Photos from La Jolla Group’s 30-Year Anniversary Celebration

Current and former employees, vendors and retailers attended the party Friday night in Newport Beach. Photos by SES.

By Tiffany Montgomery | Published May 21, 2024

The La Jolla Group, the longtime licensee of O’Neill Clothing, celebrated its 30^th anniversary with a party for current and former employees, vendors and retail partners Friday night in Newport Beach, California.

It was a robust turnout for the company, which is one of the major players in the surf industry not only for its O’Neill Clothing business, but also because it provides backend infrastructure services to many up-and-coming brands.

See our slide show below for photos from the party.

Click here to read our exclusive interview with La Jolla Group majority owner Rich Brown, who shares the unlikely story of how he and some college buddies obtained the O’Neill Clothing license 30 years ago, how the company survived this long, and where he thinks the surf industry is headed given the current state of the market.

Jeremy Shields of South Coast Surf Shop, Ashli and Josh Hansen of Hansen Surfboards. Photo by SES.
Eric Muira of Deja Vu Surf in Kaui and Wayne Takamure, the O'Neill sales rep in Hawaii. Photo by SES.
O'Neill's Scott Anderson, Chelsey Cassaro, Amy Trapp, Lance Crouch, Lauren Holtz, and Paul Harvey. Photo by SES.
Dave Nash of Sun Diego, Mark Tinkess of O'Neill, and Pete Censoplano of Sun Diego. Photo by SES.
Former GM of O'Neill Women's Kari Johnson with current O'Neill Senior Marketing Director Carrie Piccolini. Photo by SES.
O'Neill rep Jimmy Schulte, Heather Shields of South Coast Surf Shop, and Trisha Schulte of Sea Folly. Photo by SES.
La Jolla Group Executive Chairman Daniel Neukomm, Kurt and Linda Rambis, John Warner, and Tim Bernardy. Photo by SES.
Former O'Neill employee Rachael Hill with husband, John. Photo by SES.
O'Neill employees past and present: Steve Ward, John Hunter, Garth Tarlow, and Shaun Tomson. Photo by SES.
O'Neill Jersey rep Abbey Zito and Andrew Traa of Heritage Surf Shop. Photo by SES.
Kevin Sullivan and Chris Fulford of Wells Fargo, and Frank Kaufman of Moss Adams with wife, Marianne. Photo by SES.
The celebration included a golf outing the next day. Front row: O'Neill's Paul Harvey and Celeste and Leigh Tonai of HIC; back row: Dave Nash of Sun Diego, Andrew Traa of Heritage Surf, and Jimmy Schulte of O'Neill. Photo courtesy of Paul Harvey.
La Jolla Group partners Bill Zolg, Kurt and Linda Rambis, Doug and Sherry Cosbie, and Rich Brown with Executive Chairman Daniel Neukomm and former CEO John Warner. Photo by SES.
Kathi Tinkess and Carrie Hunter. Photo by SES.
La Jolla Group majority shareholder Rich Brown. Photo by SES.