Leroy Grannis and the Print

By Ken Lewis

In the fall of 2004, I was working at Transworld Skateboarding Magazine in Oceanside. On a slow afternoon I found myself looking up Leroy Grannis images on Google; not for work but for purely personal reasons. I had always loved his rich photography and the way he captured a golden era of surfing. For years he was known to sell black and white prints of his photos and outtakes. He would sign them and put an official stamp on the back.

As I searched, I stumbled onto a very rudimentary website that bore his famous logo. Upon looking a bit further, I discovered that this site actually belonged to Leroy, he even had an email address listed at the bottom of the homepage. I took a shot in the dark and started to draft an email. I was sure it would never reach him but it was fun to write none-the-less. I wrote of how I was a fan of his photography and that growing up in Pacific beach, I had surfed and become good friends with Skip Frye and that I was hoping he had a print of Skip that I could purchase. With a hope and a prayer I pressed the send button.

A couple of weeks after I sent the email, I had all but forgotten about it; Life, work and kids tend to help erase the mind of hopes and dreams ( I kid…sort of).  On a Monday, I arrived to work and what’s in my inbox? Oh hell yes… there is an email from Leroy Grannis. My heart rate jumped up as I opened the email. “Sorry I don’t sell prints anymore” the letter said, “I have a book deal i’m working on and legally I can’t sell them anymore.” Damn. That’s when I read the next word. “But,” Leroy said(In my best Jim Carrey voice I said to myself, So you’re saying there’s a chance!).

“…but,” Leroy continued,  “I might be able to print you a copy of a photo of Skip. Just as long as you don’t advertise it.”

“Don’t advertise it.” I love the way the old guard spoke. I was beside myself with stoke as we exchanged a couple of emails.  Leroy said to meet him Monday after work at his house in a little mobile home park in Carlsbad.

As the week went on, I could hardly wait for the following Monday to come. I had once owned a rad Grannis print that I bought off of Ebay. Unfortunately during a rough period, I had to close my skate shop and many things got lost in the process, including a black and white shot of a smiling Skip Frye in full trim at a San Miguel contest in the mid 60’s. God, I wish I still had that print.

Monday finally arrived and as the day progressed, the buildup of excitement grew. Five O’clock came and I was out the door and flying down the freeway. Leroy mentioned that the Chargers were playing on Monday Night Football and that I should get there before the game started so I wouldn’t interrupt. He said that once he and his wife sit down to watch they really don’t get up. The gas pedal was on the floor as I drove.

At a small, unassuming house on the east side of the street in the mobile home park is where one of surfings greatest documentarians lived. I knocked. A small aging man with gout and glasses looked through the screen and met me on his front porch with a folder in hand. Leroy was old but that didn’t matter, he was very sharp and carried himself well. I shook his hand and was contemplating some long form speech of how great of an honor it was to meet him and how his photography has been so inspiring to me. Instead of all that, Leroy greeted me with a “The game is about to start and I have to get my wife comfortable…here you go.” With that, he handed me the folder and he shuffled back towards his doorway and he said “Go Chargers!”  Our meeting was over before it began.  I didn’t want to be rude and look in the folder while still standing on his porch, so I got back in the car and drove out to the main street.

After I exited the mobile home park, I immediately pulled over so I could open the folder. There was a printed out spread from his upcoming book and on it was Miki Dora dropping in at Waimea Bay. It was printed on regular printer paper but I was stoked he gave it to me as an added bonus. The next thing was the Skip photograph. As I looked it over, my stoke fell flat. It too was printed off of a desk jet. On regular printing paper. And if anything, it looked fuzzy like the ink was running out. It definitely wasn’t the sharp clear photo stock that his famous photos were once printed on. I felt like it was Christmas morning and instead of a bike, I got underwear.

On the long drive back to my house I listened to the Charger game and thought of my one chance to get this photo from Leroy and how it wasn’t all I had built it up to be. This was the definition of  a let-down. Give it a look in the dictionary, you’ll see me  standing there with the paper print in my hand. In fact, I was so bummed, the photo was kept in the folder and when I went home, I tipped it into a surf book I had and didn’t look at it again for 4 years.

In 2008, I left my house and most of my belongings as I filed for divorce. That is a rough time for everyone and many things just fall to the wayside amidst the drama. As I packed my car with my surfboards and my most valuable personal effects, I went into my shed one last time to look around to make sure I had everything.  Upon further inspection, I found that surfbook and was stoked to look inside and see the envelope with the Granny photo. The memory of that day came rushing back. The hope, the foolish feeling of disappointment but also the stoke of getting to meet with Leroy. The look in his eyes and the sound of his voice left an impression on me.

It’s funny how when one gets older we start to see things differently. Maybe it’s the life experience or maybe we just take things for what they are. Either way, looking back on it, here was a legend in the world of surfing who took the time to print me a photo. A photo that he legally wasn’t allowed to give me due to a deal he made with his book publisher. Not to mention he didn’t know me, or owe me anything. He could have told me to buzz off or even worse, could have never emailed me back. Instead, he took a timeout from caring for his ill wife to dig up a photo of Skip, print it out and sign it like he had done for years for so many lucky people. I had a piece of history given to me from Leroy. In hindsight, it’s now one of my most prized possessions.

Leroy Grannis passed away in February 2011. RIP.