{"id":2309,"date":"2025-09-03T22:07:04","date_gmt":"2025-09-04T04:07:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lagoonhistory.com\/project\/?p=2309"},"modified":"2026-02-23T20:07:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T03:07:34","slug":"the-beach-boys-at-lagoon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lagoonhistory.com\/project\/the-beach-boys-at-lagoon\/","title":{"rendered":"The Beach Boys At Lagoon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The recent passing of Brian Wilson of the Beach Boys has once again brought attention to the band’s ties to Utah. Their first performance in Utah was at Lagoon’s Patio Gardens (the building which now houses Dracula’s Castle and the arcade). But the band’s popularity here started well before they played their first note in the Beehive State.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Beach Boys formed in 1961 as the Pendletones, named after the Pendleton wool shirts that were popular among surfers, and which the band used to wear while performing. They recorded a demo of their first song, “Surfin'”, and they soon had a record deal. A promoter from the label changed their name for their first single, without telling the band, and from then on they were known as the Beach Boys.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

During their formative years in Hawthorne, California, the Beach Boys consisted of brothers Brian, Carl and Dennis Wilson, their cousin, Mike Love, and their friend, Al Jardine. A long-time neighbor, David Marks, joined soon after. They were managed by the Wilsons’ father, Murry, who had made a career as a songwriter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Beach Boys, wearing their early trademark Pendleton jackets, in a 1962 photo from the Taft High School yearbook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Murry had a friend in Utah who was the program manager at Salt Lake’s most popular radio station at the time, KNAK on 1280 AM. His name was Bill Hesterman, or “Daddy-O” as he was known on the air. The Hesterman family would visit the Wilsons during their trips to California.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Beach Boys had become a regional success on the west coast with songs all about surfing, cars and the lifestyle of young beach-goers. As with other popular bands of the day, Hesterman was responsible for introducing Utah to their music and bringing them to Lagoon through concerts presented by KNAK.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some say Hesterman was the first to play the Beach Boys on the radio outside of California. He built up a solid following for the band in Utah and over a period of seven years, the Beach Boys visited Lagoon (and the Lagoon-operated Terrace Ballroom) a total of 12 times. They often performed multiple times on each visit, making a total of 23 individual shows from 1963 to 1970.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Here’s a list of those appearances, followed by a breakdown of each visit.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BEACH BOYS AT LAGOON (and The Terrace)<\/th><\/th><\/tr><\/thead>
7 Sep 1963<\/td>1 show<\/td><\/tr>
27-28 Dec 1963 (The Terrace)<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
12-13 Jun 1964<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
29 Jul 1964<\/td>1 show<\/td><\/tr>
11-12 Sep 1964<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
29 May 1965<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
10-11 Sep 1965<\/td>3 shows<\/td><\/tr>
9-10 Sep 1966<\/td>3 shows<\/td><\/tr>
15 Jun 1968<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
7 Sep 1968<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
5-6 Sep 1969<\/td>2 shows<\/td><\/tr>
12 Sep 1970<\/td>1 show<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1963<\/h4>\n\n\n\n

After performing throughout California for a couple of years, the Beach Boys ventured away from the coast and began touring the rest of the country in 1963. They made it to Lagoon’s Patio Gardens on the park’s last weekend of the season, the weekend after Labor Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The Patio Gardens’ exterior at night, as shown on a 1950s postcard.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
7 SEP 1963
Latest Single: “Surfer Girl”<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Before the show at Lagoon, the Beach Boys stopped at the KNAK studio in Salt Lake City. The owner of the radio station, Howard Johnson, was known for getting a new Ford Thunderbird every year. His daughter, Shirley, was working at the station while attending the University of Utah. Howard was also a faculty member at the U and since his ’63 Thunderbird had a faculty parking sticker on it, Shirley was allowed to take his car so she could park on campus. One night she borrowed her dad’s T-Bird to go study at the library and took a detour into rock ‘n’ roll history.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was going to go to the library and ended up at a place called Shore’s Drive In\u2026a hamburger shop on 33rd South and 27th East,” Shirley told KSL News in 2007. When her dad found out about it, she lost her car privileges. The next day when she went to work at KNAK, “I was kind of complaining to the staff at the radio station that I was in a bit of trouble, and the Beach Boys heard it.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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4 September 1963 Logan Herald Journal newspaper ad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

That first Beach Boys concert at Lagoon went on to surpass all attendance records for the Patio Gardens with an audience of over 4,500 people. Even advance ticket sales for the show were unprecedented, topping the pre-sale record previously held by the Kingston Trio.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the concert, as Bill Hesterman was driving the band from their room at the Holiday Inn to the Salt Lake Airport, band member Mike Love told Brian the story about the girl at KNAK. The two then started putting together a song about it there in the car and continued working on it later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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LEFT: Rendering of the Holiday Inn at North Temple & Redwood Road (now an abandoned Ramada Inn) RIGHT: Aerial view of the Salt Lake Airport in 1962. Photo: Utah State Historical Society<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
27-28 DEC 1963 – The Terrace
Latest Single: “Little Saint Nick”<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

Utah fans only had to wait about three months for the Beach Boys to perform here a second time. It was right after Christmas and Lagoon was closed, but the park’s management also operated the popular Terrace Ballroom in downtown Salt Lake City where they could hold concerts during Lagoon’s off-season. A second night at the Terrace had to be added “due to the largest advanced sale ever”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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December 1963 newspaper ad.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n
<\/div>\n\n\n\n

1964<\/h4>\n\n\n\n
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The Beach Boys in 1964. Photo: Capitol Records<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Back in Los Angeles, a few days after their shows at The Terrace, the band was in the studio on New Year’s Day. One of the songs recorded that day was the one inspired by the joyriding girl from Salt Lake. “Fun, Fun, Fun” became one of their signature hits after being released as a single a month later. When Shirley from KNAK heard the song, she was surprised how familiar the story was. DJ Bill Hesterman later confirmed she was the inspiration. She had no idea that one of the country’s biggest bands had been writing a song about her minor misfortune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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