Surf’s Up Free Book Talk on Rincon Point
Best Bet
Books/Poetry: Signing/Club/Literary
Chaucer's Books
Contact Details:
Phone: (805) 682-6787
Email: events@chaucersbooks.com
Website: View Website
Social Media:
**Events may have been canceled or postponed. Please contact the venue to confirm the event.
Date & Time
Tue, Jul 11 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM
Address (map)
3321 State St.
Venue (website)
Chaucer's Books
Chaucer’s Books (3321 State Street) will host local authors Vince Burns and Stephen Bates to talk about and sign their co-authored book “Rincon Point” on Tuesday, July 11 at 6 p.m.
Description
Rincon Point is renowned as the Queen of the Coast, one of the premier surfing spots in the world, but that is only a fragment of its rich history. Before the arrival of Europeans, it was a Chumash village called Shuku. In the 19th century, it was part of Rancho El Rincon, whose owners included a rich but illiterate Californio rancher, an English physician who made house calls by bicycle, and a Chilean pharmacist who dispensed drugs out of an old ship’s cabin. It was the site of a scandalous love-triangle murder in the 1870s, a rickety highway on stilts in the 1910s, and a raunchy honky-tonk in the 1920s. Banditos, nudists, movie stars, long-boarders–they have all shaped Rincon Point, a place immortalized by novelists, poets, painters, photographers, and the Beach Boys.
About the Authors
Authors Vincent Burns and Stephen Bates have deep roots in the area. Burns helped build his grandmother’s house on the point and writes regularly on surf history. Bates’s great-grandfather acquired Rancho El Rincon in 1885, and it remained in the family for more than a century. This book features unique photographs from the Bateses and other early settlers, pioneer surfers of the 1950s and 1960s, the Carpinteria Valley Museum of History, and elsewhere.
Local writer and historian Vince Burns worked in book and database publishing for many years. Vince has written a book on global terrorism and (with Stephen Bates) Rincon Point. He has a doctorate degree in History from the University of Wisconsin. Find him on Facebook or at vinceburns805@gmail.com.
Stephen Bates is a professor of journalism at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He is the author of five books, most recently Rincon Point (with Vince Burns), as well as articles in the Washington Post Magazine, the Atlantic, and American Heritage. He holds an A.B. and a J.D. from Harvard University. His great-grandfather acquired Rancho El Rincon in 1885, and it remained in the family for more than a century.