Workers get The Vans US Open of Surfing venue ready for opening day in Huntington Beach on Monday, July 22, 2019. The nine-day event will kick off on July 27. (Photo by Mindy Schauer, Orange County Register/SCNG)
By LAYLAN CONNELLY | [email protected] | Orange County Register
It’s been 55 years since Paul Van Doren came up with an idea to step into the world of surfing with a shoe brand he wanted to create with his brother James.
He could use aloha-print shirts worn by famous surfers Duke Kahanamoku, Fred Hemmings, Corky Carroll and Paul Strauch during a big surf contest at the Huntington Beach Pier in 1964, he figured, and he’d make the men custom shoes to match.