WAIKOLOA — Designer, retailer and surf historian Denny Moore has spent decades seeking a collection of surf memorabilia that likely is one of the biggest and most interesting in the world. At one time, his collection-turned-museum occupied the entire ground
WAIKOLOA — Designer, retailer and surf historian Denny Moore has spent decades seeking a collection of surf memorabilia that likely is one of the biggest and most interesting in the world. At one time, his collection-turned-museum occupied the entire ground floor of a building he owned for his Malibu firm, MDG Design. His office was upstairs.
Inspired by a love of surf culture, the allure of quality old-school designs and the stories behind them, Moore created Malibu Shirts. The line specializes in nostalgic, historic, printed T-shirts, hoodies, caps and accessories. His latest shop, which opened earlier this month in Queens’ MarketPlace, now shares his style with North Hawaii.
“I decided since we were designers, let’s sell T-shirts,” Moore said, who started Malibu Shirts in 2004. “I had an old sweatshirt from Malibu Surf Club, a small but dedicated group of surfers such as Les Williams in the ‘50s-‘70s, and that was our first shirt.”
Not long after, Moore was licensing, restoring and adding new life to old logos from back in the day: iconic surf and paddling clubs, Pan Am airlines, Airstream and Aoki Store, Primo beer, the movie “Endless Summer,” and TV’s original “Hawaii Five-0.”
With some shirts and other products come individual booklets that people can read to learn about the products they are buying.
“I like to educate people, to get them in there so they can interact and have a great experience, and go back and share some of that history with their families,” Moore said.
Queen’s MarketPlace shop is Malibu Shirts’ sixth location, and features what Moore says is the best collection of vintage skateboards anywhere, displayed in the rafters. Exclusive to this shop are retro tees, sweatshirts and caps from the Kona Inn and Hawaiian Billfish Series.
Decorating the store are touches from Moore’s personal collection: historic surfing memorabilia, trophies, photos, boards, books, records, posters, vintage competition tees and club sweatshirts. Included are items won, worn or owned by some of the sport’s biggest names — Duke Kahanamoku, Tom Blake, Dale Velzy, Marge Calhoun, Les Williams, “Rabbit” Kekai, Fred Hemmings, Larry “Rubber Man” Bertlemann, Miki Dora and others.
“I just bought six trophies from Dane Kealoha, and have put one in that store,” Moore said. “At the time he stopped surfing he was probably No. 1 in the world. He got angry, and became a flight attendant. They had changed the pro circuit and he would have to start over.”
But surf “roots” go deeper on Hawaii Island, and it’s not always about what happens in the water.
“In the back, we have the original Hilo High School yearbook from 1928,” Moore said. “I took every page in the book, made a scan of it and sealed it so people can thumb through it, maybe see their grandparents. It’s just beautiful with all the ads, the glee club, the auto mechanics club and the football team.”
The yearbook has a surfer on the cover, naturally.
Malibu Shirts is located between Reyn’s and Sunglass Hut in Queens’ MarketPlace, and is open daily, 9:30 a.m. to 9:30 p.m. For more information, call 886-0003 or visit www.malibushirts.com.
