The Texas Surf Museum, located at 309A N. Water Street in Corpus Christi, currently has a display of brightly-painted surfboards of different shapes and sizes used through the years. Some have been made into benches and a couple have television sets in the middle.
Melissa McCann, director, said the exhibit of surfboards would soon give way to a photo collection by Erich Schegal, a local artist.
This unique museum, which opened in 2005, looks back at a happier time when catching the waves was the most important thing for the younger set. Posters on the walls depict the surfing movies made in the 60s and 70s. Seeing posters of Sandra Dee in Gidget and Shelly Fabray and Fabian in Ride the Wild Surf are reminders of another time when America felt safer.
Museum goers say one of the favorite displays in the museum is the 70’s surfer’s bedroom, located in one corner. It features a poster of Farrah Fawcet, a native of Corpus Christi, on the wall. Pong, one of the first video games, an eight-tract tape player, troll dolls and ratfinks add to the authenticity of the setting. The other corner houses a replica of Pat Magee’s Surf Shop in Port Aransas, where local surfers went to catch the waves.
Still another corner shows what the typical surfboard repair shop, often housed in a garage, looked like.
The gift shop sells T-shirts and music. It specializes in surf music and hard-to-find Texas Music. Recordings of Texas artist such as Pat Green, Tony Price, Kevin Fowler and a thousand other Texas artists fill the shelves.
Admission to this unique museum is free.