Think Texas ain't a surfing state? Galveston museum aims to change your mind - Texas - News Article Locations on Waymarking.com

This news story is about the Texas Surf Museum, a popular place for visitors to downtown Galveston. It is on the north side of Mechanic, between Kempner and Moody.

Article text:

By Chris Gray, Gulf Coast Reporter
June 7, 2025

The Gulf Coast has quietly been a wave-rider's paradise for more than 100 years.

One of Galveston's hottest new attractions aims to combat the persistent, and patently incorrect, perception that Texas is not a surfing state. Since February, the Texas Surf Museum has delighted in proving people wrong.

"That's kind of the purpose of the space, is to break that myth and let people know that there is this really rich history," Texas Surf Museum assistant manager Missouri Wilkinson told Chron one morning last month.

"There's been surfing here since 1920, and the surf culture really blossomed at the same time as it did in California," they continued. "We have this parallel history right here on the Texas coast."

Force behind the museum

It took an entire community to bring the museum to fruition, but the founder and driving force is Al Brown. The museum's website says Brown started surfing in 1965, tagging along when his older brother took the family station wagon to Surfside. Between the Gidget movies and hit after hit by the Beach Boys, the entire nation was surf-crazy at the time, but Brown stuck with it. A decade later, he plied the waves off the Philippines and Japan while serving in the Navy.

Besides surfing, Brown also became quite the collector. Every so often, he'd donate something to the previous iteration of the Texas Surf Museum in Corpus Christi. But when that museum abruptly closed after nearly 20 years in September 2022, what Brown had been planning as an outpost of the other museum quickly became the main event. An executive board was formed in January 2023, and the IRS approved nonprofit status a few months later.

Two years of intense work followed on the building, a cavernous 4,000 square feet that once housed an antique store and, decades ago, served as the pressroom annex for the Galveston County Daily News. The museum opened to the public during the first week of Mardi Gras, and one of the first exhibits was devoted to legendary surfboard shaper Henry Fry, who'd started his trade as a teenager in his Spring Branch garage (which he eventually burned down, Texas Monthly noted).

Force behind the museum

It took an entire community to bring the museum to fruition, but the founder and driving force is Al Brown. The museum's website says Brown started surfing in 1965, tagging along when his older brother took the family station wagon to Surfside. Between the Gidget movies and hit after hit by the Beach Boys, the entire nation was surf-crazy at the time, but Brown stuck with it. A decade later, he plied the waves off the Philippines and Japan while serving in the Navy.

Besides surfing, Brown also became quite the collector. Every so often, he'd donate something to the previous iteration of the Texas Surf Museum in Corpus Christi. But when that museum abruptly closed after nearly 20 years in September 2022, what Brown had been planning as an outpost of the other museum quickly became the main event. An executive board was formed in January 2023, and the IRS approved nonprofit status a few months later.

Two years of intense work followed on the building, a cavernous 4,000 square feet that once housed an antique store and, decades ago, served as the pressroom annex for the Galveston County Daily News. The museum opened to the public during the first week of Mardi Gras, and one of the first exhibits was devoted to legendary surfboard shaper Henry Fry, who'd started his trade as a teenager in his Spring Branch garage (which he eventually burned down, Texas Monthly noted).

Fry cut the ribbon himself, on his 88th birthday.

"Everybody who's surfed in Texas knows Henry Fry; and just about everybody here has at least surfed a Fry board, if not learned on one," Wilkinson said. "So that was really special. Gives me chills."

Inside the museum

One wall traces the evolution of modern surfing. Greg Ruppe of Galveston's Picnic Surf Shapes designed a replica of a massive Hawaiian Olo board; ridden by royalty and up to 20 feet long, they were often fashioned from a single log of the acacia-like hardwood koa or the lighter wiliwili. Later boards were made from lighter types of wood (balsa being a favorite), and then foam and fiberglass. Most modern surfers prefer the latter two, though wooden boards have begun making a modest comeback, Wilkinson said.

Photos and other memorabilia honor island surfing pioneers Doc Paskowitz, founder of the first U.S. surfing school outside Hawaii; and LeRoy Colombo, one of the island's most prominent lifeguards. Using his handy rescue board, Colombo was credited with nearly 1,000 saves over his decades-long career. Another area is devoted to Ellis Pickett, founder of the Surfrider Foundation's Texas chapter, which lobbied hard to have the Texas Open Beaches Act added to the state's constitution. (Voters did so in 2009.)

Elsewhere, prolific island muralist Gabriel Prusmack painted a giant wave on one wall that makes an ideal Instagram backdrop. A large wave machine on the ground floor, on loan from Texas A&M-Galveston, gives off strong science-fair vibes. Brown has been coordinating an upcoming exhibit on the island's shapers and has contacted 16 contributors, according to a post this week on the museum's Facebook group.

The museum is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily from Memorial Day to Labor Day, and Thursday through Sunday during the off-season (same hours). Lifelong surfers will no doubt find plenty here to jog their memories, while novices will discover a window into a fascinating subculture still thriving on the beaches a mile or so from the museum.

"Even all the folks that say, 'What? There's [surfing] in Texas?'" said Wilkinson. "They go through this and have their minds blown."

Type of publication: Internet Only When was the article reported?: 06/07/2025 Publication: Chron Article Url: [Web Link] Is Registration Required?: no How widespread was the article reported?: local News Category: Entertainment

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