Mike Salisbury, La Jolla - photo by Roy Porello
On the hot and treeless corner was a Denny’s with its faux Frank Lloyd Wright, green edged roof canting down to the ground to shade the asphalt of Midway Drive in San Diego.
Surfing Magazine_Mike Salisbury, art direction; art by Terry Lamb
AlmaSurf_MikeSalisbury, art direction; GustavoMorais, design; photo by Jeff Divine
The Gotcha Magnate Hisself
Across the street under the overhang of a brandless gas station were two shirtless and very tan guys. With bright straw colored hair and red trunks, both looked enviably like Troy Donahue. They were cocky, laughing and collecting change from two girls in pigtails– a blonde in a pink gingham bikini and a brunette in the same outfit but light blue. The guys pumped whatever gas the change bought. One jumped into the back of the green 1949 Ford station wagon with the blonde girl. The other hopped into the driver’s seat with the brunette by his side and in one motion started the car, left the gas station, closed his door and headed south on Pacific Drive with the tailgate open and two yellowed surfboards hanging out of the back.
When I saw that woody in that San Diego gas station, I was out of college at USC for the summer driving to my part-time job in my suit and tie. It was a day that changed my life. I quit my job and went surfing. I went to work for Surfer Magazine as the magazine’s first art director, reporter, ad designer and cartoonist when Rick Griffin was drawing Murphy. Together we were the Beavis and Butthead of surfing.
SurferMagazine_Mike Salisbury, art director; Rick Griffin, illustrator
I went on to a sordid life of advertising, editorial design, music packaging, motion picture marketing, photography, writing and branding all to sell sex, drugs and rock and roll.
Rick took the high road from our little beach house to painting biblical themes (after a wayward stay in Haight Ashbury) but his work, even at his San Francisco gnarliest, never lost that Murphy innocence.
I designed the first album for the King of The Surf guitar who played Middle Eastern scales on his Fender Stratocaster upside down and backwards. Dick Dale.
Dick Dale - Surfers' Choice_Mike Salisbury, art direction; John Severson, photographer
Youth, smog-free sunshine, clean water, clear waves, swiping oranges fresh from the trees and sleeping between old yellow surfboards on a bare mattress with the tailgate down cruisin’ up the coast at a time when surfing was bigger than the Beatles.
And it didn’t stop there. A redesign of Surfer Magazine twice in two decades and Gotcha advertising with Michael Tomson, Joel Cooper, Mike Funk and Mark Price. Together we broke the rules and set the pieces in stone as a guide for all surf marketing to come.
Gotcha ad with Tyra Banks_Mike Salisbury, creative & art direction; design copy; photo by Howard Edelman
To be continued…
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Comments:
Mike, love the blogs. A few weeks ago in PS met a guy who said you were “the shit.” He said he was with Hot Rod Magazine and you did some work for them a way back. Further on!! J. Gould
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Love it, Mike; every story. Who is helping you with the writing? It’s wonderful. Ken M.
Mike: Thanks. It’s all me, babe. And my assistant, Lorraine, who makes sure that it is comprehensible. The opening was from a piece I did on woodie station wagons for Patrick Cooke of Forbes a few years back.
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Nice! Airrion C.
Mike: Merci. I do not know how we got her to sign on. It was all Alice in Wonderland surf…
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Very cool! G. Terstiege
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February 13th, 2010 at 1:45 am
I’ve been reading along for a while now. I just wanted to drop you a comment to say keep up the good work.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:03 pm
another razor-sharp entry.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:05 pm
thanks sir.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:09 pm
I was out shovelling snow and cranked up “Miserlou” on my Ipod. The snow melted.
Eric
February 18th, 2010 at 9:20 pm
damn!!!
February 18th, 2010 at 9:29 pm
Am always intrigued….. very cool that you have a photo of yourself in the day….. with board.
February 18th, 2010 at 9:38 pm
thanks j.t. and thanks to roy porello , well known san diego photog.
February 18th, 2010 at 11:37 pm
Your work is, in many ways, the equivalent to SW’s songs in the key of life.
It tells the story of our lives and culture: real, straight and yet cutting-edge.
February 18th, 2010 at 11:46 pm
thanks so much richard.
February 20th, 2010 at 9:40 pm
Did they have the Grand Slam breakfast back then?
February 20th, 2010 at 11:45 pm
i think denny’s was out of my price range. after surfing, group of use would go down the street to the “chuck wagon all you can eat” and come out after eating looking like out of uniform department store santas with more food stuffed under our shirts for later dining.
February 22nd, 2010 at 3:06 pm
Mikie,
Glad your misspent youth took its creative curl and gave you a wonderful and long (still going!!)ride. yo to knobby knees!!
February 23rd, 2010 at 6:29 am
Aloha, my Mentor Mike!!
Just discovered and read your Blog and it sure brings back a lot of great memories of the many years we worked together! As I said before, if they ever gave out an Award for Creative Art Directors they should name it the “MIKE” in your honor!
All the Best Always~~
Terry
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from timmy the genius: works in all other browsers, check it out in Firefox:
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Later!
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more to come tiffany–i hope.
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Sorry for being off topic, but I am just starting my website/blog. Why did you choose WordPress over blogger or any other blog program? I am trying to figure out the best way, since I am not a techy.
May 8th, 2010 at 1:23 pm
Seriously! This is a really good post! Keep up the good work!
May 8th, 2010 at 3:09 pm
I use Word Press, others I know use Blogger; both are fine and pretty comparable from what I can see. Good luck.
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Great post!
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Wow, awesome article. Really thank you! Awesome.
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Hey Boss – its a nice blog, just looking around some blogs, seems a pretty nice platform you are using. I’m currently using WordPress for a few of my sites but looking to change one of them over to a platform similar to yours as a trial run. Anything in particular you would recommend me about it?
May 15th, 2010 at 9:50 am
this is wordpress. not 100% effecient.
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I wish more people would write blogs like this that are actually fun to read. With all the fluff floating around on the net, it is rare to read a blog like yours instead.
May 16th, 2010 at 2:22 am
will do.stay in touch.
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May 18th, 2010 at 11:01 am
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