it's Dana. I wanted to 0:00:22.076 --> 0:00:24.196 let you know that you can hear the entire new 0:00:24.236 --> 0:00:27.556 season of Lost Hills ad free, along with other great 0:00:27.596 --> 0:00:31.836 binge listens by becoming a Pushkin Plus subscriber. Find Pushkin 0:00:31.916 --> 0:00:35.156 Plus on the Lost Hills show page in Apple Podcasts, 0:00:35.316 --> 0:00:51.916 or at pushkin dot fm slash Plus. I'm at Duke's 0:00:51.916 --> 0:00:55.916 Restaurant in Malibu. It's perched on the rocks right above 0:00:55.916 --> 0:01:00.036 the ocean. Out front is a giant statue of legendary 0:01:00.076 --> 0:01:04.876 Hawaiian surfer and swimmer Duke Kahanamoku, who helped introduce surfing 0:01:04.916 --> 0:01:07.636 to California in the early part of the twentieth century. 0:01:09.196 --> 0:01:12.556 Where Gidget, the real Gidget works. 0:01:13.836 --> 0:01:18.236 Hey, we're here to interview Kathy Kathy khonor. 0:01:21.036 --> 0:01:21.956 She's a hostess. 0:01:22.436 --> 0:01:23.476 Yeah, Gidget. 0:01:26.716 --> 0:01:26.956 Cool. 0:01:27.316 --> 0:01:34.636 Thanks. Gidget's real name is Kathy Kohener Zuckerman. The summer 0:01:34.636 --> 0:01:37.556 of nineteen fifty six, when she was fifteen, she hung 0:01:37.636 --> 0:01:40.796 out at the beach in Malibu. She befriended Mickey, Dora 0:01:40.996 --> 0:01:43.436 and Tube Steak, who was later given the name The 0:01:43.476 --> 0:01:47.396 Big Kahuna. She fell in love, but most of all, 0:01:47.516 --> 0:01:50.756 she learned to surf, and her stories became the basis 0:01:50.756 --> 0:01:54.316 for the original Gidget, a novel written by Frederick Khoner 0:01:54.756 --> 0:01:59.396 her Dad. It's hard to overstate the cultural impact of Gidget. 0:01:59.956 --> 0:02:02.276 When the book was released in nineteen fifty seven, it 0:02:02.356 --> 0:02:06.116 hit the La Times bestseller list, ahead of Jack Kerouax 0:02:06.236 --> 0:02:09.316 on the Road. It went on to sell how a 0:02:09.356 --> 0:02:13.516 million copies, but the book was only the beginning. In 0:02:13.596 --> 0:02:16.916 nineteen fifty nine, Gidget was adapted for film with Sondra 0:02:16.996 --> 0:02:18.036 d as Gidget. 0:02:18.596 --> 0:02:22.116 What in the world is a Gidget? It's a girl, 0:02:22.556 --> 0:02:25.836 a cuddling, befuddling teen who set out to find her 0:02:25.876 --> 0:02:29.436 a man of her own and found seven seven young 0:02:29.516 --> 0:02:33.156 beach combers with a single thought to enjoy life and 0:02:33.316 --> 0:02:36.996 love without working. Meet Kahuna Leaves. 0:02:37.116 --> 0:02:40.916 Sequels follow Gidget goes to Hawaiian, Gidget goes to Rome, 0:02:41.276 --> 0:02:46.356 Gidget grows up, Gidget gets married, Gidgets Summer Reunion. It 0:02:46.436 --> 0:02:49.756 was also a TV show starring a then unknown Sally 0:02:49.876 --> 0:02:55.516 Field as Gidget. Today, Kathy works as a kind of 0:02:55.636 --> 0:03:00.476 informal celebrity host at Duke's. She seats Steiner's, chats with them, 0:03:00.676 --> 0:03:04.996 and signs copies of the Gidget novel. Around the corner 0:03:04.996 --> 0:03:07.876 from reception, there's a wall with some old photos of Kathy, 0:03:08.516 --> 0:03:10.956 including one of her with Mickey Dora. 0:03:12.116 --> 0:03:13.236 Oh wow, look at this. 0:03:14.756 --> 0:03:15.956 That's Kathy and Mickey. 0:03:17.516 --> 0:03:19.676 There's sort of a pack of dudes in the background. 