Miki Dora was the undisputed king of Malibu. Some called him “James Dean on a surfboard,†a brooding, rebellious sort with a commanding presence, a self-assured swagger and Hollywood-style sex appeal. Out in the water, few others personified the essence of style that surfers of the day embodied quite like Dora did. He became an unwilling cultural icon for his sport, a sort of anti-hero; the target of would-be hipsters, seedy hypesters and others who saw surfing as the easiest pathway to a quick buck. As more and more cameras focused on “Da Cat†he was known to casually slip them the finger or simply turn his back. Eventually Dora rejected the scene he had helped to define and showed little but contempt and distain for mainstream surfing. He lived his later years as an exiled beachcomber on the run, one step ahead of the law, ever an enigma to admirers and enemies alike.
