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This weekend I attended the west coast premiere of Andy Warhol’s San Diego Surf, filmed locally at Black’s Beach, at the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. The film is a smartly funny commentary on surf culture & La Jolla high society. It’s pre-SNL genius.
In May 1968, Andy Warhol filmed San Diego Surf on the shores of La Jolla. It was only partially edited and never released—until now. MCASD La Jolla will hosted the West Coast premier of the film. The film was recently released by The Andy Warhol Museum, and has only been shown at one other venue. It was screened at The Museum of Modern Art in New York.
The film features Factory superstars Viva, Taylor Mead, Louis Waldon, Joe Dallesandro, Tom Hompertz, Ingrid Superstar, Eric Emerson, Nawana Davis, and others. Its loose narrative concerns an unhappily married couple (Taylor Mead and Viva) that rent their beach house to a group of surfers.
One of the last films in which Warhol had direct involvement, San Diego Surf was the first time Warhol had made a movie in California since the early Tarzan and Jane Regained, Sort Of … in 1963. The month after San Diego Surf filming was completed, Warhol was critically wounded by Valerie Solonas, who shot the artist in the stomach, virtually ending his work behind the movie camera.
