Kathy Kohner Zuckerman aka Gidget and her daddy Freddy, author of the book that launched a sport.
Kathy Kohner Zuckerman aka Gidget and her daddy Freddy, author of the book that launched a sport. | Photo: Courtesy Matt Warshaw/Encyclopedia Of Surfing

Jewish surf queen Kathy “Gidget” Zuckerman homeless after Pacific Palisades house incinerated by LA inferno

“At my age, imagine it: The house is gone, the neighborhood is gone, the community is gone."

Malibu’s queen of surf and the inspiration for the book Gidget, which kicked off the whole damn surf crazy seventy years back, is homeless after her pretty Pacific Palisades house went up in the LA inferno.

Kathy Kohner Zuckerman, eighty-three now, is the kid of Czech Jews who fled to the US before the Nazis could shovel ‘em into the ovens. Her daddy Fred, a man who held a PHD in psychology from Paris’ Sorbonne, became a screenwriter in Hollywood and was nominated for an Oscar for his 1938 movie Mad About Music before writing the zeitgeist shifting book Gidget.

Fred wrote Gidget over six weeks in 1956, retelling the stories Kathy told him over dinner about hanging out with the big dogs at Malibu. The book went wild, half-a-mill copies sold, and was turned into a raft of movies (Gidget, Gidget Goes Hawaiian, Gidget goes to Rome), a few telemovies and a TV series.

Warshaw, keeper of that barely flickering surf culture flame, says the original book was “dirtier and darker” than the sanitised film adventures of Gidget starring Sandra Dee.

Anyway, Kathy has lost the joint she’s lived in with her Yiddish scholar husband Marvin Zuckerman for the past sixty years, over there on Marquette Street in the Marquez Knolls section of the Palisades.

“At my age, imagine it: The house is gone, the neighborhood is gone, the community is gone,” she said. “But the diamond in the rough is that the Duke’s family and the surfing community have all rallied around. I am so appreciative.”

Kathy says said her phone has been lit up with calls from, among plenty of others, Hawaiian Randy Rarick and master surf filmmaker Jack McCoy

“With all these calls, I have reentered a world that I left a long time ago,” she said, “and that community has been just incredible to me.”

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tim_nelsen
tim_nelsen
1 year ago

one of ’em is holdin booze comment image?_nc_cat=1&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=aa7b47&_nc_ohc=JzoRF4u8zkUQ7kNvgGb4zR4&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&_nc_gid=ATbX-qZAYSqj1b1xX8YHGuI&oh=00_AYBCklXulik5ymNybhK8Ed6uEu4BXuBcVrkz-IXNUuuzpQ&oe=678E653D

tim_nelsen
tim_nelsen
1 year ago

we have a new menu~nightly. old waitresses please apply~ comment image?_nc_cat=100&ccb=1-7&_nc_sid=127cfc&_nc_ohc=U26-hnA3lRIQ7kNvgHiGMUU&_nc_zt=23&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&_nc_gid=AOsOW1cL1S1gxAidvPNwKvZ&oh=00_AYDSQAvDEd2e8qAGpeoM7hxceoIESuun79SUnwin6PKM_w&oe=678E711C

sea2
sea2
1 year ago

Free Market people…water for pistachios …but not for firefighting

Low wide stinkbug stance
Low wide stinkbug stance
1 year ago

Thanks for name dropping that she’s Jewish Derek, like it makes any difference to the story. Maybe next time you can write how it’s possible to be Jewish with an Irish surname because it’s passed down on the mother’s line.

DongWangVerga
DongWangVerga
1 year ago

In the American film canon, there’s Gidget and there’s Ernest.

And they both went places. Ernest Goes to Jail is tough to beat; Gidget Goes Upcoast to Dane’s Sauza and Sushi Swinger Party reigns supreme tho

Brutus
Brutus
1 year ago

now the experts arrive…Jamie lee Curtis…..lets see if hamas release the hostages this week?

Capt Sensible
Capt Sensible
1 year ago

Like i always said Jews stole surfing.

justiceminister
justiceminister
1 year ago

Zuckerman launched a sport. As someone once said, many times, you cannot be fuckin serious man. Low balling here Deggsy lad. Unless you are being ironic and mischievous that is.

ricmatic
ricmatic
1 year ago

Not as bad as saying LA deserved it Jerry fallwell.

sea2
sea2
1 year ago

watching James Woods cry like a bitch was alate XMAS gift..thanks Santa

The Ghost of The Condor
The Ghost of The Condor
1 year ago

Deplorable “journalism”, Reilly…sounds like someone is sad and teary eyed over their antisemitic buddy Mel losing his house. Fuck off with that sort of slant to your writing, you are better than that. Or perhaps, not?

Brutus
Brutus
1 year ago

ha Mel lost his house and all his possessions…he actually commented ,” at least he doesn’t have to worry about the shitty plumbing anymore!”

Low wide stinkbug stance
Low wide stinkbug stance
1 year ago

I thought Mel Brooks was Jewish?

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago

You’re a bit of an insufferable cunt aren’t you? Can you at least make an attempt to start a post once that doesn’t refer to the conflicts in the Middle East? I get it, its real and its ugly but maybe just once don’t bring it up.

Barton Lins
Barton Lins
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Yes, he is an idiot. So are you, barrelled.

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  Barton Lins

Aren’t you just him using multiple Disqus handles?

Barton Lins
Barton Lins
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

No need genius

DongWangVerga
DongWangVerga
1 year ago
Reply to  Barton Lins

Barrelled is pretty legit tho – and he ain’t gonna backdoor some ill gained “gotcha” on geopolitics.

Barton Lins
Barton Lins
1 year ago
Reply to  DongWangVerga

He is an idiot. people who generaralize people based on where they come from are idiots. Bet he never visited Brasil or Israel.

