“The 1950s were the easy years in California,” states veteran rock climber Yvon Chouinard in his foreword to California Surfing and Climbing in the Fifties, a new book of photographs capturing the birth of an exhilarating era in American history. “Gas was a quarter a gallon, used cars could be bought for $25 and you could easily live off the excess fat of society.” Adds Chouinard, also the founder of high-end outdoor clothing company Patagonia: “Those of us in the counter-cultures of climbing and surfing were ‘the last free Americans.’” Including evocative images from surfing trailblazer Dick Metz, the collection beautifully captures the "golden age" of West Coast adventurers, defined by the growing number of individuals who were choosing to opt out of their parents’ depression-era need for security in favor of an alternative lifestyle. Metz still surfs today at 85 years old, and his images of surfing legends Joe Quigg, Tom Zahn and Dale Velzy feature alongside influential climbers Warren Harding, Royal Robbins and Wayne Merry. “A bunch of really individual people gravitated towards surfing as you could show your personality,” explains Metz, founder of the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente. “The energy and creativity was immense. There was a real sense of freedom.”

California Surfing and Climbing in the Fifties is published by T. Adler Books on December 31