Donald Takayama (1943-2012)

 

By Steve Pezman

Donald Takayama, Ala Moana, 1961. Photo: Leroy Grannis
Donald passed away this morning, October 22, 2012. Much will be written about him.
Dale Velzy invited him to California to shape when he saw a board that Takayama had made in Waikiki. At 12, Donald came over and made the West Coast his home. Originally living in the South Bay, he later moved south to Oceanside, where he built Hawaiian Pro Designs into his personal statement on the topic of making fine surfboards. He always remained tight with Dale Velzy. When Dale passed, Donald was deeply shaken. Married to Diane, both a wife and business partner, Donald was far from a perfect human. A fun-loving guy, he enjoyed jamming the penny slots and letting them roll. He experienced his travails, many in plain view for us all, yet he was universally loved and respected—a sweet, sweet man who was Hawaiian-style, generous to a fault, giving to those he felt worthy, and, finally, a teacher—the highest attainment of the human condition. His contribution to surfing in general was broad and lasting, not only in what and how to ride, but in what it really meant. Among surfers that he mentored were Joel Tudor and David Nuuhiwa. Dale lovingly called Donald the “little guy” but we all knew that Donald was huge beyond size. He was a rock among pebbles, from a beach that is changing its look and character. Remember him.

Smooth

What a fun and a successful time it was at the Second Annual Latino Comics Expo. A B-I-G thank you goes out to the Padilla's and to Javier Hernandez for throwing this wonderful event together! Also, thank you to Andrew, Kate, Heather and the rest of the crew at the San Francisco Cartoon Art Museum for allowing this great event happen at CAM!

I am also honored and quite blown-away to have my silly, little comics pages hanging on these hallowed walls.
I can't wait for next year!

Come to the Second Annual Latino Comics Expo at the CAM (Cartoon Art Museum) 655 Mission Street (@ 3rd Street) in San Francisco, CA. 415-CAR-TOON. Hope to see you there!

As you can see, I've been busy designing and screen printing some T-shirts for my website as well as for some events I will be attending (click on image for closer look). The first one is a print of a Concert Ukulele and the second is a print of an Angry Luchador. Drawn and printed by me in black ink on white 100% organic/bleached tee's. I'm only going to do a limited run of these designs, so get 'em while they last!
(oh, yeah--check back with my website in a few days for prices and sizes)

Riding the 'Log' in after another fine session a couple of weeks ago. Thanks for the shot, Loren!

Just returned from an excellent trip to Maui, Hawaii. Besides surfing, hiking and exploring a lot of the island I also bought a new (Soprano) Ukulele. It's made in Maui and has a birds-eye maple sides and bottom, spruce top, Koa wood neck and rosewood fret board. Modeled after the classic C.F. Martin soprano Uke this baby has tone, feel...and came with a hard shell case, too. Love it!

After a quiet birthday I managed to emerge with a new board. It's from Santa Cruz shaper/boat repair guy Bob Miller. It's the biggest board I've ever owned. It's a 10'0" log called the 'Rambler.' I bought it primarily as a small wave board after checking out my buddy, Dexter's 9' 6" Miller BUT these boards work in sizable surf as well! This is the ultimate 'Log' to-be-sure! It has a bit of a hull design that works FANTASTIC (Thanks, Drew!). It has an interesting tail design as the hips blend off into the corners of the tail where they slightly turn up (!) making the board lock into the wave and be a bit more controllable for when one is going for the 'sweet spot' or a little 'tip time.' It also makes this board turn A LOT quicker/snappier than one would expect for a board this size. I was lucky enough to hit the local break on a decent low-tide day, with a surprising swell pumping through from waist to chest high and put it through it's paces. It's surprisingly F-A-S-T and light, yet is heavy enough to push through the flat spots and turns really, REALLY well. You can move all over it and it holds like walking on the sidewalk. Yep. I'm REALLY happy with this one.

The ocean, surfing and yes, even surfboard design make me very, very happy.

The Planing Totem from Hydrodynamica on Vimeo.

Okay, it's towards the end of February and I'm still waiting for winter to hit (and summer from the past two years while I'm at it). It seems to have been Spring here in Marin for two solid years. Though I am digging the weather for the most part (notice photo, just in a t-shirt...tree I'm looking at has blossoms about two months too early) I can't help but wonder, am I the ONLY person who feels that this weather is wrong?

Daydreaming instead of working (okay, I'm actually taking a break) and thinking about surfing. Had a pretty good week surfing and as you surfers out there already know, gliding on your log is always on your mind. Here's Cyrus Sutton, Ryan Burch and friends getting some smooth log time. dig it.

Familiar Faces - Sea Movies from www.KORDUROY.tv on Vimeo.

Back in the city... there are days like these where it feels like I never left and that actually feels good. It's GREAT to be back.

On the mornings that I don't surf I take a walk/hike instead. This morning I decided to not surf, sleep-in a little longer (6:45...Oooh) and walk instead. I really like my walks and I really like walking all over the hills and town of Fairfax. I almost always see something interesting or run into interesting people.
Today's 'find' is this hand made flyer. This flyer is great on so many levels. After I read it and took a picture of it I kept a sharp eye out for 'Cindy.' Hey, five bucks! How awesome is that?

It's true, oh-it's SO true. I'm playing music again BUT this time around it's acoustic music...mostly Ukuleles but I'll also be playing an occasional Dobro/slide/lap steel thing and acoustic guitar. My friend, Tom Borromeo the Uke master and collector and I are working some tunes out for an acoustic duo with harmony vocals. It'll be mostly old classic tunes (Dream a Little Dream, etc.), Beatles songs, Talking Heads and so on. I'll keep any and all up-to-date who may be interested when we'll play out.

Oh, I'll still be playing electric music again real soon.

Temp, 33 degrees? Check. 7:30AM? Check. Yellow house? Check. Hand painted truck? Check. Plastic, neon-pink Christmas tree in front yard? Check. Fairfax, I L-O-V-E this town!

It's a new year and I hope to H-E-L-L that this one is far better than last year! I started off the new year in the Shasta/Dunsmuir area of (way) Northern California. Had fun poking around, sleeping in a converted caboose, buying used books, a used baritone Ukulele, eating great diner food, hiking around and checking out the sites, etc.
I hope that this year is an excellent one for you and yours.