0:03:19.836 --> 0:03:23.356 And blurt out, Oh, here she comes. She's got a 0:03:23.396 --> 0:03:27.316 cute little flower in her hair. The person coming toward 0:03:27.396 --> 0:03:29.756 me is tiny, with a big, warm smile and a 0:03:29.756 --> 0:03:33.756 bunch of chunky necklaces around her neck. This is the person, 0:03:33.876 --> 0:03:39.076 Mickey Dora says ruined Malibu. She's eighty two and vibrant, 0:03:39.236 --> 0:03:41.756 and I'll just say she doesn't feel much like a 0:03:41.836 --> 0:03:42.396 villain to me. 0:03:43.556 --> 0:03:46.556 I just do high finance here because somebody made me 0:03:46.676 --> 0:03:49.156 a couple of really great photos of me, went at 0:03:49.156 --> 0:03:51.516 the shack and went so I love. 0:03:53.916 --> 0:03:56.596 Kathy, says she sometimes sells photos of herself as a 0:03:56.596 --> 0:03:59.196 teenager on the beach in Malibu to Duke's customers. 0:04:00.196 --> 0:04:04.996 It just always hustling. No, I love mine. Yes, you know. 0:04:05.796 --> 0:04:09.636 So that's the shack. That's amazing. That's the original shock. 0:04:10.676 --> 0:04:12.716 You know, the board the big Mahuna lived. I mean 0:04:12.756 --> 0:04:17.396 that's he was called Khuna, by the way, but he 0:04:17.436 --> 0:04:19.356 lived in that shack. So that's me in front. 0:04:19.156 --> 0:04:23.156 Of the check Kathy. Shift is over and the plan 0:04:23.276 --> 0:04:24.676 is for me to give her a ride back to 0:04:24.716 --> 0:04:27.676 her house in the Palisades. Okay, okay, let's you. 0:04:27.676 --> 0:04:27.996 Want to go. 0:04:28.156 --> 0:04:31.436 Yeah, so we'll let you home. Thank you. I have 0:04:31.476 --> 0:04:37.356 to clock off. Okay, bye, everybody, see you tomorrow. Bye, 0:04:37.956 --> 0:04:44.116 thank you, thank you. Why didn't you come around to 0:04:44.156 --> 0:04:45.676 the passenger side in the front. 0:04:48.876 --> 0:04:51.356 As we head out of Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway, 0:04:51.556 --> 0:04:53.836 we start talking about what it was like for her 0:04:54.036 --> 0:04:56.676 when the Gidget movie came out in nineteen fifty nine. 0:04:57.516 --> 0:04:58.036 When you're in. 0:04:57.996 --> 0:05:00.556 College and the movie comes out, did people start to 0:05:00.796 --> 0:05:01.556 recognize you? 0:05:02.196 --> 0:05:05.716 And I know you weren't and nobody recognizes me, But 0:05:05.796 --> 0:05:10.356 did they make the connection between you and this famous movie? Well, 0:05:10.356 --> 0:05:12.876 it wasn't famous when it came out. And I saw 0:05:12.876 --> 0:05:16.516 it at the White Side Theater in Corvallis, Oregon, and 0:05:16.676 --> 0:05:21.316 I wish you'd slow down a bit on and I 0:05:21.396 --> 0:05:24.516 thought it was you know, it was like, oh my god, 0:05:24.556 --> 0:05:26.876 this is a movie about my life at Malibu. You know, 0:05:26.916 --> 0:05:29.316 obviously based on the book that my dead wrote. 0:05:29.956 --> 0:05:33.556 Surfing, Kathy says, is completely different now from when she 0:05:33.676 --> 0:05:34.916 was a kid. 0:05:35.316 --> 0:05:40.116 When I was surfing, there were no contests, no surf music, 0:05:40.636 --> 0:05:44.676 no surf clothing. It was all That's what I loved 0:05:44.676 --> 0:05:47.596 so much about it was. It was way off dead center. 0:05:47.836 --> 0:05:51.396 I was the tomboy, you know, I was. You know, 0:05:51.476 --> 0:05:53.916 the kids would write in my annual when I graduated, 0:05:54.476 --> 0:05:57.356 good luck with your water skiing. You know, they didn't 0:05:57.436 --> 0:05:59.116 know what surfing was. You know. 0:06:01.316 --> 0:06:04.636 With the phenomenal success at Gidget, the weird little boho 0:06:04.756 --> 0:06:07.556 scene that was happening on the beach in Malibu became 0:06:07.956 --> 0:06:15.356 instantly pop culture. Malibu got overrun. Mickey was furious and 0:06:15.396 --> 0:06:17.956 in his mind, in the minds of all those dudes 0:06:17.956 --> 0:06:21.316 who worshiped the ground, Mickey walked on. Gidget became the 0:06:21.316 --> 0:06:30.036 one who ruined everything. I'm Dana Goodyear and this is 0:06:30.156 --> 0:07:01.636 Lost Hills Episode three, Gidget Goes to Hollywood, Part one. 0:07:05.236 --> 0:07:07.676 I believe Gidget was the trailblazer. 