Terry "Tubesteak" Tracy (1935-2012)

Terry “Tubesteak” Tracy, 79, August 22, 2012, passed away of general health issues. The original “Kahuna of Malibu,” Tube, did surf but only as an aspect of his general beach demeanor. His uniqueness stemmed from his sense of humor and a ribald romanticism concerning the surfer beach life that he helped to codify. Some time in the later half of the 1950s, Tube inhabited a shack he built of bits of lumber and cardboard against the fence near the “pit” at Malibu. From that position of influence he ruled the domain from the South Bay to the Point. Partiers, capers, the great surfers, and the unusual ones, all became his serfs at one time or another. The overstuffed chair that belonged at the dump but instead sat there on the beach in optimum viewing position—that was Tube. He could be found middle-trimming across the wall at Malibu while performing a wings-spread Royal Hawaiian, causing kooks and stars alike to scatter from his path—that was Tube.