Old guys are still surfing – promise! Jim Walberg just discovered that Roy’s Cabana has re-launched their board shorts and surfing apparel after 25 years. Roy and Dody Colburn’s son, Tom Colburn, now heads the re-launching of the company his parents started in 1952. It is now based in Cardiff, California near San Diego with the surfing apparel available in the Caribbean by going on-line. The Caribbean surfing community will love the clothing Roy’s is now ready to deliver!
Most of you know that I grew up in Redondo Beach and surfed all through the 1950’s and 1960’s before I discovered the Caribbean in 1975. Growing up, Roy’s was my board shorts for over 20 years. Roy’s started as a motel and café that was just across the road from the beach in Santa Monica. Roy and Dody Colburn began their business in 1948 by serving meals all day and evening at the café next to their motel next to the beach. As the surfing community of Southern California started to grow in Santa Monica they began hanging out at Roy’s Café when they were not in the water, lathering themselves with Baby Oil for the darkest tan possible, and playing volleyball.
After serving food to this crowd for four years, Roy noticed that the surfers were in need of something other than cut-off jeans or cut-off white surplus Navy pants. What they needed was a durable board short that would make it through months of sun, big waves and hot sand. Roy suggested that his wife, Dody start taking sewing and pattern classes so they could capitalize on this idea that he had. In 1952 Dody created the first versions of Roy’s board shorts. They opened a small store in 1956 right next to their motel/café and called it Roy’s Cabana. They stocked it with very colorful bolts of canvas materials so a customer could actually pick the material for their own board shorts, or they could just buy from the racks of 
finished board shorts that Dody had already made.
Roy’s Cabana was the surfing board shorts headquarters in Southern California until 1977. They supplied surfing apparel for surfers, beach volleyball players, tens of thousands of Southern California beachgoers, and even the L.A. County Lifeguards. The number of Roy’s board shorts that I owned from the mid-1950’s through the 1970’s would fill a closet. They were indestructible, very colorful, and they were immediately recognized as a Roy’s board short. In 1977 Roy and Dody decided to close shop and finally retire. They didn’t sell their company, they just closed it, sold the property, and bought a ranch in Napa Valley.
Fast forward to today…here is the rest of the story! Roy’s son, Tom, was looking through an old storage room at their Napa Valley ranch a year or so ago, and found all of the patterns, old photos and newspaper clippings, and even the old sewing machine that was the workhorse of the operation. Tom decided that Roy’s board shorts and surfing apparel still had a loyal raving fan following with a potential of millions of new customers worldwide. The U.S. surfing industry has become a $3.4 billion market place, with the world markets also gaining speed. Roy’s 
surfing apparel has now been re-launched!
So, on a family surfing trip to Southern California this month I bought my latest Roy’s Cabana board shorts after 25 years. Putting them on brought back memories of days-gone-by. I couldn’t wait to try them out so I headed out for a morning of surfing and fun. It was if I had found an old friend. As I am packing for my next Caribbean adventure Roy’s board shorts will definitely be in my carry-on. Dive BVI and Cane Bay Dive Shop also carry them. If you want a pair of the best board shorts I have ever owned you can also check out their online store today. Enjoy your next wave in Barbados or the Virgin Islands with a pair of Roy’s! Until next time… your Caribbean lifestyle detective remains on duty.