0:07:07.756 --> 0:07:13.196 Yes, Gidget ushered in the era of surfing as a 0:07:13.236 --> 0:07:14.676 pop culture phenomenon. 0:07:15.756 --> 0:07:16.516 Well, the thing is. 0:07:16.476 --> 0:07:17.676 Thrill is surfboarding. 0:07:18.116 --> 0:07:20.916 The art of surfboarding is part of a Hawaiian culture, 0:07:21.236 --> 0:07:28.396 surf movies, and then you got beach blanket bingo, Ride 0:07:28.436 --> 0:07:38.556 the Wild surf. You know Elvis Presley movieses b a 0:07:38.636 --> 0:07:41.796 net Funicello because people say, oh, you're a net Funicello, Like, no. 0:07:42.756 --> 0:07:44.356 Take a look at those waves out there. 0:07:45.596 --> 0:07:48.956 Well, you know there's nothing out there, but you see 0:07:49.156 --> 0:07:53.876 the sky, you make it sound good. And I actually 0:07:54.076 --> 0:07:57.916 never watched any of those beach movies. I didn't ever 0:07:57.996 --> 0:08:01.276 watch a Frankly Avalon muscle Beach Party. I don't even 0:08:01.316 --> 0:08:02.116 know the names of them. 0:08:03.036 --> 0:08:03.916 Ah, this is the life. 0:08:03.916 --> 0:08:05.876 How did he son the serf? 0:08:05.956 --> 0:08:15.876 This is it surf music. It's the beach boys. 0:08:16.436 --> 0:08:17.676 Let's surfing now. 0:08:17.916 --> 0:08:22.236 Everybody's learning now surf competitions and a good cutback that 0:08:22.316 --> 0:08:28.716 time by Donald Takeyama surf brands. There was no leashes, 0:08:28.836 --> 0:08:33.716 there was no wetsuits. There was no merchandising. I mean, 0:08:33.756 --> 0:08:39.596 who'd heard of surf clothing or Roxy or Quicksilver, rip Curler, hurlier, 0:08:40.236 --> 0:08:43.116 any of these things you know we're seeing today some 0:08:43.276 --> 0:08:48.756 of the world's finess. Serv Serving became a business. 0:08:48.276 --> 0:09:03.156 Looking for a seven Conday. 0:09:03.916 --> 0:09:07.756 Before Gidget, there was just the waves and the beach 0:09:08.116 --> 0:09:11.396 and the birds and a few stray humans doing something 0:09:11.636 --> 0:09:16.316 very few people would credit as worthwhile. The early California 0:09:16.356 --> 0:09:20.676 surfers were iconoclasts. Some of them were teenagers ditching school. 0:09:21.156 --> 0:09:24.156 Some of them were disillusioned veterans of the Second World War. 0:09:25.236 --> 0:09:29.076 All of them were rejecting the clean cut, dutiful stereotypes 0:09:29.116 --> 0:09:29.556 of the era. 0:09:30.396 --> 0:09:32.556 I mean, even if you were a surfer, your parents 0:09:32.636 --> 0:09:34.916 wanted to go to school, but we would rather go surfing. 0:09:35.076 --> 0:09:38.996 So we were kind of outcast, would be the best 0:09:38.996 --> 0:09:42.756 way of putting it looked at differently. 0:09:43.956 --> 0:09:47.276 This is Henry Ford, another early surfer who became a 0:09:47.316 --> 0:09:48.316 lifeguard at Malibu. 0:09:49.236 --> 0:09:52.836 You probably weren't working as much as other people because 0:09:52.876 --> 0:09:56.116 you were bitten by the werewolf, as we call surfing 0:09:56.236 --> 0:09:57.036 surfing bidtis. 0:09:57.516 --> 0:10:00.436 And it's like you, once you're bitten, you're stuck with it. 0:10:00.516 --> 0:10:00.756 You know. 0:10:02.516 --> 0:10:05.436 Malibu has a number of surf spots, but when people 0:10:05.476 --> 0:10:08.756 say Malibu, they're usually talking about surf right or beach. 0:10:09.596 --> 0:10:12.756 It's a beautiful wave that peals slowly to the right 0:10:12.956 --> 0:10:16.996 instead of breaking all at once. Malibu is so consistent. 0:10:17.116 --> 0:10:21.756 Surfers call it the machine or the conveyor belt. That 0:10:21.876 --> 0:10:25.556 green unbroken water that was Mickey's canvas. 