Jim Ganzer is a Malibu surf legend and an underground LA icon. He and his group of surf friends inspired the 1978 film, Big Wednesday, written and directed by John Milius. When the Coen brothers were developing The Big Lebowski, Milius introduced them to Ganzer, who influenced Jeff Bridges’s famous character, The Dude. A graduate of Chouinard Art Institute, Jim Ganzer emerged as an artist when the surf and skate culture-inspired world was not yet a billion-dollar industry, but an afterthought in a mostly hardware-focused segment. He became the voice of the subculture in the ’80s for inventing cult garments under the brand, Jimmy’Z, combining form with function. Ganzer lives in the winding, steep hillside canyons above coastal Malibu in a true “surf shack” that is overgrown with native plant life and has many indoor / outdoor features where his art and relics of the past are stored like buried treasures in an Indiana Jones film. He has shown his art in many esteemed group and solo exhibits in California and all over the world since 1971. These photos of his home were taken over many visits preparing for his solo exhibit; “Life Lived” at Indoek gallery. Life Lived is a collection of Jim Ganzer’s black & white photography from the 1960s—1980s, his ink drawings, and furniture. It will be on view at Indoek gallery in Ventura, California from March 30th through May 12th, 2024. This exhibit is generously supported by our friends at Outerknown.

Who are you? Tell us a little about yourself.

My name is Jim Ganzer. I was born in Blue Island, Illinois, a suburb of Chicago. I moved to California at age 15 to Pacific Palisades, where I spent most of my childhood, graduated from Palisades High School, and went onto Santa Monica City College, then Chouinard Art Institute. I now reside in one of the canyons in Malibu. I guess I came here because it was beautiful and not very crowded growing up. I surfed Malibu often, so I spent a lot of time in the hills and all over Malibu — specifically Surfrider Beach.

What brought you to Malibu and how long have you been living here?

I’ve been living here in Malibu since 1984. I first had a place on Topanga Beach around 1964, then I had a place on POP pier, then I found a studio on Westminster and Main in Venice — a big old brick building that was fantastic. I had several other studios in different parts of Los Angeles, but essentially those are the important ones.

What are your favorite parts of your home?

My house is very small. My favorite parts of my house are the living room, kitchen and the bedroom. The swimming pool is fantastic in the summertime and I have a couple of small studios that are just enough to keep me occupied. The place is very overgrown with lots of trees and greenery. I like that.

What are your favorite parts about Malibu and the area in which you live?

Well, Malibu has always been sort of a out-of-the-way place. You’re still in LA, but you’re in this country and where I live now is very secluded and I like that a lot.

Tell us more about your art and your photography. How did you get started? When did art become a full time job for you? How did you first develop your style?

About my art, I think the most important thing about developing your art is an understanding of art history, and what has happened before. Who the people have been, what were their lifestyles and most of all what was their work like. For me, I got very interested in photography because of the magazines in the 50s and 60s (Life Magazine, etc.). At one point, you discover photographers that you like their style and you like their approach, you see how they did it and you use parts of their concept to “make it happen.” I mean Robert Frank to me was one of the greatest photographers ever, so is Jack Henry Lotti, who as a child took pictures of early cars and playing in the water and so forth in France — not very different from being in California surfing and enjoying life, but I didn’t always want to be just a photographer. I also wanted to be a sculptor, and I got very interested in the sculptures of Robert Smithson, Michael, Heiser, and earthworks people. I also happen to love the work of Edward Ruscha. I also loved Warhol’s work and I like that Warhol really set up a brand identity for himself.

Where do you draw inspiration from in your art and in your life?

Living in LA through the 60s, 70s, and 80s has been very interesting. You see it went from a provincial place to an important art center — when I say that, I mean it went from being Rico LeBron and very simplistic California art which was great, but all great art movements need a group of people to make things happen. I happened to be part of a group of Venice artists. We all had gone to Chouinard and wanted to live in the downtown LA smog village where you could live close to the ocean, Venice, Malibu Santa Monica, wherever you could find a studio in those days — the whole place was up for rent. There weren’t very many people, and most of all, there weren’t that many artists. Now there are too many artists every place. That was a great studio. It has now been divided into smaller apartments or smaller studios. It’s not the same place. Let’s just put it that way: nothing stays the same. I mean watching the freeways go from being two lanes, to four lanes, to six lanes has been interesting. Watching the hillsides go from being Brown or Green depending on the season to being covered with houses… But as I’ve said, nothing remains the same.

I was super inspired by your brand Jimmy’Z. How did that brand first materialize? What was the story behind it?

The idea that we could all be driven by a lifestyle has been interesting for me (being a surfer). The first job I had when I got out of high school was working at a surfing magazine because I had been working on the yearbook, and I kinda understood how you did flats that would be printed. I had an older friend of mine from the beach who was an editor of a surfing magazine, and he asked what I had done in the school and what were my plans? I told him I wanted to go to Art school and he said, “oh could you help us with the magazine?” Maybe you could learn how to do the layout and so forth. So I went to work there, and I proceeded to go to art school at Chouinard. I also had many jobs that had to do with construction of art studios and working at galleries and things like that, which was a necessity so that I could pay my rent, but I was very lucky because the studio that I got in Venice was big enough where I could rent out 2/3 of my studio and be able to live for free. So if I left town and rented that studio I could stay away for as long as I liked.

