Western Neighborhoods Project presents:
Surf City
Join Western Neighborhoods Project (WNP) for Surf City, an evening that offers a window into San Francisco’s unique relationship with the sea, at the 4 Star Theater on Sunday, September 14, 2025 at 7:30 pm as part of the Ocean Beach Surf Film Festival.
As a coastal community, we’re indelibly shaped by the presence of the Pacific Ocean and the San Francisco Bay. The city’s “Outside Lands” located near Ocean Beach, around Lands End and along the shores of the Golden Gate National Recreation Area have a particularly strong bond with the water. And nobody knows these tides better than members of our legendary surf and swim communities. We’ll explore exactly what this relationship means to us all by screening short films made by local filmmakers Gaby Scott and Steve Peletz.
Gaby Scott is a San Francisco-based filmmaker and editor whose work focuses on the cyclical interactions people have with their shifting landscapes and the philosophies that drive them. She exquisitely captures what it takes to surf big waves at Ocean Beach, highlighting the women who navigate local riptides with courage and grace in A Certain Personality. She also takes us inside one of the most storied clubhouses in San Francisco history, The Dolphin Club–introducing audiences to three inimitable coldwater swimmers, including the first woman to win the Golden Gate Swim, in The Dolphins.
Steve Peletz is a research diver, photographer, and filmmaker with a passion for exploring underwater worlds where he finds himself immersed in kelp forests, coral reefs, caves, or shipwrecks, often filming curious marine biologists, sharks, whales, sea lions, dolphins, or huge schools of fish as they hunt, play, or just swim by. In Lands End, he drops us into the Pacific Ocean with swimmers who face wintry 51-degree waters and sometimes pounding surf. Here in their salty backyard at China Beach, the locals discover something healing about swimming through the maze of rocks and untamed waters.
Both Peletz and Scott bring us into the water, giving us a rare aquatic viewpoint that captures the power, the tranquility, and therapeutic magic of San Francisco’s seascape. This connection is brought closer into view with a curated presentation of photographs by Rob Brodman and Sachi Cunningham who both capture the Pacific Ocean with an intimate honesty, one that shows us the magnetism of the water and the people who are in regular communion with it.
Accompanying this lineup will be an introduction by WNP’s Executive Director Nicole Meldahl that connects the west side’s past to the vibrant present beautifully captured by Surf City’s featured artists. Following the screening, we’ll enjoy a Q&A with our featured creatives. We’ll also have merchandise and prints for sale, as well as a raffle thanks to donations from Rob Brodman and The Great Highway Gallery. You won’t want to miss this evening that brings us all closer to the ocean than ever before.
The main program starts at 7:30 pm but doors open at 7:00 pm, giving you time to mingle, peruse the goods at Tunnel Records, and purchase tasty treats (like the best popcorn in the city) from the concession stand. Tickets are $25 for General Admission, $20 for Seniors and Children, and $15 for WNP and Dolphin Club members.
Every ticket purchased helps us keep the lights on and the history happening at our friendly community history nonprofit. Proceeds also support the 4 Star Theater and CinemaSF, San Francisco’s newest nonprofit! Thank you for being with us, History Friends.
For questions related to this program, please email WNP’s Executive Director, Nicole Meldahl, at nicole@outsidelands.org