Surfer Marc Chavez, founder of the San Diego nonprofit Native Like Water, which offers surf camps for Indigenous youth, said localism is a form of racial discrimination.

As Hollywood’s infatuation with surfing drew legions to the beach in the ’60s, many surfers headed to the nonwhite world for uncrowded waves.

In the years to come, the urban shores of Los Angeles produced competitive Black and Latino surfers, including Solo Scott, who’s African American, and Rick Massie, who’s Mexican American.

Massie made waves as a talented pro from the challenging surf of Venice, but it was Bobby Martinez of Santa Barbara, with a shaved head and a career almost as clipped, who in 2011 would become the first Latino to pierce the surfing world tour’s top 10 before devouring the hand that fed him, calling pro surfing a “wannabe tennis tour.”

Action sports announcer and Black surfer Sal Masekela, son of famed South African musician Hugh Masekela, calls Venice home.