Toots

As you’ll see, Toots has built a simplified life that revolves around the things he enjoys most—surfing, shaping boards, and hanging with his girlfriend, Caroline Motley, and their dogs, Birdie and Bonnie, around Town and at their Waikiki apartment.

“Toots has become this sort of ubiquitous character in and around Honolulu,” says Keith Kandell, the film’s director.

“There are photos of him surfing Queens plastered on the walls of construction sites, and in surf shop windows.

He cuts such a unique figure, naturally I was curious about him.

When the opportunity to make a film about him came about, I jumped at it.

I grew up surfing in Waikiki and hold a deep affinity for the place and it’s beachboy culture.

So the fact that he’s a Queens staple and lives in Waikiki really sold it for me.

He generously allowed me into his world and I found myself in awe of his steadfast, uniquely creative and graceful approach to all he does.

Toots embodies this lineage by letting his actions do the talking—in his daily life, in his craft of making surfboards, and in his surfing.”