Published November 4, 2026
NEWPORT BEACH | SURF & COAST | NOVEMBER 4, 2026
Back in March 1980, SURFER put Newport’s Echo Beach on the cover—and gave a short stretch of local sand a name that stuck: “The Hottest 100 Yards.”
The cover featured Newport surfer Danny Kwock, photographed by Mike Moir. Around 54th Street, Kwock and friends Preston Murray, Jeff Parker and John Gothard were bringing a different look to California surfing: bright wetsuits, vivid board designs and a willingness to try new moves, even when every experiment didn’t come off.
Writer David Epperson’s story captured the feeling that something was changing. As quoted in SURFER’s later Echo Beach retrospective, Epperson wrote that “a good part of the future of California surfing will be shaped” on that little playing field.
That was a big prediction for a little patch of Newport beach. But the Echo Beach crew had the photos, the style and the nerve to make people look twice. The color was part of it; so was the surfing. The group helped push the sport toward the progressive, high-performance style that would become much more familiar in the years ahead.
So this is a little nod back. SURFER saw what was happening here and shared it with the surf world. More than 40 years later, we’re bringing that moment back home—to the beach, the people and the local story that started it.
Read the full SURFER retrospective: “Flashback to Echo Beach”, including Mike Moir’s photo gallery.
Help us out, Newport.
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