Sell to Us · San Clemente
Sell vintage in San Clemente, the town that wrote surfing down.
San Clemente is not just a surf town; it is the surf industry’s newsroom. The magazines were edited here, the photographers lived here, and Trestles made the south end of town a proving ground. The garages of this city hold boards, prints, negatives, and masthead history that the collector world actively hunts.
Free visit · cash offers · no obligation
The town itself, Ole Hanson’s Spanish village, holds its own kind of household: white walls and red roofs that have been continuously lived in since the 1920s, with furnishings and ironwork to match. We buy across both stories, at your door, in cash.
What San Clemente holds
Surfboards
Longboards through shortboard revolution pieces, local shapers especially, dings and all.
Surf media history
Photographs, negatives, magazines, press kits, and editorial files from the industry’s hometown.
Spanish village pieces
Ironwork, tile, carved furniture, and lighting from the Ole Hanson era homes.
Surf brand clothing
Shop tees, team jackets, and trunks from five decades of local brands.
Full households
Estates from Southwest San Clemente to Talega, one walkthrough, one offer.
Photo archives are treasure here
More than once in this town, a box of negatives has turned out to be somebody’s unpublished sessions at Trestles in the seventies. Surf photography has a real market, and intact archives matter to collectors and to the culture. If a parent shot for the magazines, worked at one, or just never missed a swell with a camera, let us look before anything is digitized away or tossed. We are twenty minutes up the road and know exactly who treasures this material.
A Recent Find
A 1940s Levi’s Type 1 jacket, sold to us by a former dealer who knew exactly what he had. We paid $12,000 in cash, the same day.
How it works
Call us.
A real conversation about what you have, no forms, no waiting.
We come to you.
We look at everything, at your pace. We know what we're seeing.
Cash offer, same visit.
A fair price on the spot, or a full estate sale run for you.
Common questions
Are dinged and yellowed boards worth anything?
Often, yes. Shaper, era, and originality set the price; honest wear is expected. Local lineage helps: a board shaped in town for a known local can outvalue a cleaner board with no story.
What about wetsuits, trunks, and surf clothing?
Early pieces, yes: 60s-80s trunks, team gear, and shop clothing have collectors. Modern mass-produced suits generally do not, and we will sort one from the other quickly.
Do you buy Nixon-era and Western White House memorabilia?
Carefully, yes. La Casa Pacifica left its traces in town: photographs, press passes, and local ephemera from those years have steady regional interest.