Catalyst at Bashams
The Forge on Los Molinos: There’s a glow in the dark on Calle de Los Molinos — a modest neon sign cutting through the fog like a lighthouse for board builders and dreamers. Catalyst at Basham’s hums quietly at dawn, a factory-temple where surfboards are born, sanded, glassed, and sent off to meet the sea. The smell of resin still hangs in the air — equal parts nostalgia and chemical romance.
Basham’s began as the beating heart of San Clemente’s “Surf Ghetto,” a supply hub where shapers could grab blanks, resin, or a little wisdom from the late Brad Basham — the kind of man who built more surf careers than he ever claimed credit for. If the West Coast has a surfboard family tree, its roots run straight through this warehouse.
Then came Catalyst — born from the restless energy of the …Lost generation. Matt Biolos and crew transformed the old Herbie Fletcher factory into a hybrid space that blurred the line between craft and commerce. You could buy a tee, order a board, and watch one being shaped twenty feet away — no marketing gimmick, just the real thing.
Now, the two legacies have fused — Basham’s grit and Catalyst’s vision — a partnership that feels less like a rebrand and more like an evolutionary leap. The tools are still on the wall, the dust still floats in the morning light, but the story’s bigger now. The new sign gleams over the doors like a badge of continuity — a reminder that in San Clemente, surf culture isn’t a product; it’s a process.
Walk past Sur Coffee at dawn, and you might catch a glimpse through the window: a shaper bent over a blank, the steady rasp of a planer, a curl of foam dust catching the light. That’s the rhythm of this town — half art, half industry, all heart.
Because long before influencers and algorithms, there were men and women with sandpaper and salt in their veins — and places like Bashams made sure they never ran out of resin.
Catalyst at Basham’s
226 Calle de Los Molinos, San Clemente, CA 92672
(949) 361-2203
