The surf culture in the area is deep in history, from Duke Kahanamoku surfing at Coronadel Mar State Beach in the 1920s, before the jetties were built, to Hobie Alter starting his famoussurfboard business in Laguna Beach in 1954.
The power of the surf and skate industry in Costa Mesa, Laguna Beach and NewportBeach will be on full display at the Newport Beach Film Festival, which runs Oct. 16-23 (location and times TBA).
The world premiere of the documentary “The Surf-Skate Business Evolution: The OC Effect,” produced by Laguna Beach residents Scott Hays and Terry Corwin, explores OrangeCounty’s rise in surfing and skateboarding.
Hays, founder of the nonprofit multimedia company OC World, estimates that the industry is currently worth $13 billion.
“That’s billion, with a ‘B,’” said Hays, a product of Estancia High.
In 2025, “The OC Effect” was named Best Feature Documentary at the LA Film & Documentary Awards and Platinum Award winner at the International Independent Film Awards.
“OC World” is broadcast on KLCS PBS and circulates to 15.5 million homes from Santa Barbara to San Diego.
“OC World” is a 30-minute weekly public affairs television program that tackles criticalsocial issues associated with local communities. Its format includes in-studio interviews, fieldreports and short documentaries.
“The OC Effect” made its debut last spring at the Lido Theater in Newport Beach with aslew of industry heavyweights, including Volcom co-founder Thom McElroy, Quiksilver co-founder and former chief executive Bob Knight, and Steve Van Doren, the son of late Vans co-founder Paul Van Doren. Steve Van Doren, an Estancia High graduate, continues to serveimportant roles in the 60-year-old family company.
Narrated by Sugar Ray lead singer and Corona del Mar High graduate Mark McGrath, the documentary details how the surf and skate industry influencers throughout the decades evolved in the Costa Mesa and Newport Beach area.
There are 30 personalities interviewed in the film, providing insightful stories, mostly about surfing, including Knight, Steve Van Doren, Gerry Lopez, Greg MacGillivray, Ryan Sheckler, Paul Naude, surf industry pioneer Dick Metz and Volcom co-founder Richard “Wooly” Woolcott.
Following the Lido screening, McElroy, Woolcott, Metz and “Five Summer Stories” producer MacGillivray were part of a question-and-answer panel on stage.
MacGillivray, who lives in Laguna Beach, initiated the development of three cameras for the IMAX format, the high-speed (slow-motion) camera, the industry’s first lightweight camera and the “all-weather” camera used during the filming on Mount Everest.
He was first nominated for an Academy Award in 1995 for directing “The Living Sea” (Best Documentary Short Subject) and again was nominated in the same category for “Dolphins” in 2000.
Richard Dunn, a longtime sportswriter, writes the Dunn Deal column regularly for The Orange County Register’s weekly, The Coastal Current North.