SFL, 7:05 Rabbit Kekai, circa, 1945One of the leading beach boys of Waikiki at the time was a handsome local Hawaiian named Rabbit Kekai. Rabbit ruled Waikiki as a surfer, beach boy, canoe paddler, prankster and lady's man. Rabbit had been mentored by Duke Kahanamoku and many considered him the Hawaiian Ambassador of Aloha after the Duke. Rabbit Kekai was (and is) a great small-wave surfer and is credited with innovating high-performance "hot dog" surfing in the smaller waves of Waikiki and Makaha. Woody was more interested in the big waves and he was one of the pioneers of surfing really big surf along the south shore of Oahu, at Makaha and on the North Shore of Oahu. Rabbit Kekai, circa 1945SFL, 3:33. John Kelly, circa 1930There weren't a lot of takers for the big 25-foot waves throughout the '30s and '40s, but John Kelly was one of them. Kelly was haole, a transplant from California to Hawai'i who fell in love with Hawaiian ways, from net-fishing in the shorebreak to riding the giant bluebirds of Waikiki. His parents were artists who loved Hawai'i and its people, and Kelly grew up during the '20s and '30s poor but not underprivileged. He surfed, he fished and he learned to respect nature and life, in the Hawaiian way. John Kelly, circa 1930SFL 4:12, John Throws the Fishing Net in the Ancient Hawaiian TraditionHis lifelong environmental activism was born in the mentoring he received from Hawaiians in "Aloha 'aina, Aloha kai"-"love the land, love the sea, and only take what you need." In 1961, he founded the seminal surfer's environmental organization, Save Our Surf, which successfully organized to block over 35 major coastal development which threatened the surf zones. John Throws the Fishing Net in the Ancient Hawaiian TraditionSFL, 25:49. Makaha pioneers, Rabbit Kekai in middle, Wally Froiseth on rightJohn Kelly, Rabbit Kekai and Woody Brown knew each other and surfed together in the blissful Hawai'i of the '30s, '40s and '50s, when places like Makaha and Sunset Beach were first being surfed, and changes in materials were making surfboards lighter, faster, stronger and more maneuverable. Makaha Pioneers, Rabbit Kekai in Middle, Wally Froiseth on RightSFL, 16:02, The Famous Photo of Makaha that Began an Exodus of Surfers to Hawai'iIn 1953, an Associated Press photo of Woody Brown and two other men streaking across a giant wave at Makaha appeared in newspapers in California and throughout the world. Surfing was beginning to boom in California at the time, with surf clubs all up and down the coast, from Santa Cruz to La Jolla. Surfers were still riding relatively heavy balsa and redwood surfboards, and innovations like wetsuits and surf leashes didn't yet exist. The photo of Brown and his friends streaking that Makaha wall galvanized a large group of surfers who began an exodus to Hawai'i from California (and other states like Texas), and the modern history of surfing began in the late 1950s. The Famous Photo of Makaha that Began an Exodus of Surfers to Hawai'i