The Beach Boys Historic Landmark commemorates the site of the childhood home of Brian

Brian Wilson

Brian Douglas Wilson is an American musician, best known as the leader and chief songwriter of the group The Beach Boys. Within the band, Wilson played bass and keyboards, also providing part-time lead vocals and, more often, backing vocals, harmonizing in falsetto with the group...

, Carl

Carl Wilson

Carl Dean Wilson was an American rock and roll singer and guitarist, best known as a founding member, lead guitarist and sometime lead vocalist of The Beach Boys...

, and Dennis Wilson

Dennis Wilson

Dennis Carl Wilson was an American rock and roll musician best known as a founding member and the drummer of The Beach Boys. He was a member of the group from its formation until his death in 1983...

 of the Beach Boys. The monument, located at 3701 W. 119th Street, Hawthorne, California

Hawthorne, California

Hawthorne is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California. The city at the 2010 census had a population of 84,293, up from 84,112 at the 2000 census.-Geography:...

, stands on the site of their childhood home, which was demolished in the mid-1980s during construction of the Century Freeway.

Music industry notables such as Dick Clark and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

Rock and Roll Hall of Fame

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame and Museum is a museum located on the shore of Lake Erie in downtown Cleveland, Ohio, United States. It is dedicated to archiving the history of some of the best-known and most influential artists, producers, engineers and others who have, in some major way,...

 were among the letter-writers who supported the BBHL's landmark application process. Its status as a California State Historic Landmark No. 1041 was granted by the California State Historic Resources Commission in a unanimous vote on August 6, 2004, in Ontario, California

Ontario, California

Ontario is a city located in San Bernardino County, California, United States, 35 miles east of downtown Los Angeles. Located in the western part of the Inland Empire region, it lies just east of the Los Angeles county line and is part of the Greater Los Angeles Area...

, and the monument was dedicated on May 20, 2005.

The image face of the landmark was inspired by the album cover of Surfer Girl

Surfer Girl

Surfer Girl is the third studio album by The Beach Boys and their second longplayer in 1963. This was the first album by The Beach Boys for which Brian Wilson was given full production credit, a position Wilson would maintain until the end of the The Smile Sessions in 1967...

. The current lineup of the Beach Boys at that time was Brian, Carl, and Dennis; their cousin Mike Love

Mike Love

Michael Edward "Mike" Love is an American singer/songwriter and musician with The Beach Boys. He was a founding member of the band along with his cousins Brian, Carl, and Dennis Wilson, and their friend Al Jardine, and continues to perform with the band to the present day...

; and David Marks

David Marks (musician)

David Marks is an American songwriter and musician. He is best known as being a member of The Beach Boys from February 1962 to October 1963. Marks was part of the Beach Boys line-up, at age 13, when they signed with Capitol Records on July 16, 1962...

 (who grew up in a house across the street from the Wilson home.) Al Jardine

Al Jardine

Alan Charles "Al" Jardine is a founding member of top-selling American music group The Beach Boys, a guitarist and occasional lead vocalist. He was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1988.-Early life:...

, the group's original bassist, would later rejoin the band soon before David's departure. Six gold 45 records are embedded in the base of the landmark, each with the name of one of the Beach Boys; the three Wilson brothers to the left, and Love, Marks and Jardine to the right. The names of donors, Wilson friends and family members, and the Beach Boys Landmark Committee are engraved into the monument bricks. The construction work was undertaken by Scott Wilson, Dennis's adopted son.

The landmark plaque reads:

It was here that the childhood home of Brian, Dennis, and Carl Wilson developed their unique musical skills. During Labor Day weekend 1961, they, their cousin Mike Love, and a friend Al Jardine, gathered here to record a tape of their breakthrough song “Surfin’.”

Surfin' (song)

"Surfin" is a song by American rock band The Beach Boys, written by Brian Wilson and Mike Love. It was released as the first Beach Boys single in November 1961 on Candix Records and it later appeared on the 1962 album Surfin' Safari. The Beach Boys were trying to think of something original and...

  This marked the birth of the rock group known worldwide as the Beach Boys, and the beginning of a historic musical legacy. The music of the Beach Boys broadcast to the world an image of California as a place of sun, surf, and romance.

Under a month after the unveiling of the landmark it was targeted by graffiti vandals.

External links

• MySpace page for the monument, with a number of photos of the 2005 dedication ceremony: http://www.myspace.com/beachboyshistoriclandmark
• Author Jon Stebbins
  Jon Stebbins
  -Music career:Stebbins was a member of a music band called 'The Point' which was active on the Los Angeles club circuit from 1979 to 1985.The Point were often described as part of L.A.'s psychedelic revival scene known as the Paisley Underground. They released a self-titled four song EP in 1981...
  
  ' page describing the 2005 ceremony with commentary and pictures: http://thejonstebbins.com/landmark.html