Donald MacAllister had a nickname that stuck with him for for decades; he was known around Huntington Beach affectionately as “The Mayor.”

MacAllister served on the city’s dais for two terms as mayor in 1979 and again in 1983, and sat on the City Council from 1978 through 1994. But he was also respected for the love and dedication he showed for all things Surf City, friends said.

MacAllister helped shape the city with his involvement in a vast array of activities, including helping to create the Surfing Walk of Fame nearly 30 years ago, as board member for the International Huntington Beach Surf Museum and for countless hours helping to grow the city’s Kiwanis Club.

“A Day with Don” memorial is planned for Friday, Dec. 30, to honor MacAllister, who died Dec. 2. The gathering is expected to bring family, friends and community members together first at 9 a.m. at the Huntington Beach Pier, weather permitting, and then at noon for a meet up at the Surf City Ale House.

“He was so respected in our community,” said Peter “PT” Townend, who is helping to organize the memorial.

MacAllister was born in 1932, his early years spent in Hollywood before he served in the Navy, during which he earned an electronics degree that led him to build a security video business in Pasadena.

By 1967, he and wife Marilyn Jean Simmons moved to Huntington Beach, raising three daughters on Main Street.

Townend described his longtime friend as “very even-keeled, but when stuff needed to get done, it got done.”

While not a surfer, MacAllister was an avid supporter of the surf community and a founding member of the Surfing Walk of Fame, knowing the importance of carving out the town’s place in surf culture.

Townend said MacAllister was also instrumental in planning the world’s largest surfboard that broke a world record in 2015.

Steve Bone, one of the developers of the Waterfront Hilton on Pacific Coast Highway that opened in 1990 and later the Hyatt Regency Resort and Spa, remembers MacAllister as someone who had a “wide-ranging love for the city, the community and its people.”

MacAllister understood the value a waterfront development would bring to the city, Bone said.

“That’s not to say we weren’t challenged along the way,” said Bone, who founded the city’s visitor’s bureau in 1988.

And, after MacAllister’s stint in public service, his work around the city continued, whether it was volunteering or promoting an event, Bone said.

“As much as he was thrilled to be a part of the leadership of the community, he was also thrilled to just be a supporter of local activities,” Bone said. “He’s unique in that he didn’t retire from his community work when he retired from the council. If anything, he did even more to help the community.”

MacAllister was known for starting his day at the Sugar Shack on Main Street for breakfast, for his bike rides around town and for his Fourth of July parties following the city’s big parade. Hundreds of people from all walks of life – neighbors, politicians, friends – would show up at his house for the festivities.

Bone remembers in the early ’90s the Chamber of Commerce naming MacAllister “Mr. Huntington Beach.”

“He carried that with great pride,” Bone said. “Some people do a couple of things and get some honor or title. This man genuinely loved the city and would do anything to promote the city in a positive way.”

Brett Barnes, who recently retired as general manager for the pier-side restaurant Duke’s Huntington Beach, said MacAllister was a mentor to anyone in business who had questions about city dealings.

Don MacAllister and Ann Beasley with the International Surfing Museum in Huntington Beach in 2002 help gesture during the unveiling of the Duke Kahanamoku commemorative stamp. (File photo by Chas Metivier/SCNG)

Barnes said MacAllister also sat on Huntington Beach’s Sister City committee and was an instrumental part of opening the senior center.

“He’s always been a good mentor to anybody in business and anyone dealing with the history of the city or anything with the city at all,” Barnes said. “He was a good resource for almost everything.”

As a politician, MacAllister helped create an atmosphere of accountability, Barnes said.

“He encouraged ideas and forward thinking, but always with the end result being attainable and reasonable,” Barnes said. “Integrity played a large part in all of his dealings.”

Barnes served on the surf museum’s board of directors with MacAllister, and said he observed MacAllister’s passion for the culture and what it brought to the city.

“He’s always been involved in surfing and the Surf City vibe, even before we called it that,” Barnes said.

After 25 years serving as the Surfing Walk of Fame’s chairman of the board, 2018 marked MacAllister’s final year. The following year, he received his own granite spot on Main Street, honored as founding member.

Even as his health declined, MacAllister wouldn’t miss the opening of the OP Pro exhibit that launched in November at the surf museum, Barnes said.

“He wanted to go so badly,” Barnes recalled. “Looking back at it, that was a special night.”

Townend said MacAllister had a favorite saying: “It’s not the years in your life, it’s the life in your years.”

This year, MacAllister celebrated his 90th birthday and Townend said, “Don MacAllister had a lot of life in those years.”

Related Articles