Until 1929 or 1930 all surfboards were made of a solid piece of wood, usually redwood or, the then newly invented Tom Blake Hollow Surfboard, constructed using screws or nails over a ribbed interior.
Along came Pacific System Homes Surfboards which in the beginning, built ready- cut homes. When the son, Meyers Butte, son of the owner made a trip to Hawaii in the 1920s where he became hooked on surfing. In 1929 or 1930 Meyers convinced his dad to build a Pacific System Homes Surfboard to distribute to surfers. Because around this same time water proof glues had been invented, Pacific System Homes built the first surfboards with laminated strips of wood. So with the knowledge, man-power and the newly discovered water proof glues all in place, the first surfboard company was born making the first pre-fabricated boards.
While Pacific System Homes Surfboards did make some hollow surfboards and paddle boards, most Pacific System Homes surfboards were made of multiple laminated woods. The most commonly woods used by Pacific System Homes in surfboard construction were redwood, pine and balsa.
Pacific System Homes surfboards' first label or insignia was a swastika. This was long before WWII and Hitler. The swastika was and still is a symbol in Eastern religions of peace & prosperity. When Hitler began using the swastika to symbolize his terrorist regime, it became very unpopular and the multi-laminated wood surfboard sale probably suffered. So in the early part of 1940, because of the perverted use of the swastika, Pacific System Homes Surfboards changed their swastika label to a more popular 'Waikiki Surfboards' by Pacific System Homes.
These were still the same very popular wood surfboards made of different colored woods. Pacific System Homes surfboards had some of the finest surfboard builders of the day, probably the most recognizable to most surfers would be Pete Peterson. The Pacific System Homes surfboards were in common use right up to the early 1950s.
http://www.woodsurfboards.com/multiwood.htm
swastika modified.
Greg Noll. "After becoming established as a surfboard ...... "The swastikabecame a symbol of some surfers just because it pissed off people ...