At one point in my art career, I was taking notice of what had happened in the surfing world in terms of people making clothes and having brands like Ocean Pacific, and others that were inspired by surfing lifestyle. I kind of kept it in the back of my mind that someday I’d like to do that, it seems like an interesting way to be able to continue my interest in surfing and art.

Around 1984 my art dealer, Laura Lee Woods and her husband Bob had a clothing enterprise in downtown LA and Bob said, “you know surf clothing is making a comeback, do you have any ideas for self clothing?” I said yes, I did. And I designed this pair of shorts. And I used a picture of me and my woody car — the 1950 Ford wood station wagon combined that with a photo of the atomic bomb, which was something that I found at James Corcoran‘s gallery where I was working and I turned it into a logo and proceeded to make these shorts which had a Velcro closure and a cotton webbed belt that opened and closed on the side. That closure was also a pocket. They had to be very loose, baggy and comfortable. At that time, they were making shorts like the dolphin running shorts, which were so stupid looking and short that your equipment would hang out of the bottom if you weren’t careful. At any rate, they became big — there I was doing a brand not unlike what Warhol was doing, and it was also a time when people like Keith Herring were creating brands.

I have to ask: what’s the story with you and “The Dude?”

I had a partner who was obsessed with advertising because he was a promoter of rock concerts, so he knew how to promote, and we ended up doing a lot of advertisements. My friend, John Milius, a filmmaker who made the surf film, Big Wednesday, which was loosely based on people that we knew at the beach; myself, Denny Aaberg and Robbie Dick — and of course Lance Carson, he was the main hero of our time at Malibu. That’s what they do in Hollywood though; they don’t like to say who the characters really are because they’re afraid that they’ll have to pay them. So one day Milius is talking to me on the phone about all the advertising that we were doing at Jimmy’Z and he said, “Ganzer, you have become the Big Lebowski.” I went, “What’s the Big Lebowski?” and he said, “you know, you’re on everybody’s lips — they’re all talking about you and your clothes and the advertising and so forth.” He had some other friends who made movies and said I should talk to them because they wanted to loosely base some character on me. I guess he thought I was so crazy and way out. He said it was funny how I made it from one day, mentioning that I didn’t do that many things wrong even though I was a little crazy and reckless. I’ve said “the dude abides” since I was in high school and Jeff Bridges grabbed that and thought it was funny, he gave me a “brouhaha” laugh and said the line and that’s how I guess “the dude” was invented. I don’t care, I really don’t think that I was that much like “the dude” except for wearing Hawaiian shirts and smoking weed and a funny little goatee, but I’ve had to live with it. Hollywood is funny that way. I hope you don’t think those two movies were the only ones that I gave anybody inspiration for. My favorite one was Romancing The Stone, which had to do with my mini adventures through Mexico and Central America on my way to Costa Rica. I’m sitting at the sushi bar next to these two girls, and the waiter brings me a fork. It’s all bent and wagers from Oaxaca where I’ve spent many a day and week and month. and I say to the guy, “what’s this Tenedor Diablo, the Devils, Fork?” and the girl sitting next to me, said “what does that mean?” I proceeded to tell her and she asked more questions about Mexico, I was happy to give her all my romantic stories about Oaxaca and of course my little black four-wheel-drive pick up truck known as my little Burrell and on and on and on. That’s what it’s like growing up in Hollywood. If you ask me, you’re fair game for anybody who can translate you into an idea.

What have been the biggest challenges being an artist and running your own business over the years?

Well, I must say that being an artist has become very much like being a businessman. It’s not as free and loose as it used to be where you had an art dealer who is willing to do all your talking for you, planning your shows, and doing all the things that now you have to do in plotting your career. In today’s world, there are so many more artists, so many more ideas, so many more galleries, so many more people interested in what’s going on that it’s amazing. It’s not the same fun-filled world it was in the 1960s.

I’ve always been sort of a lazy character that enjoys surfing, the beach, warm weather, warm water, and I spent a lot of time in Costa Rica. I don’t know whether it was to my detriment, but I didn’t focus on my art career as much as I should have and consequently, I lost traction and tons of new artists came along from other places from other venues, indigenous people, women and all the other people who have not had their voices heard and needed to be heard, so it’s my own fault for having such a good time. If you spend your life well, you’re having a good time. It’s not so easy having a great business and a successful business when you’re being that care free, so that’s what happens.

On the other hand, what have been the greatest rewards?

For me, the biggest reward that I’ve had in my art career is having the friends that I’ve made over the years. Most of which are artists in one way or another and the idea that I mean having friends like Larry Bell, Ron Cooper, Kenny Price, Ed Ruscha, Billy Al Bengston, Frank Gehry, Charles Arnoldi, Laddie John Dill, and on and on. Guys like Bobby Neuwirth, a great musician and a great artist. Discovering what you think “Art” is all about, and it is never ending. A never ending parade of people with great ideas that inspire you every day. There are also surfers that are just as creative with their ability and style that they’re carving lines, making gestural movements and doing things on the wall of water that are just as creative as a painting or sculpture. I mean, once you get into art and realize the scope that you’re dealing with, it becomes something quite different than being in your imagination, as a young man or young person, first getting going. You have to stay open to ideas. You have to be engrossed in what you’re doing and you don’t give up. The beauty of art is that you can always figure out how to do it. Like Matisse from his bed, when he could not move, with a stick, a piece of charcoal, a pair of scissors and paper, he was still able to do collages and make beautiful things. It’s never over until it’s over.