Santa Cruz Woodies A Chapter of the National Woodie Club
Twenty-five years ago, who knew a casual meet-up of California woodies would grow to be the biggest event in the City of Santa Cruz? This year the city celebrated Woodies on the Wharf with a giant party the night before the big woodie show. The Museum of Art and History displayed a massive collection of woodie and surfing memorabilia and gave us their rooftop garden where we hosted a reception for woodie owners and city bigwigs.
A surf band played on the museum’s patio and the adjacent street was closed for a display of woodies, including the seven cars that have attended all twenty-five WOW events!..
WOW25 actually got underway in January with the choice of a poster artist. In 1995, our first poster featured a cartoon by legendary Santa Cruz artist Jim Phillips. Jim’s work includes the iconic Screaming Blue Hand seen on T-shirts and skateboards the world around. It seemed only natural that Jim’s son, Jimbo, who himself a renowned surf/skate/rock artist, do our 25th poster. It was a good call. For the first time in WOW history the poster totally sold out.
The club also produced a 25th anniversary water-transfer decal, a metal shop sign, a vintage-style license plate topper, and more – all of which was handed out to woodie owners in a jam-packed goodie bag. We also produced a variety of hats, T-shirts and sweatshirts, which all sold out. Merchandise-wise, it was the club’s best year ever.
While Saturday is the big day on the wharf, WOW25 actually kicks off Thursday with a meet-and-greet at the seaside home of Alan and Jule Hilton. Their place overlooks the Santa Cruz Beach Boardwalk, and their annual party has become the unofficial start of the WOW weekend.
On Friday morning Jim and Patty Ferdinand hosted their annual Grits, Gravy and Bloody Mary breakfast, which includes a Hawaiian-style paddle-out to honor the memory of the members we lost this year: “Big Tim” Mattson, Randy Perez, and Pat Kleman. Both Tim and Randy were gifted car builders, and Pat served as “First Lady” when husband Rod was SCW president. There was a bit of a south swell running, so most of us stayed in the water afterwards for a fun little surf session.
Friday afternoon we were off to the Ocean Pacific host hotel for some R&R around the pool before the museum event that evening. The club arranged shuttle buses to ferry folks downtown and back, a short but well-appreciated ride after an night of partying.
We were on the wharf the next morning before the crack of dawn and by 8:00 am we’d already registered more than a hundred woodies. Many owners target WOW to debut newly-built cars and this year was no exception.
This was the first woodie show for Greg and Penni Tidwell’s gorgeous, Washington Blue ’50 Ford. It ran away with the Woodie Owners’ Favorite trophy. People’s Favorite went to Jim and Teresa Shield’s knockout ’39 Ford. Their car was literally brand new on its maiden voyage when it was T-boned by a young driver less than a mile from the wharf. Even with a crumpled fender and splintered door, the quality of this car was easy to appreciate.
Later Jim said “I can tell you this, when tragedy struck it couldn’t have happened in a better place”. By the end of the day, Jim had the fender sorted out and an appointment with Ron Heiden for the wood repair.
Admission to WOW has always been free to both woodie owners and the public, with proceeds from a giant, day-long raffle going to local charities. Members Lucy and Jerry Stanley manage this massive undertaking and raised nearly $8000 this year for groups like the Junior Lifeguards, Ride-a-Wave Foundation and the Santa Cruz Surfing Museum.
Years ago, as the number of woodies attending climbed, we had to find a way to get them off the wharf quickly at the end of the day without radiators (or tempers) overheating! Our local Police Department came to the rescue.
They block off streets around the wharf allowing us to drive straight off en masse, without a slowdown. This “exit” has become an event in its own right with fans and photographers jammed along the route. Once off the wharf we congregate a block away at the Ocean Pacific hotel for a big tailgate party. There’s a catered spaghetti feed, an auction and raffle, plus music, singing and carrying-on late into the evening.
On Sunday morning, Sophia’s Cruise brings 60 to 70 woodies back together for a run along picturesque West Cliff Drive. It ends at the local Yacht Harbor where the club hosts coffee and pastries, to accompany thank-you’s and good-byes. As Bruce Browne said in the movie “The Endless Summer,” if you weren’t here this year, “you REALLY missed it.” Santa Cruz Woodies would like to thank the owners who attended and brought along 186 woodies, as well as all the SCW club members who worked so hard to make WOW25 a memorable success.
Photo by: Howard Benfield
