Shawn "Barney" Barron: Santa Cruz Surfer, Painter, Original

Shawn "Barney" Barron surfed Santa Cruz for most of his life. Steamer Lane, Pleasure Point, the Westside. He charged Mavericks with the Westside crew.

He made the cover of Surfer magazine in September 1989. At eighteen he won the first aerials contest ever held in Santa Cruz. Hotline sponsored him for twelve years.

He surfed in costume more than once. A Spider-Man wetsuit. An Aquaman. A stormtrooper. Kelly Slater told a story about him on the Joe Rogan Experience in October 2018: Barney could walk anywhere on his hands, down a staircase and back up it.

Flea Virostko was his best friend. Barney died on Cinco de Mayo, 2015. He was 44. Santa Cruz paddled out for him, more than two thousand people.

Every year in early May, Flea hosts Cinco de Barney at Steamer Lane, an aerials contest off the point named for him.

He painted his whole life too, oil mostly, and he called it Barney Art. 9BARN carries his paintings on real things: prints, shirts, hats, decks. That's the whole idea.