First responders found George Trafton staggering
down the side of PCH, “severely burned and most of his clothes
incinerated.”
In a sad postscript to my story, “Ode to the Palisades,” Jim Ganzer,
Lance Carson, and George Trafton, three of the Palisades “elders” I
mentioned in the first paragraph, lost everything in the
fire and are now homeless.
Ganzer’s rancho up Los Flores Canyon burned to the ground along
with his art and surfboard collection. When I spoke to him two days
ago, Ganzer did not talk about what insurance would cover,
rebuilding, or his loss. Instead, he apologized for letting “Old
Yeller,” my favorite Robbie Dick longboard that I kept at his
house, burn.
In addition to losing his house on the Pacific Coast Highway and
everything inside it, first responders found George Trafton early
last Wednesday morning, staggering down the side of the Pacific
Coast Highway, “severely burned and most of his clothes
incinerated.” Although he survived, Trafton is now at the Grossman
Burn Center undergoing skin grafts on much of his body.
Lance Carson has not been allowed back to the Palisades. He does
not know what remains of his home of fifty years, but he knows that
it is uninhabitable.
In many ways, Ganzer, Trafton, and Carson defined what their old
friend, iconic West LA surfer and H2O Magazine publisher, Marty Sugarman, best described
as Southern California’s “Waterfront Culture.” While Jim Ganzer is
known for his surf wear company Jimmy Z, he is a
polymath.
In addition to pioneering surfing in Costa Rica, he attended
Chouinard Art Institute with Chuck Arnoldi, Laddie Dill, Ron
Cooper, and worked closely with Larry Bell. Ganzer’s art has been
shown all over the world.
Ganzer starred opposite Michelle Phillips of The Mamas & The
Papas in Ed Ruscha’s film Miracle.
Although his on screen film career was brief, the legendary bon
vivant had quite an impact on Hollywood. He provided the
inspiration for the character “The Dude” in the Coen brothers film
The Big Lebowski.
Anyone who knows Jim Ganzer will attest to the fact that the
movie’s most famous line, “The Dude Abides,” was his.
When it came to surfing Malibu, nobody rode the nose better than
Lance Carson.
Different from Miki Dora’s smooth, narrow-stanced, trimming
style, Lance’s technique was a more upright, bob-and-weave
approach. He is known for his tail block stalls and cross stepping
sprints to the nose. The Malibu icon provided the inspiration for
the characters “Lance,” and “Matt Johnson” in his friend John
Milius’ films Apocalypse Now and Big Wednesday.
Apocalypse Now and Big Wednesday’s Matt Johnson.
After shortboards replaced longboards and Carson’s surfing star
began to fade, he focused his energy on building surfboards. Today,
most surfboards are disposable, machine-made pop outs, but Carson’s
are hand-shaped, meticulously glassed and some of the finest in the world.
George Trafton, son of NFL hall-of-famer George “The Brute”
Trafton (center on Knute Rockney’s 1919 Notre Dame team, Chicago
Bears player/coach), turned his prodigious athletic talent first to
skateboarding and then to surfing.
People have lost sight of the fact that skateboarding’s true
ground zero was Pacific Palisades.
More than a decade before Dogtown, George Trafton and others
were doing unthinkable things on the town’s steep hills with only
clay wheels. Instead of seeking a career in pro surfing, he became
one of California’s greatest underground surfers. Trafton summered
at Scorpion Bay, wintered at The Ranch, and spent so much time in
the tube that he earned the sobriquet “The Mole.” In addition to
his feats in the water, Trafton also had a Mick Jagger side, and
was the lead guitarist for the Malibu surf band “Blue Juice.”
While money came and went, properties were bought and sold,
Ganzer, Carson, and Trafton were Dionysian men of action. For
better or worse, they chose sensual action and experience-filled
lives over material ones.
None of them have Santa Barbara beach houses, Sun Valley ski
houses, much less $1000 a night White Lotus-like resorts they can
retreat to.
They will now have to start over.
I head a small nonprofit called Fainting Robin Foundation. In
short, we help people who need help. From persecuted professors and
journalists, to the families of murder victims and POW/MIAs, to
veterans trying to get the VA to honor their commitments, to
civilians on the frontlines of wars, we help.
Fainting Robin has a very small budget, no office, or staff
other than my wife Annabelle Lee and me. We have made a $1000
donation to each man. Anyone who wants to make a donation to Jim
Ganzer or Lance Carson can make it through the GoFundMe links
below
I could not find a GoFundMe Account for George Trafton. If you
would like to make a donation to him, Fainting Robin can deliver
it. Unlike GoFundMe, Fainting Robin will not skim a penny. All
donations are tax deductible. Please note who you would like your
donation to go to. www.faintingrobin.org.
Many other Waterfront Culture icons are equally deserving of
support. Kathy Kohner Zuckerberg, the
original Gidget, Dogtown Lord Skip Engbloom, and many
others lost their homes.
Even more tragic, lesser known Malibu surfer Randy “The
Crawdaddy” Miod died with his kitten in his arms while trying to
escape his beloved “Crab Shack” on Pacific Coast
Highway.
I am at a rare loss for words.