0:10:26.676 --> 0:10:30.916 Malibu had a perfect right point. It's kind of like 0:10:31.756 --> 0:10:34.996 manufactured wave. If you looked at it, there were perfect 0:10:35.436 --> 0:10:38.116 and it was the right hand point break and it 0:10:38.276 --> 0:10:41.596 was put in the right place where the wind would 0:10:41.596 --> 0:10:45.476 blow down the coast, and so it just it offered everything, 0:10:46.476 --> 0:10:52.076 good waves, good conditions, and unknown at that time because 0:10:52.076 --> 0:10:53.156 there were nobody else surfing. 0:10:53.436 --> 0:10:55.716 You'd drive by there, you'd see six people out. That 0:10:55.756 --> 0:10:58.156 would be it. That would be a big day. In 0:10:58.196 --> 0:10:58.916 those early. 0:10:58.756 --> 0:11:04.236 Years, Malibu was secluded, a private paradise. There were movie 0:11:04.236 --> 0:11:06.996 stars living in the Malibu Movie Colony, a group of 0:11:07.036 --> 0:11:09.396 houses clustered at one end of Surf Beach. 0:11:10.436 --> 0:11:13.356 There wasn't like a crowd that hung there every day. 0:11:13.836 --> 0:11:14.316 Uh. 0:11:14.636 --> 0:11:17.676 You know, there were a few movie stars that would 0:11:17.716 --> 0:11:21.476 come down there in those early days, guys like Peter Lawford, 0:11:22.076 --> 0:11:22.916 Richard Jacob. 0:11:23.956 --> 0:11:26.196 Other than that, there were a bunch of misfits. 0:11:26.836 --> 0:11:29.996 It was you know these characters, you know, they're they 0:11:29.996 --> 0:11:32.316 were different because they were they were like the Old 0:11:32.356 --> 0:11:35.396 West or something. There were you know, there's a freedom 0:11:35.596 --> 0:11:39.076 because they were away from any kind of society. 0:11:39.156 --> 0:11:39.316 You know. 0:11:39.396 --> 0:11:42.756 They once they entered the Malibu Beach, it was their domain. 0:11:43.796 --> 0:11:46.796 Here's Denny Auburg again, the surfer who started going to 0:11:46.836 --> 0:11:50.116 Malibu in the fifties, tagging along with his older brother Kemp. 0:11:51.436 --> 0:11:53.436 So you got down there and you saw all these 0:11:53.436 --> 0:11:55.876 different kinds of characters. They dressed like one guy just 0:11:55.956 --> 0:11:59.836 found it an old uh beaver coat that that washed 0:11:59.916 --> 0:12:02.556 up on the beach and that became his surfing coat. 0:12:02.676 --> 0:12:07.116 Full of holes. Monthy just people wore army jackets. It 0:12:07.196 --> 0:12:11.156 was kind of like improvisation. There's no technology for surfing. 0:12:11.996 --> 0:12:14.556 People roping their board on their car was rope, you know, 0:12:14.596 --> 0:12:19.556 there's no special wetsues, no wetsues. And he cut off jeans. 0:12:19.636 --> 0:12:21.836 You know, a lot of people just cut off jeans 0:12:21.876 --> 0:12:25.356 for their trucks. So it was like the beginning infancy 0:12:26.396 --> 0:12:27.356 of the surf thing. 0:12:28.436 --> 0:12:33.156 The characters at Malibu were basically beatnicks and dropouts. Some 0:12:33.236 --> 0:12:36.156 of them were what we would now think of as homeless. 0:12:37.316 --> 0:12:39.436 At the start of the summer of nineteen fifty six, 0:12:39.716 --> 0:12:43.996 one of them, Terry Tracy aka Tube Steak aka the 0:12:44.036 --> 0:12:47.316 Big Kahuna, decided he was just going to live on 0:12:47.356 --> 0:12:50.516 the beach and party NonStop with his friends. So we 0:12:50.556 --> 0:12:55.276 built himself a shack out of palm fronds, and that's 0:12:55.316 --> 0:12:58.396 where Kathy Kohner, a fifteen year old whose parents had 0:12:58.396 --> 0:13:01.636 brought her to the beach, found him, and that's where 0:13:01.676 --> 0:13:05.836 she met Mickey, Dora, the surfing God, the Dark Prince 0:13:06.116 --> 0:13:19.116 of Malibu. After sitting in traffic on Pacific Coast Highway 0:13:19.316 --> 0:13:21.876 and then climbing up into the palisades, we get to 0:13:21.956 --> 0:13:26.516 Kathy's house. It's a wooden ranch house red with white 0:13:26.596 --> 0:13:30.116 trim that she shares with her husband Marv. A table 0:13:30.276 --> 0:13:33.236 just outside the front door is piled with avaloni shells 0:13:33.276 --> 0:13:36.676 and sandbellars, and a wooden sign that says a beach 0:13:36.716 --> 0:13:38.676 girl lives here with her big kahuna. 