Probably the first footage of surfing and one of the oldest footages of Hawaii Thomas Edison´s Hawaii Old and Rare Footage 1906 Part 2 Surfboard Riders + Surf Scenes Waikiki + Hawaiians Arriving to a '' Luau '' In 1906, Robert Bonine came to Hawaii for Thomas Edison to film an "Actuality" documentary of life in the Polynesian territory. The very first shot is a "Panoramic View, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu" a 360 degree view of 1906 Waikiki which shows men in suits and white skimmers and the women in full battle dress -- buttoned up to the neck, the wrists and the ankles. There are shots of native Hawaiians throwing net in malos, and there is a shot of a mass of kids playing King of the Hill on The Float -- most of them wearing tanksuits. The first moving pictures of surfers riding waves - Surf Riders, Waikiki Beach, Honolulu -- shows a minute of about a dozen surfers on alaia boards in head-high, offshore surf at what is probably Canoes. These surfers are shot too far away to detail what they were wearing, but they all appear to be in tanksuits as well.