Juliette Paskowitz
{{Short description|American surfing figure (1932–2021)}}
{{Infobox person
| name = Juliette Paskowitz
| image = JuliettePaskowitz.png
| alt = A young Latina woman, with short dark hair, olive skin, and dark eyebrows, wearing drop earrings
| caption = Juliette Paskowitz, from a 2021 obituary
| other_names =
| birth_name = Juliet Emilia Paez
| birth_date = January 12, 1932
| birth_place = Long Beach, California, U.S.
| death_date = {{death date and age|2021|05|03|1932|01|12}}
| death_place = San Clemente, California, U.S.[https://www.latimes.com/obituaries/story/2021-05-07/juliette-paskowitz-matriarch-of-the-first-family-of-surfing-dies-at-89 Obituary], latimes.com. Accessed July 9, 2023.
| spouse(s) = Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz
| children = 9, including Salvador Paskowitz
| relatives = Sonia Darrin (sister-in-law), Mason Reese (nephew)
}}
Juliette Paskowitz (January 12, 1932 – May 3, 2021), born Juliet Emilia Paez, was an American singer and matriarch of "the First Family of Surfing".
Early life
Juliette Emilia Paez was born in Long Beach, California, one of eight children born to Mexican immigrants Salvador Paez and Emilia Paez.{{Cite web|last=Haro|first=Alexander|date=May 3, 2021|title=Juliette Paskowitz Passes Away at 89|url=https://www.theinertia.com/surf/juliette-paskowitz-passes-away-at-89/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=The Inertia|language=en-US}}{{Cite news|date=1952-11-25|title=Salvador D. Paez (obituary)|pages=6|work=Long Beach Press-Telegram|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90488101/salvador-d-paez-obituary/|access-date=2021-12-13|via=Newspapers.com}} She trained as an opera singer at Long Beach State University.{{Cite web|last=Connelly|first=Laylan|date=2021-05-05|title=Matriarch of "first family of surf" Juliette Paskowitz dies at age 89|url=https://www.ocregister.com/2021/05/05/matriarch-of-first-family-of-surf-juliette-paskowitz-dies-at-age-89|access-date=2021-12-12|website=Orange County Register|language=en-US}}
Career
Juliette Paez worked as a telephone operator and was a singer with the Roger Wagner Chorale before she married. Paskowitz and her husband opened a surf school at San Onofre in 1975. Along with their children, they were called "the First Family of Surfing".{{Cite news|last=Chaplin|first=Julia|date=1999-08-22|title=OUT THERE: San Onofre State Beach, Calif.; The First Family Of Surfing|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1999/08/22/style/out-there-san-onofre-state-beach-calif-the-first-family-of-surfing.html|access-date=2021-12-12|issn=0362-4331}} In 1991, the whole family recorded a song written by son David, "It's Real".{{Cite news|last=Drummond|first=Tammerlin|date=1991-07-05|title=Surfing Family Hopes to Ride Wave to Success|pages=10|work=The Burlington Free Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90485742/surfing-family-hopes-to-ride-wave-to/|access-date=2021-12-13|via=Newspapers.com}} A documentary, Surfwise: The Amazing True Odyssey of the Paskowitz Family (2007), explored their work and their unusual family life.{{Cite web|last=Rea|first=Steven|date=June 26, 2008|title=A surfer family's turbulent life|url=https://www.inquirer.com/philly/entertainment/movies/20080627_A_surfer_family_s_turbulent_life.html|access-date=2021-12-12|website=Philadelphia Inquirer|language=en}}{{Cite news|last=Dargis|first=Manohla|date=2008-05-09|title=A Family That Surfs to a Beat: Its Own|language=en-US|work=The New York Times|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/05/09/movies/09surf.html|access-date=2021-12-12|issn=0362-4331}}"Film looks at surf family's deep blue life" The Austin American-Statesman (TX). June 6, 2008, p. E01. Accessed December 13, 2021. via EBSCO Connect She also appeared on The Daily Habit (2008), a news program about surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding. She sued Lionsgate Television and Polsky Films in 2015, for money owed from another project based on the family's story.{{Cite news|last=Prieskop|first=Victoria|date=July 24, 2015|title=Surfing Family Says Lionsgate Owes Them|work=Courthouse News Service|url=https://www.courthousenews.com/surfing-family-says-lionsgate-owes-them/|access-date=December 12, 2021}}{{Cite web|last=Siegemund-Broka|first=Austin|date=2015-07-23|title=TV Biopic of Surfing Family Threatened In Life Rights Lawsuit|url=https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/business/business-news/tv-biopic-surfing-doc-paskowitz-810801/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=The Hollywood Reporter|language=en-US}}Fausto, Alma (2015, Jul 31). "O.C.'s Paskowitz surfing family files suit against studios over proposed TV project: Surf icon's widow says they're owed money for rights to $20 million production" Orange County Register {{ProQuest|}}
