Custom trunks from Roy’s Cabana

Before Hang-Ten, Kanvas by Katin, Quiksilver, Laguna or any number of California surfwear companies there was a small, family owned business called Roy’s Cabana in the Santa Monica Canyon near State Beach.

It was started in 1952 by Roy and Dody Colburn and operated out of a building on the Southeast side of Entrada Drive down from Ted’s and a few yards from the Pacific Coast Highway.

While Roy made custom hamburgers and other food for hungry beachgoers and locals in Roy’s Cafe, Dody and her small team of machinists next door made custom beachwear for a wide variety of clients, from movie stars and volley ball players to lifeguards and surfers.

In 1952 the choice of beachwear was pretty thin unless you were able to go to Hawai’i where the choice was wider. Companies like Catalina and Janzen churned out the basic swimwear you might wear to the pool or lake. But Southern Californians were far more discerning and those who lived on or near the coast wanted to wear something that didn’t want to look like tourists.

Late-publisher, photojournalist and surfer, Marty Sugarman, coined the term “beachfront culture” to describe the unique scene that had developed on the beaches at Venice, Ocean Park, State Beach and Malibu. It was these North Bay beaches that attracted diverse and upwardly mobile groups of people involved in the entertainment industry and its offshoots.

State Beach was a particular magnet because of its position and local community of actors, musicians, writers, directors. set designers and builders, stuntmen and stuntwomen, extras, photographers and those who appreciated their company. There was room for everybody and everybody was welcome.

Like a lot of guys of my generation my first surfing trunks were just swimming trunks bought from a store in Santa Monica and they soon deteriorated. The only cutoffs I had were made from WWII Navy surplus “Duck” pants made of white canvas. I hated to ruin a pair of my favorite Duck pants but sometimes the knees would wear out or I’d stain the legs with oil or something indelible. They were very cheap and readily available for a couple of dollars at the Army-Navy surplus place on Lincoln Blvd in Santa Monica.

But cut up a pair of my old Levis? No way. I liked them used and old. They were far more comfortable that way. The older the better.

Santa Monica Canyon was in insulated little community back then. You could walk or bike around it easily. I never lived there, but I had friends who did and was planning to get myself an apartment in “the canyon” when I moved out from the family home in Santa Monica. Instead I moved even closer to the beach. In fact, right on the beach at Topanga Beach in Malibu.

A surfing friend told me about the custom made trunks from Roy’s. Parking places were hard to find on Entrada, but I found a spot past Ted’s and walked down the sandy sidewalk to the the door to Roy’s cabana. The place was far smaller than I’d imagined. No showroom or store. Just a small area with a bunch of “makes” or “scratches” on the wall with a lot of patterns. Dody would measure you like a tailor does and ask you questions like, “Are you getting them for swimming, volleyball or surfing?” “Do you need more room in the crotch”? “Blush much?” Haha!

She’d also offer you a choice of materials and explain the pros and cons of each. My first trunks were made of cotton twill. Subsequent orders were usually made either cotton twill or canvas because I liked the weight of the canvas material. But both took awhile to dry, so I always ordered two pairs so I could wear the dry one while the other dried. I learned to rinse them in clear water to get out the saltwater because the saltwater rotted the stitching first and eventually the material. I had many pairs of Roy’s custom trunks.

Once she had made a record of your measurements and sketched them on the patterns she kept on the wall for future reference you had to wait for a couple of weeks for your new, custom made or “bespoke” Roy’s trunks to be made.

When weight and therefore my waist size change she’d make small adjustments to my scratch and date them. So I never had to go through the entire measurement process again. Reordering was a breeze. The trunks always fit perfectly.

Roy’s also made distinctive club trunks and jackets for the Malibu Surfing Association and could be seen on MSA contestants in surfing contests up and down the coast. I had the trunks but put mu MSA patch on a longer, heavier coat that kept me warmer. Roy’s also made bikinis for the female members.

From the late-50s to mid-70s I only had one pair of trunks that weren’t made by Roy’s. It was a pair of nylon trunks given to me by Nancy Katin of Kanvas by Katin. I loved them because they fit me well, were comfortable while sitting on my surfboard and would dry quickly. At that stage I could only fit in short surfing sessions and even though I wore fast drying Speedos instead instead of jockey Y-fronts for my “Superman” changes from surfing to street clothes, even the Dacron blend Roy’s trunks wouldn’t be dry for the next session.

Sadly, they were lost one day after the drawstring broke on my way back from Rincon. I’d tied them to the side mirror of my VW bug so they’d be try by the time I got back to Topanga Beach where I might want to go out again. Stupid move because they would have be completely dry long before then. But the draw string snapped and they flew across the highway and lost forever.

The last pair of Roy’s trunks I got was in 1973. I was spending the summer before I left for NZ lifeguarding at the Malibu Colony. I ordered a pair of “lifeguard red” trunks with the Colony lifeguard patch sewn on. Someone stole them off the cloths line at the place I was renting and that was that.

Roy’s and Dody’s business continued to thrive for a few more years until they decided to retire. According to their son Tim, by then Roy’s Cabana had expanded to include shirts, jackets and tennis shorts and had “moved into a two-story factory the Colburns built in Santa Monica.”

Roy Colburn died in 1993 and Dody twelve years later in 2005. Their son Tom attempted to resurrect the company in 2007. Unfortunately, the attempt failed. Regardless, the legacy of this iconic family business will live on as long as it can be celebrated by those of us who respect it and are grateful for their important contribution to our “waterfront culture.”

Custom trunks from Roy’s Cabana © Robert R. Feigel 2022 – All Rights Reserved