0:13:39.956 --> 0:13:40.956 I love your house. 0:13:41.036 --> 0:13:42.676 What year is it? 0:13:42.756 --> 0:13:43.116 Belt? 0:13:43.956 --> 0:13:47.196 I love my house too. It's a fifteenth. It's so great. 0:13:48.716 --> 0:13:52.076 You don't see too many houses that our original watch 0:13:52.156 --> 0:13:53.996 us anymore in this neighborhood. 0:13:55.196 --> 0:13:56.196 It's got a very. 0:13:56.116 --> 0:13:56.836 Kind of like. 0:14:00.556 --> 0:14:03.756 This is so sure, Oh my gosh. 0:14:04.756 --> 0:14:07.276 Kathy leads me into a back bedroom, which looks like 0:14:07.316 --> 0:14:10.796 a museum of nineteen fifties girl hood. She opens a 0:14:10.876 --> 0:14:13.836 drawer and a bedside table and pulls out two old books, 0:14:14.076 --> 0:14:15.716 which she clutches to her chest. 0:14:17.156 --> 0:14:21.196 So these are the truths, Dana, These are my diary pages. 0:14:21.356 --> 0:14:25.836 Oh okay, Oh my God. Now she's like, oh, look 0:14:25.916 --> 0:14:29.036 at those look at your sweet Oh. I had to 0:14:29.156 --> 0:14:31.996 wroke up where I wrote about Mickey Dora. Of course 0:14:31.996 --> 0:14:34.516 I wrote it down. I can't find the oh here. 0:14:34.636 --> 0:14:42.796 Just oh my god, that's so great, amazing, amazing, amazing. 0:14:42.876 --> 0:14:45.956 I just love the way they look. To My Wonderful 0:14:46.036 --> 0:14:52.996 Year Gidgets diaries. The covers are faded pastel, pink and green, 0:14:53.316 --> 0:14:56.516 and the spines are splitting apart with age. One of 0:14:56.556 --> 0:14:59.436 them shows a boy and a girl holding hands. My 0:14:59.556 --> 0:15:04.676 Wonderful Year is written in bubbly lowercase script. These are 0:15:04.716 --> 0:15:08.836 basically the golden tablets of the surf religion. This is 0:15:08.836 --> 0:15:11.796 where Kathy recorded everything that happened in the summer of 0:15:11.876 --> 0:15:14.996 nineteen fifty six when she learned to surf in Malibu. 0:15:16.356 --> 0:15:20.236 I have written down in the diary the first day 0:15:20.276 --> 0:15:22.756 I went surfing, and I'm happy to read it to you. 0:15:23.476 --> 0:15:32.036 Of that June twenty fourth, nineteen fifty six, Sunday, Dear Diary, 0:15:32.396 --> 0:15:35.036 I didn't do too much but go to the beach. 0:15:35.596 --> 0:15:38.236 I didn't think i'd have fun, but I met Matt 0:15:38.596 --> 0:15:41.676 and he took me out on his surfboard. He let 0:15:41.716 --> 0:15:44.716 me catch the waves by myself and once I flew 0:15:44.796 --> 0:15:48.076 off and the board went flying in the air, I 0:15:48.116 --> 0:15:51.676 didn't get hurt at all. He also rode the waves 0:15:51.796 --> 0:15:55.796 with me. Then I rode the board in alone. The 0:15:55.876 --> 0:15:58.756 surf wasn't high at all. I hope Matt will take 0:15:58.796 --> 0:16:05.196 me surfing again. So that's the first entry about going 0:16:05.236 --> 0:16:06.156 surfing at Malibou. 0:16:09.236 --> 0:16:12.556 Kathy lived about fifteen miles away in Brentwood, but her 0:16:12.596 --> 0:16:15.436 parents were out doorsy and they loved the beach, so 0:16:15.476 --> 0:16:17.636 she'd been going to Malibu since she was a baby. 0:16:18.156 --> 0:16:19.396 She was aware of surfing. 