{"id":278038,"date":"2026-04-21T05:25:15","date_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:25:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/278038\/"},"modified":"2026-04-21T05:25:15","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T05:25:15","slug":"gordon-smith-surfboards-returns-to-its-roots-in-pacific-beach","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/278038\/","title":{"rendered":"Gordon & Smith surfboards returns to its roots in Pacific Beach"},"content":{"rendered":"

PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 Renowned surfboard and skateboard manufacturer Gordon & Smith<\/a> is going back to the future \u2014 by returning to its original shop in Pacific Beach.<\/p>\n

The fabled local surfboard shaping company is going back to its roots where it began, opening a new retail outlet in a re-imagined space along with caf\u00e9 Boards N\u2019 Beans<\/a> at 763 Turquoise St.<\/p>\n

G&S was founded in 1959 by legendary surfboard-building pioneers Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith. Both founders married sisters, so their joint company has been a family-run business from the start.<\/p>\n

For the past 10-plus years, the company has been run by the brother-and-sister team of Eric and Debbie Gordon. The pair pushed the reset button for G&S in 2014, setting up their manufacturing and control of production in both surfboards and skateboards in San Diego.<\/p>\n

At its current surfboard factory at 5151 Santa Fe St., Suite A, located half a mile from its original 1964 factory, G&S not only glasses its own surfboards, but glasses other top-shaper brands as well.<\/p>\n

The company continues to pride itself by continuing to build on its legacy of quality craftsmanship, which has defined G&S over 60 years in business. The company has four experienced employees who hand-shape all of its boards at its factory site.<\/p>\n

Conducting a tour of their surfboard factory, Gordon introduced head shaper Chris Darby.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just a basic room specially designed with lighting to see the contours of the board,\u201d he said of his workspace, where he was currently working on a board for a surf shop in New Jersey. Darby added that he loves his job and the freedom it provides him, allowing him to take a break on occasion when the waves are especially good before returning to work.<\/p>\n

Surf and skateboards are made to order at G&S.<\/p>\n

Debbie Gordon talked about how her family got a toehold in the local surf and skate industry.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe started in a garage,\u201d she said. \u201cThen (we) moved to 763 Turquoise St., which is where we\u2019re re-moving in. Boards N\u2019 Beans invited us to have all our stuff in there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Photos on the wall of the new shop document the beginnings of Larry Gordon and Floyd Smith at 763 Turquoise St. (Photo by Thomas Melville\/Times of San Diego)<\/p>\n

Of their game plan for the new location, Gordon said, \u201cWe\u2019ll be doing shaping exhibitions and meet-and-greets with our shapers. It\u2019s plugging into the community.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon noted that 763 Turquoise St. is just a couple of blocks from Tourmaline Surf Park, where a memorial bench sits above the surf honoring her late father and his work.<\/p>\n

A documentary book, \u201cGordon & Smith: One Long Ride,\u201d outlining the history of their family and surf\/skate business, will be on sale at its Turquoise Street location.<\/p>\n

Gordon said that G&S wasn\u2019t the very first company to make surfboards, by any means. But in 1959 when G&S started, everything was balsa, heavy, and hard to carry to the beach. Women and kids had a hard time with that weight. <\/p>\n

\u201cMy dad and my uncle saw the need for foam boards, which became a sought-after commodity,\u201d Debbie Gordon said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe made it out of the short-board revolution that came in the late \u201960s, where boards went from being long to being very short all of a sudden. G&S was one of the only brands that made it through that transition. We were also one of the first surfboard companies to go international as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gordon added their company continues to adapt to changing tastes and times.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can duplicate your favorite board, come up with a custom design from one of our newest model templates, or pull a design from our library of five decades of proven models to suit your needs,\u201d reads the company\u2019s promotional materials. <\/p>\n

They are also producing reissues and new models in collaboration with some of their skate team riders.<\/p>\n

How to build a surfboard<\/p>\n

A surfboard\u2019s core is typically made from some sort of foam, which is then covered by a skin, traditionally fiberglass. Running through the center of the foam is the stringer, typically a single strip of wood that adds strength and rigidity.<\/p>\n

Decide on a surfboard design.<\/p>\n

Make a stringer.<\/p>\n

Glue stringer between block foam.<\/p>\n

Remove bulk foam from the block foam.<\/p>\n

Rough shape the blank.<\/p>\n

Cut out rough shape of the surfboard.<\/p>\n

Refine the blank.<\/p>\n

Add artwork.<\/p>\n

Finally, enjoy your new surfboard.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PACIFIC BEACH \u2013 Renowned surfboard and skateboard manufacturer Gordon & Smith is going back to the future \u2014…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":278039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[119959,119960,119961,119962,12258,74,76,75,119963,83519],"class_list":{"0":"post-278038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-diego","8":"tag-boards-n-beans","9":"tag-floyd-smith","10":"tag-gordon-smith","11":"tag-larry-gordon","12":"tag-pacific-beach","13":"tag-san-diego","14":"tag-san-diego-headlines","15":"tag-san-diego-news","16":"tag-skateboards","17":"tag-surfboards"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=278038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/278038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/278039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=278038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=278038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=278038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}