Personal life and legacy
In 1959, Paez converted to Judaism, learned to surf, and married physician and surfer Dorian "Doc" Paskowitz, as his third wife.{{Cite web|last=Ghert-Zand|first=Renee|date=May 6, 2010|title=Navah Paskowitz-Walther: The Jewish Mother of Surfing's First Family|url=https://forward.com/life/127836/navah-paskowitz-walther-the-jewish-mother-of-surf/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=The Forward|language=en-US}} (They also married in 1964 in Hawaii.){{Cite news|last=Paez|date=1964-03-05|title=Marriages|page=37|work=The Honolulu Advertiser|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90487799/marriage-of-paskowitz-paez/|access-date=2021-12-13|via=Newspapers.com}} They had nine children, eight sons and a daughter, born between 1959 and 1974, and raised the children in camper homes,{{Cite web|last=|last2=|first2=|date=2008-05-21|title=A not so sunny tale of America's first surfing family|url=https://vcreporter.com/2008/05/a-not-so-sunny-tale-of-americas-first-surfing-family/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=VC Reporter|language=en-US}} traveling often including stints in Mexico, Hawaii and Israel, but usually based near San Clemente.{{Cite web|last=Pabon|first=Peter|date=January 6, 2015|title=The First Family of Surfing's Jonathan Paskowitz on Life w/ the Waves|url=https://thehundreds.com/blogs/content/jonathan-paskowitz-interview|access-date=2021-12-12|website=The Hundreds|language=en}}{{Cite web|last=Paskowitz|first=Joshua|date=February 16, 2018|title=The Art of a Paskowitz: The Last Son of Doc Shares His Incredible Work|url=https://www.theinertia.com/music-art/the-art-of-a-paskowitz-the-last-son-of-doc-shares-his-incredible-work/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=The Inertia|language=en-US}} After their children were grown, the Paskowitzes lived in Baja California.{{Cite news|date=1995-04-28|title=Now, That's Love|page=26|work=The Burlington Free Press|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90486243/now-thats-love/|access-date=2021-12-13|via=Newspapers.com}}
She was widowed when Doc Paskowitz died in 2014,"Dorian Paskowitz; Surfer who gave up his work as a doctor to embrace a nomadic lifestyle that included introducing the sport to Israel", Times [London, England], November 25, 2014, p. 41. via Gale Academic OneFile. and she died in 2021, aged 89 years, at a care home in San Clemente, California. She was survived by her nine children: David, Jonathan, Abraham, Israel, Moses, Adam, Salvador, Joshua, and Navah, as well as 27 grandchildren and six great grandchildren.{{Cite news|last=Marble|first=Steve|date=2021-05-08|title=Aspiring Singer was Matriarch of the 'First Family of Surfing'|pages=B1, [https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90485180/juliette-paskowitz-matriarch-of/ B5]|work=The Los Angeles Times|url=https://www.newspapers.com/clip/90485262/aspiring-singer-was-matriarch-of-the/|access-date=2021-12-13}}{{Cite web|date=2021-05-03|title=RIP: Juliette Paskowitz|url=https://www.surfline.com/surf-news/rip-juliette-paskowitz/119034|access-date=2021-12-12|website=Surfline}}
Her son Salvador Paskowitz became a noted screenwriter. Her daughter, Navah Paskowitz, married actor Ed Asner's son Matt, and is active in autism charities.{{Cite web|last=Epstein|first=Elena|date=2016-04-01|title=Working On a Dream – L.A. Parent %|url=https://www.laparent.com/special-needs/Matt-Asner-Navah-Paskowitz/|access-date=2021-12-12|website=L.A. Parent|language=en-US}} Israel (Izzy) still runs Paskowitz Surf Camp, with sessions in California, Mexico, and New York.{{Cite web|title=History|url=https://www.paskowitz.com/history|access-date=2021-12-12|website=Paskowitz Surf Camp}}{{Cite book|last1=Marzo|first1=Clay|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1oidBAAAQBAJ&dq=Juliette+Paskowitz&pg=PA242|title=Just Add Water: A Surfing Savant's Journey with Asperger's|last2=Yehling|first2=Robert|date=2015|publisher=Houghton Mifflin Harcourt|isbn=978-0-544-25317-9|pages=242|language=en}}
References
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{IMDb name|id=3805076}}
- Izzy Paskowitz, Daniel Paisner, [https://books.google.com/books?id=vhjC3u76hCgC&q=Juliette+Paskowitz Scratching the Horizon: A Surfing Life] (St. Martin's Publishing 2012). {{ISBN|9781250023995}}; a memoir by one of Juliette Paskowitz's sons
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Paskowitz, Juliette}}
Category:American musicians of Mexican descent
Category:People from Long Beach, California
Category:American women singers