Nicolás Rolando Gabaldón was an early surfer who is credited by surfing experts with being California’s first documented surfer of African-American and Latino descent at a time when many beaches were segregated and opportunities for minorities more limited than today. He is widely considered a role model for his part in the history of surfing and African American history in the areas of Santa Monica and California.

Gabaldón was born February 23, 1927, in Los Angeles, California. His mother was Black and his father was Latino. He lived most of his life in Santa Monica, California and was one of 50 black students at Santa Monica High School during the 1940s. Gabaldón taught himself how to surf at a 200-foot roped off stretch of demarcated beach which was part of Santa Monica State Beach. This area of beachfront was informally referred to by names such as “Ink Well Beach”, “Negro Beach”, and other more derogatory names. In 1924, after the forced closure of black owned and operated Bruce’s Beach in Manhattan Beach and due to de facto segregation, that portion of beachfront near Bay Street and Ocean Boulevard became the only place in Southern California that racial minorities were freely allowed to use without harassment or violence.

In 1949, Gabaldón began surfing in Malibu, California at Surfrider Beach where he was accepted without question by several mainland surf pioneers. His friends and surf contemporaries included Greg Noll, Mickey Munoz, Ricky Grigg, Matt Kivlin, Buzzy Trent, Robert Wilson Simmons aka “Bob Simmons”. and Les Williams. Since he did not own a vehicle, Gabaldón would either get there by hitchhiking on the Pacific Coast Highway, or he would use his surfboard to paddle the 12 miles to Malibu by way of Santa Monica Bay.

Gabaldón died when he crashed into the Malibu Pier while attempting a surfing move known as a “pier ride” or “shooting the pier”.

Six days prior to his death, Gabaldón had submitted a poem for submission to the Santa Monica College literary magazine. It was entitled “Lost Lives” where he describes the sea as “capricious”, “vindictive” and where men “do battle but still die.” Some see the poem as being somewhat prophetic in light of how he died.

On September 7, 2007, officials for the City of Santa Monica announced plans to commemorate the stretch of Santa Monica State Beach called the Ink Well, and to post a plaque to honor Gabaldón’s contribution to the sport of surf. The plaque was officially dedicated on February 7, 2008.