MagicSeaWeed has a fun little piece up about Hobie Alter and his history (article is from The Surfer’s Journal).
“I opened my store on Coast Highway in Dana Point in February 1954. Stated Hobie. Actually it opened in January, but I started keeping books in February. Velzy had his shop in Manhattan Beach for a couple of years before that, but mine was the first building custom built to hold a surfboard business.
I shaped every balsa board we made. A mistake was to not pursue Yater when he left in 1957 to work for Velzy. He’d been working for me, glassing and making boards outside me too, but he was more into abalone diving and lobster fishing.”