0:16:20.556 --> 0:16:22.636 So there was a group of guys, you know, from 0:16:23.756 --> 0:16:27.356 nineteen forty eight or so that my mom used to 0:16:27.436 --> 0:16:29.196 take a couple of those guys to the beach to 0:16:29.236 --> 0:16:31.316 Malibu and took the boards in the Rumble Sea. So 0:16:31.396 --> 0:16:34.636 my earliest recollection of those boards were when you know, 0:16:34.716 --> 0:16:36.476 it was eight or nine years old. But we always 0:16:36.476 --> 0:16:39.396 went to Malibu, so I didn't stumble upon them. I 0:16:39.436 --> 0:16:41.356 saw them. I knew where they were. Usually they were 0:16:41.356 --> 0:16:44.916 in the pit. I remember them in the pit. That's 0:16:44.956 --> 0:16:46.356 when that was called the pit. 0:16:48.916 --> 0:16:50.956 The pit was a spot in the sand along the 0:16:50.996 --> 0:16:53.636 wall by the entrance to the beach. It was where 0:16:53.636 --> 0:16:56.396 the cool kids hung out. 0:16:56.156 --> 0:17:02.516 The pit seemed to be more hardcore surfers men's club, 0:17:02.676 --> 0:17:06.276 you know, all about testosterone. I mean a lot of 0:17:06.316 --> 0:17:11.156 them had nicknames. So there was some he called the Fencer, uh, 0:17:11.316 --> 0:17:17.636 the Kahuna, quick Higgye. Frank Higginson was called quick Kigge. Well, 0:17:17.676 --> 0:17:19.196 see Mickey was called to quet. 0:17:21.756 --> 0:17:26.076 The scene at the pit could be intimidating. Here's Danny 0:17:26.156 --> 0:17:28.396 Auburg again. He surfed with Mickey. 0:17:29.316 --> 0:17:31.356 Everybody would laugh and they everybody sit in the pit. 0:17:31.436 --> 0:17:34.196 You know, was this area where kind of the bigger names, 0:17:34.236 --> 0:17:37.876 you know, the n crowd would sit and surfers had 0:17:37.916 --> 0:17:40.316 to walk through that pit and be scrutinized, you know, 0:17:40.436 --> 0:17:43.316 like little beginners, and they throw pebbles at the board 0:17:43.436 --> 0:17:46.556 or yell something just to kind of asslem a little bit, 0:17:46.636 --> 0:17:48.316 you know, a. 0:17:48.236 --> 0:17:51.116 Little farther up the beach was the shack where Terry 0:17:51.156 --> 0:17:52.596 tube Steak Tracy lived. 0:17:53.396 --> 0:17:55.876 Tube Steak Tracy, who was the leader of the pack. 0:17:56.636 --> 0:17:59.196 But people would hang around his shack and old beat 0:17:59.276 --> 0:17:59.956 up couches. 0:17:59.996 --> 0:18:00.156 You know. 0:18:00.276 --> 0:18:02.916 They just dragged down an old car seat and lay 0:18:02.916 --> 0:18:05.596 it on the beach or an old chair, and it 0:18:05.676 --> 0:18:07.836 was very primitive. You know, and he had this. He 0:18:07.836 --> 0:18:10.636 would come out of his grass shack and you're spending 0:18:10.636 --> 0:18:13.036 the night, and I am the kahuna. You know. 0:18:14.116 --> 0:18:17.836 It was funny, the big Kahuna ruled the beach. 0:18:18.636 --> 0:18:21.596 In fact, he would say in Malibu on the beach, 0:18:21.876 --> 0:18:25.156 it's me in the water, it's Mickey Dora. 0:18:26.516 --> 0:18:30.156 This was way before contests and rankings, but no one 0:18:30.196 --> 0:18:33.636 had to measure Mickey's dominance. It was self evident. 0:18:34.756 --> 0:18:37.916 You know, he was king of the water, you know. 0:18:37.956 --> 0:18:41.276 And that's and surfing. It wasn't because you won something. 0:18:41.356 --> 0:18:43.396 It was nothing to win. It's a funny sport. It 0:18:44.276 --> 0:18:47.436 was just it was all by reputation. 