Page 4 August 6, 2020 EL SEGUNDO HERALD
Entertainment
In Rebuilding Paradise, Ron Howard Remembers California’s Deadliest Wildfire
By Morgan Rojas for cinemacy.com
On November 8, 2018, the once prominent
gold-mining town of Paradise, California
was overtaken by uncontrollable fire, heavy
smoke, and the chaos of a community leaving
everything behind. The Golden State is
no stranger to the occasional forest fire in
the summer months, but the Camp Fire was
different. It was much, much worse.
Ron Howard’s documentary Rebuilding
In Rebuilding Paradise, courtesy of National Geographic. Morgan Rojas
Tyler Hatzikian from front page
spotted, wearing a Kruseman racing T-shirt on
a social media site by none other than Cory
Kruseman. Kruseman chased down Hatzikian
and suggested that he get back on the track to
“get some laps in.” Hatzikian took Kruseman’s
advice to heart and took some spins over the
dirt track. Kruseman told Hatzikian, a 1990
graduate of El Segundo High, that when he
turned 45, which would occur in about another
year, he would be eligible to attempt to
qualify for senior sprint car competitions at
the Ventura track.
Hatzikian worked out a deal where he
crafted a surfboard for Kruseman, and Kruseman
rented him a sprint car. Once he hit the
age-limit qualifications, he entered an event
at the Ventura track. Tyler said he had about
100 friends, family and followers show up for
his first race, which, although he had taken
numerous practice laps in a race car, “ was
the first time that I had been on a track with
another car,” an experience that he said was
“intense.” Hatzikian was able to avoid any on
track carnage and finished fourth in his initial
heat, which is considered quite an achievement
for a first-time competitor.
“Tyler was great to work with as he understands
being one of the best in the world
at what he does in the surfing (realm) but has
not let that change his personality,” Kruseman
said. He was very humble in starting a new
sport where he had a lot to learn. His attitude
led to a quick progression.”
Hatzikian acquired his passion for surfing from
his father, who participated in Westchester surf
clubs. Hatzikian said one of his earliest beach
memories was sitting on the sand at Malibu
Beach when he was three or four, playing with
his toy trucks when world-renowned surfers
would traipse by his spot, toting their boards,
as they traversed to the water to surf the swells.
Hatzikian moved to El Segundo when he
was five and started surfing when he was
seven. His father, who was “always building
stuff,” gave Tyler his first “longboard,” which
is defined as a 9-12 foot, single finned board
with a round nose, when he was ten. By the
age of 12, he had made his first board and was
commissioned to make his second board. He
received his first business license at 16, helped
by his mother, who was very business minded.
“She gave me a lot of support on the business
end of it,” he said, mentioning creating ledgers
and acquiring the necessary licenses.
By the time Hatzikian graduated from high
school, he had built nearly 300 boards from
start-to-finish. A Tyler surfboard customer who
commissions Hatzikian to build a classic board
today, from start-to-finish, can look to spend
about $2,500.
He was 21 when he built his first in town
factory in the Smoky Hollow part of El Segundo.
He has been in-and-out of shops and
storefronts on Grand Avenue as the years
progressed. During the COVID-19 pandemic,
he is currently working from home and online.
“Keeping it tight,” he said.
Mike Rotolo, president of T.G. Construction,
has known Hatzikian ever since they became
neighbors in 1997. He said Hatzikian is “always
a very cool, collected and humble guy
with a creative eye, which you could see by
talking with him. It is great to see the Tyler
Surfboard brand grow and be a piece of the
El Segundo persona.”
Filmmaker Jason Baffa, who has featured
Hatzikian’s exploits in both the blue water and
on the brown dirt, got to know him through
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Paradise shows the fateful day when a
malfunction from a Pacific Gas & Electric
electrical transmission ripped through
this humble community, torching 95%
of the town, killing 85 people, and leaving
50,000 residents displaced. The first
twenty minutes are really difficult to sit
through with dry eyes. Horrifying footage
from survivors fleeing the fire, people saying
goodbye to their houses, hospital patients
being wheeled out on stretchers during the
evacuation, and intimate 911 calls are hard
to stomach. The film takes on a bit more of
an optimistic tone post-fire, with determined
residents banding together to get through their
shared devastation in hopes of returning to
Paradise again.
Ron Howard’s masterful direction reenforces
the fact that nothing humanizes us
more than a tragedy. His interviews with
survivors are heart-wrenching and empathetic.
Watching them, we are reminded
that disasters don’t discriminate. The film’s
release in 2020 is, perhaps, not ideal, as we’re
still in the middle of the global pandemic.
However, the silver lining we can take away
is the steadfast resilience and strength from
Paradise residents, which is proof that we
can overcome anything when we look out
for and help each other.
Distributed by National Geographic, Rebuilding
Paradise is available to rent via
Laemmle Virtual Cinema. •
their mutual love of surfing the waves at El
Porto beach. Baffa has worked with Hatzikian
multiple times, including the 2003 cult surf
classic, “Singlefin: Yellow,” in which the star
of the film was a nine-foot, yellow surfboard
crafted by Hatzikian. Baffa’s film, instead of
focusing on specific surfers, portrayed the
wonders of surfing through the worldwide
journey of one yellow surfboard.
“I think Tyler’s throwback vibe and appreciation
for traditional design (heavier single fins)
really appealed to me,” Baffa said. “He is just
a phenomenal surfer. It is always fun to be in
the water with him.”
Regarding the collaboration on “Singlefin:
Yellow,” Baffa said that “I knew for the film
to work, I needed a special board, not just
something beautiful, but something with soul,
something that sort of bled respect for where
surfing came from…Tyler was the only choice.
That film really helped jump my career, so I
am forever grateful for his support. He is an
amazing craftsman, a fantastic surfer, and I
think just an interesting person.”
“I love watching him surf,” Baffa said. “For such
a big, powerful guy, he is agile; it is kind of
amazing and sets him apart. I love his approach
as a person and as an artist. I think people
forget, he is quite an artist at heart, and a standup,
solid guy,” Baffa said. “He inspired me
with his focus (late in life) on race cars. It was
always a love of his and seeing him jump in,
headfirst, pedal down, rocks. He really inspired
me to take on screenwriting and develop the
bigger projects that I have always wanted to do.”
Hatzikian said, growing up, he was a “betterthan
average athlete,” honing his competitive
instincts on the soccer pitch and baseball
diamond. Then he dropped into surfing.
Hatzikian said his opinion that “surfing
is not a sport,” has riled some surfers while
noting it takes athletic ability and skill and is
not easy. He calls it more of “an art form,
an expression.” He said that competing on the
dirt track rekindled his competitive instincts
that had been dormant since he last competed
in Little League. His first sprint car race, he
said, gave him a whole new competitive “buzz.
And I have been hooked ever since.” He said
that he had become a racing ambassador to
grow the sport of racing, sharing the on track
experience with friends and followers.
Like most of us, Hatzikian is a bit chafed by
the restrictions that the COVID-19 shutdown/
lockdown have entailed for both business entities
and, to a less important degree, recreational
opportunities, and is eager to return as soon
as possible to both the raging surf and the
dirt track. He related that someone told him,
regarding the pandemic, “we are all in the
same ocean, but we are in different boats. “For
some people,” he said, “it is a vacation, they
can ride this out for a long time.” Hatzikian is
hoping for a quick return to his favorite venues,
not only to ride the waves near El Porto, but
also to again pummel the Ventura dirt tracks.•
Tyler in his sprint car.
Tyler with one of his surfboards.