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  Barton Lins

You would be correct in that I have not been to either but I have encountered both while travelling. Hence my previous comment that clearly bothered you. You also need to fucking relax and understand humor.

SaltyHB
SaltyHB
1 year ago

Kathy in front of Tubesteak’s beach shack.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  SaltyHB

How many times you think she got done up in that shack?

Sean Connery
Sean Connery
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Free tubesteaks for sure

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  Sean Connery

These photos make it impossible not to think of her as a pin cushion. 1 chick, 7 guys and a seedy beach shack off on its own on the point. Hmmmmm! https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

Picard Madeoff
Picard Madeoff
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Your post is horrible offensive!

BRAVO!!!

Brutus
Brutus
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

where’s Miki???

DongWangVerga
DongWangVerga
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Dez wishes he could trade places

SaltyHB
SaltyHB
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

I can tell you from experience, she’s fun.
https://uploads.disquscdn.c…

tim_nelsen
tim_nelsen
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

defamation suit is a banana in a sack and you’re an apeman~

Jimmy the Saint
Jimmy the Saint
1 year ago
Barnycle
Barnycle
1 year ago

A life well lived.

Brutus
Brutus
1 year ago

yeah this guy seemed like the real deal……he loved people……

DongWangVerga
DongWangVerga
1 year ago
Reply to  Brutus

https://uploads.disquscdn.c… Well fuckin said

M.
M.
1 year ago

Futile effort trying to pull in the Israel Gaza conflict, everybody knows the true dividing line here is whether you prefer you fighter fighter calendar filled with hunky white manly men or sexy black lesbians! Pick a side!

JSC
JSC
1 year ago

So tell me again how much you hate Jewish people without directly telling me you hate Jewish people – thanks!

NEGATRON
NEGATRON
1 year ago

Does that include the 80,000 who do it every day there?

deeks
deeks
1 year ago
Reply to  NEGATRON

they’re all just waiting for Ed sheerin tickets
(or some other fuckknuckle mainstream cunt

Sean Connery
Sean Connery
1 year ago
Reply to  deeks

Oh my little deeks… I wrote a song for you.. It’s called “Perfect”..

I found a love for me
Oh, darling, just dive right in and follow my lead
Well, I found a girl, beautiful and sweet
Oh, I never knew you were the someone waitin’ for me
‘Cause we were just kids when we fell in love, not knowin’ what it was
I will not give you up this time
Oh, darling, just kiss me slow, your heart is all I own
And in your eyes, you’re holding mine
Baby, I’m dancin’ in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass while listenin’ to our favourite song
When you said you looked a mess, I whispered underneath my breath
But you heard it, “Darling, you look perfect tonight”
Well, I found a woman, stronger than anyone I know
She shares my dreams, I hope that someday, I’ll share her home
I found a love to carry more than just my secrets
To carry love, to carry children of our own
We are still kids, but we’re so in love, fightin’ against all odds
I know we’ll be alright this time
Darling, just hold my hand, be my girl, I’ll be your man
I see my future in your eyes
Oh, baby, I’m dancin’ in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass while listenin’ to our favourite song
When I saw you in that dress, lookin’ so beautiful
I don’t deserve this, darling, you look perfect tonight
No, no, no
Mm, oh
Baby, I’m dancin’ in the dark with you between my arms
Barefoot on the grass, oh, listenin’ to our favourite song
I have faith in what I see, now I know I have met
An angel in person, and she looks perfect
Though I don’t deserve this, you look perfect tonight

tim_nelsen
tim_nelsen
1 year ago
Reply to  Sean Connery

fwd to Kathy. she’d luv it!

snapper
snapper
1 year ago
Reply to  Sean Connery

Post that and a likability for long walks on the beach… you have chicks up the ying playa

deeks
deeks
1 year ago
Reply to  Sean Connery

You know I can’t read
Stop the torture

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  NEGATRON

Not sure what Twillsy is getting at but he is correct, the US homeless population is around 800,000. Keep in mind, those are only the ones they can account for and quite a few are homeless by choice. In terms of the fire, there are close to 180,000 homeless in California, not sure how many homes are under evacuation orders right now but its a big number, maybe 150,000 from all the fires combined. To be fair, the Palisades fire evacuation area Dez is trying to write about prob has a homeless population of around 10 as its a pretty affluent area.

Barton Lins
Barton Lins
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

viva California

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  Barton Lins

If you don’t like it, don’t live here is my philosophy. There’s a reason why its the most expensive place in the nation to live and it’s not a political thing.

Noncompetitor
Noncompetitor
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Because there’s no housing?

DongWangVerga
DongWangVerga
1 year ago
Reply to  Noncompetitor

There are arundo choked arroyos tho that make a turn of the 20th century, bursting at seams tenement seem downright uncivilized. And not just cuz of swarthy immigrants

Occ Topus
Occ Topus
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Actually, this is incorrect. California is the 3rd most expensive state to live in.
Hawaii is the most expensive, followed by New York.

Barrelled
Barrelled
1 year ago
Reply to  Occ Topus

That depends on the parameters used for determining “expensive”.

Low wide stinkbug stance
Low wide stinkbug stance
1 year ago
Reply to  Barton Lins

California Uber Alles works too

Sean Connery
Sean Connery
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Those who stayed in skid row are laughing all the way to their drug dealers.

NEGATRON
NEGATRON
1 year ago
Reply to  Barrelled

Oh I thought he meant 800,000 were evacuated due to the fire. opps.

tim_nelsen
tim_nelsen
1 year ago
Reply to  NEGATRON

boss wants to see us in the AM. in LA. long term paper and growth projection model. sustain and shit. fuck!


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