0:18:47.636 --> 0:18:47.876 You know. 0:18:48.036 --> 0:18:49.796 It had a lot to do with the way your 0:18:49.836 --> 0:18:54.156 style on the water. Now you just you did something magnificent, 0:18:54.196 --> 0:18:57.196 but you didn't really win a contest, but the reputation 0:18:57.316 --> 0:19:01.476 would grow because you just looked beautiful on a wave. 0:19:01.956 --> 0:19:05.596 People would notice that you just rode that wave so well. 0:19:05.676 --> 0:19:07.916 I mean, the wave's over, is nothing left to show 0:19:07.956 --> 0:19:12.156 for it unless it's on. But people would remember. They'd 0:19:12.156 --> 0:19:14.476 be their hero, you know, like they'd idolize these people 0:19:14.516 --> 0:19:16.916 that were so good. It's a funny sport like that. 0:19:18.956 --> 0:19:24.196 Of course, Kathy noticed Mickey. Everyone did you know? 0:19:24.276 --> 0:19:30.716 He was dark and dark skin, dark hair, white trunks. 0:19:30.756 --> 0:19:35.676 I think I remember white trunks. He was a great surfer. 0:19:37.076 --> 0:19:39.036 He was a great surfer. I mean you could pick 0:19:39.116 --> 0:19:41.676 him if you looked outside. You could pick him up 0:19:41.676 --> 0:19:45.756 in a lineup. He was fantastic. He had hand gestures. 0:19:45.796 --> 0:19:48.876 I don't know if anybody's God, my name is Micky Tora. 0:19:49.356 --> 0:19:50.196 He'd go like that. 0:19:51.356 --> 0:19:54.556 Mickey makes frequent cameos in Kathy's diaries. 0:19:56.116 --> 0:20:00.236 Jazzed on Mickey. He didn't kiss me though. We drove 0:20:00.396 --> 0:20:03.916 into Palmdale, where Mickey went to meet these people who 0:20:03.956 --> 0:20:07.276 were going to take him to Mammoth God. I wanted 0:20:07.276 --> 0:20:10.356 to go so badly. I came home, I found a 0:20:10.436 --> 0:20:13.076 letter waiting for me from Dick. I called up Bill 0:20:13.196 --> 0:20:16.036 and he told me that he Lester and Jesse and 0:20:16.156 --> 0:20:19.116 Tube Tubs Sake, we're all going to Mammoth that night. 0:20:19.356 --> 0:20:24.116 I called up Jesse, but he had already left. Skiing 0:20:24.156 --> 0:20:27.796 was a big deal. I am completely jazzed, and I 0:20:27.796 --> 0:20:31.236 don't know on whom. So there were these series of 0:20:32.156 --> 0:20:33.196 male interests. 0:20:34.436 --> 0:20:38.436 Kathy was, in her own description, completely boy crazy and 0:20:38.676 --> 0:20:41.836 very sporty. She didn't want to spend all day at 0:20:41.836 --> 0:20:45.076 the movies like the other girl. She knew she wanted 0:20:45.116 --> 0:20:48.516 to have adventures. 0:20:47.796 --> 0:20:49.676 So Mickey would come over to the house and play 0:20:49.676 --> 0:20:52.996 ping pong. He would take me to the ski slips 0:20:52.996 --> 0:20:54.636 and I found it where he'd have me climb up 0:20:54.676 --> 0:20:56.436 the rope toe, so he didn't want to pay for 0:20:57.196 --> 0:20:58.276 a ski whip ticket. 0:20:59.356 --> 0:21:02.276 Mammoth Mountain was only a few hundred miles north in 0:21:02.356 --> 0:21:03.116 Mono County. 0:21:04.156 --> 0:21:06.996 Mickey was a good skier, so Mickey would take me, 0:21:07.036 --> 0:21:08.876 and I wrote it, let's see, well, I didn't go 0:21:08.916 --> 0:21:12.436 to school today, but instead I went skiing. Mickey's friends 0:21:12.476 --> 0:21:14.836 picked me up at seven to ten on the corner 0:21:14.836 --> 0:21:19.276 of Bundy and Coin. Fantastic weather, only no snow. God. 0:21:19.356 --> 0:21:22.876 We drove to Moonridge, where we spent the day on 0:21:22.996 --> 0:21:29.516 a dripping rope toe. What a fiasco. Mickey came with us. 0:21:29.596 --> 0:21:32.196 All he did was ski up and down the rope toe. 0:21:32.756 --> 0:21:36.036 He left around four, and Mickey had some beer and 0:21:36.116 --> 0:21:39.916 we got feeling good. I snuggled close up to Mickey 0:21:39.996 --> 0:21:43.156 and it felt terrific. I think I'm sort of really. 0:21:44.196 --> 0:21:48.556 Kathy lived a safe, comfortable, conventional life, but she hadn't 0:21:48.556 --> 0:21:51.956 really found her people. Strange as it sounds, she felt 0:21:51.996 --> 0:21:53.196 more at home at the beach. 