Endless Summer License Plate One More Reason for Move to California

• California may get another specialized license plate, this one celebrating the quintessential surf movie The Endless Summer.

• The poster for the movie is displayed on the plate, with a golden sun background.

• All that's still necessary is 7,500 signatures and CHP approval.

While it’s popular to bash California for any number of legitimate reasons—real estate prices, traffic, crime, them damned hippies—we do have cool license plates.

Now, in addition to the Yosemite Valley plate and the whale tale plate, among 35 specialized plates currently listed at dmv.ca.gov, it looks like we may get an Endless Summer license plate.

You remember the 1966 movie. “With enough time and enough money, you could spend the rest of your life following the Summer around the world.” For kids who grew up surfing in California, it was their lives on screen. For kids who grew up in Nebraska, it was all they needed to pack up their various jalopies and head west.

The key to this dream was the movie’s phosphorescent orange poster, the silhouetted figures of surfers Robert August and Mike Hynson along with filmmaker Bruce Brown, each holding their ginormous 1960s surfboards as a giant fireball of a nuclear sun sets over the sand behind them. Or maybe it was a sunrise. What mattered was that it reminded you of all the great waves you’d ridden, and all the great waves still ahead of you.

That inspiring image may soon be available to order on license plates across the Golden State.

The idea of an Endless Summer plate was first floated in 2018 and got close to approval at the time. All they needed was 7,500 people to pledge that they’d buy one. It fizzled out then for reasons that are unclear. But now it looks good.

“An application to create the ‘Endless Summer A Coast for All’ specialized license plate has been filed by State Coastal Conservancy, and the design and slogan has been approved by the California Department of Motor Vehicles, Special Plates Division,” said organizers. “The design is now awaiting approval by CHP prior to commencing the 7,500 presale requirement.”

In the meantime, practice your popup and drag your board out of the garage. Summer is here, and it may never end.