"John Severson is best remembered as the founder of Surfer magazine. But before he was a publisher, Severson made his mark in surf movies, playing a major role in elevating the medium to new levels of action, humor and drama. 

Born and raised in Pasadena and San Clemente, California, Severson was a creative type, an art major who dared to paint an abstract scene of the San Clemente Pier and beach, with bebop surfers and pointy little surfboards. It was the fall of 1955 -- a pivotal day for surf culture. You could say it was the start of surf art."

by Drew Kampion, 2000

“Paving the Wave, For the Love of Surfing” Synopsis

"Oral history is the living tissue of memory, and Eric Jordan has performed an enormous service to both surf culture and the world at large by so exhaustively and sensitively gathering and preserving such a broad and representative sampling of surfing's collective experience."

Drew Kampion, Author and Editor

Interview Summation by John Severson,

Founder of Surfer Magazine

For the Love of Surfing