0:21:54.476 --> 0:21:57.276 I did not like going to school, so I didn't 0:21:57.316 --> 0:22:03.116 really enjoy high school. Girly girly things. Had a couple 0:22:03.116 --> 0:22:08.516 of great English teachers that I remembered liking, but I 0:22:08.556 --> 0:22:11.556 didn't have a boyfriend in high school. I just always 0:22:11.796 --> 0:22:16.156 liked boys. Most of them were from the beach. I 0:22:16.316 --> 0:22:18.836 found the place that I always wanted to go to 0:22:18.956 --> 0:22:22.956 was Malibu because I felt that I had a little 0:22:23.036 --> 0:22:26.556 community there, like cheers. You know, everybody knows my name. Well, 0:22:26.636 --> 0:22:29.276 I got a nickname. They all called me Gidget. And 0:22:29.356 --> 0:22:31.516 so any chance I could get, I would go to 0:22:31.596 --> 0:22:36.156 the beach and the language and the whole millieure of 0:22:36.596 --> 0:22:39.796 you know, coming down there carrying your board, getting to 0:22:39.836 --> 0:22:44.876 know who these what their names were, and wanting to 0:22:44.916 --> 0:22:48.596 be part of the crew, a place to belong. I mean, 0:22:48.676 --> 0:22:52.916 you're a teenage kid. We had school, and we had home, 0:22:52.916 --> 0:22:55.596 and then the third place, as a sociologist would say, 0:22:55.956 --> 0:22:56.996 for me, it was the beach. 0:23:01.436 --> 0:23:04.636 Kathy was inspired by what she saw going on around her, 0:23:05.396 --> 0:23:08.396 inspired to serve but also to document it. 0:23:09.356 --> 0:23:12.676 I think that the pinnacle was the guy that lived 0:23:12.716 --> 0:23:14.716 in a shack at the beach. I thought, whoa, this 0:23:14.796 --> 0:23:18.956 is kind of interesting, so I thought, yeah, I thought, wow, 0:23:18.996 --> 0:23:20.516 I'd like to write a story about this guy who 0:23:20.476 --> 0:23:23.316 lives in a shack all summer. You know, doesn't he 0:23:23.356 --> 0:23:26.316 have a mummy and daddy? You know, doesn't he have 0:23:26.356 --> 0:23:26.836 a car. 0:23:28.156 --> 0:23:30.836 Kathy's father, Frederick Kohner, was a screenwriter. 0:23:32.076 --> 0:23:33.916 So I remember my dad would pick me up in 0:23:33.956 --> 0:23:35.876 the dino ful buick and I sat next to him 0:23:35.876 --> 0:23:37.196 in the car, and I said, I'd like to write 0:23:37.236 --> 0:23:40.676 a story about what's going on in Malibu. You tell me, 0:23:40.716 --> 0:23:43.716 I'll write the story for you. And he did. He 0:23:43.876 --> 0:23:44.556 wrote Kitchen. 0:23:45.996 --> 0:23:48.916 Kathy's memories of those days in Malibu are now part 0:23:48.956 --> 0:23:53.876 of the collective unconscious. But there's another story one she 0:23:53.956 --> 0:23:57.356 does not like to tell about a side of Mickey, 0:23:57.396 --> 0:24:01.116 Dora and her surf friends. She'd probably rather she did 0:24:01.156 --> 0:24:01.556 not know. 0:24:11.556 --> 0:24:14.716 Please, no tourist, Kahuna, Hey Francis, no tour She's got 0:24:14.716 --> 0:24:16.476 a real yend to pick up on servant. 0:24:18.556 --> 0:24:19.876 That gidget. 0:24:21.796 --> 0:24:24.876 Gidget. Oh wait, wait a minute, fellas, look look me 0:24:24.996 --> 0:24:25.796 on the gag too. 0:24:25.996 --> 0:24:29.076 Huh, Well, you see it's right there through osmos. 0:24:29.516 --> 0:24:32.236 Yeah, girl, and midget a Gidget. 0:24:33.876 --> 0:24:36.876 That's a scene from the original nineteen fifty nine Gidget movie. 0:24:37.636 --> 0:24:41.316 It captures the teasing Kathy endured, the playful side of 0:24:41.316 --> 0:24:47.196 it anyway. Kathy Kohner's diaries are like Kathy, full of 0:24:47.236 --> 0:24:52.716 sunshine and optimism. She loves that she was she is Gidget. 0:24:53.796 --> 0:24:56.476