'Surf City' singer Dean Torrence, minus Jan, still rides the wave in his adopted hometown

Orange County Register ^ | June 20, 2015 | David Ferrell

[EveningStar]

Surf City was a mythical place, a paradise for the era’s restless teens in the summer of 1963, when the song became the first surfing tune to reach No. 1 on the Billboard charts.

Fame came quickly for the Los Angeles-born duo of Jan Berry and Dean Torrence, who became stars in their early 20s. They would build on their success with hits such as “Dead Man’s Curve,” “Ride the Wild Surf” and “The Little Old Lady From Pasadena,” joining with their younger friends, the Beach Boys, in writing the anthems of the California coastal lifestyle.

Skip forward more than half a century and, predictably, much has changed.

[EveningStar]

Jan and Dean

[EveningStar]

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[EveningStar]

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[Gay State Conservative]

I love Woody Allen's comment on the basic worth of California...he said something like “in California the height of culture is the ability to take a right turn on a red light”.

[Fiji Hill]

Dead Man's Curve, about five miles north of Lebec, Calif. on the Tejon Grade. This was part of the old Ridge Route between Los Angeles and Bakersfield and was so named because it was the scene of numerous accidents. It is now bypassed by Interstate 5.

[RegulatorCountry]

You’d think it would be maintained as a scenic overlook or something, being somewhat famous and immortalized in song as it was.

[PROCON]

Nice find Fiji!

[sheana]

I remember the ‘old road’. You can still drive on it in certain places.

[albie]

So it’s shut off? I’d love to visit it. Is it closed off to pedestrians?

[Yaelle]

So that’s where dead man’s curve was? What about the curve on Sunset near UCLA?

[Paulie]

There’s someone on FR who experienced the Southern Calif coastal living in his late teens to roughly 30 I think.

It’s all there - the cars, the girls, the beach. Not to mention the freedom.

His stories would make any normal guy GREEN with envy. Those days must have been glorious.

[IronJack]

the anthems of the California coastal lifestyle.

"There's a place in Hawaii called Waimea Bay
Where the best surfers in the world come to stay."
-- "Ride the Wild Surf"

Doesn't exactly sound like the CALIFORNIA lifestyle if it's in Hawaii.

[Hot Tabasco]

Great article........Wow, life was so simple back then.

[tschatski]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1Cuekbklkg

[ealgeone]

my first cassette tape was by Jan and Dean. if I had a dollar for every time and every mile I drive while listening to that tape....well, you know.

for a kid growing up in the 70s living in a landlocked county the surf music sound had a great appeal during the summer.

I always hated leaving the beach from vacation.

Keep that summer dream alive!

[kingu]

I've been pretty lucky in finding rare surf rock for my listings on eBay; it sometimes really surprises me how few people actually know about them. Since my tastes extend far into the 90’s for surf rock, I shake my head sometimes when something like the Coffin Diggers goes for just a buck. Such is the chance you take when you start auctions at a penny.

[Georgia Girl 2]

“Dead Man’s Curve” rocked.

[Michael.SF.]

Surf City: Huntington Beach or Santa Cruz?

[married21]

Woody Allen is provincial. He has no appreciation for any place but his own neighborhood. Maybe if he went to the beach more he wouldn’t be so neurotic.

&#^&# Woody Allen.

[RitchieAprile]

Huntington for sure.