Nothing says '70s beach culture to me like Cooper Black:
http://www.myfonts.com/search?search%5Btext%5D=cooper+black

House Industries has several likely candidates in their Street Van collection:
http://houseind.com/house.php?kit=SVANKIT-FO&sub=view

Check out Glyphic Neue from Typeco:
http://www.typeco.com

Veer has some lovely, swashy options, like:
http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=JBT0001000
http://www.veer.com/products/typedetail.aspx?image=JBT0001002

Or you might take a common face from the era, and add "flair," as Phil Martin used to back in the day. Scroll down a little to check out this great interview (with samples) by Mark Simonson:
http://typographi.com/2004_05.php

You could check this thread. It has some good suggestions. If you're lazy to read that, a good recommendation would be to check out Fontalicious which has some great retro-looking fonts. As for being typographically and historically accurate, perhaps someone like Mark S. can help you. Be careful how far you delve into accurate 70s type though, the results can be frightening to say the least (think flare).

Thank you both very much,
the 'frightening' thread is hilarious.

Tango says it to me.

Don't really have much to add, except do some research. For instance, try to find surf magazines, posters, advertising, etc. from the seventies. Personally, I only have a very vague idea about what the 1970s Beach Culture look was. Although, I did find this. Narly.

'Motter Femina', by Othmar Motter, is almost screaming '70s Beach Culture'..
( At least for / to me.. )

www.myfonts.com/fonts/linotype/itc-motter-femina/motter-femina/testdrive.html?s=70s+Beach+Culture&p=48

Mark-

I think you meant "gnarly." You're such a poser.

Jeff

I guess I shouldn't rely on Emigre for spelling. While I'm at it, I also blame Google for not coming back with "Did you mean: gnarly" when I did a search on "narly." :-)

how about "Dirt Devil" from t26?

http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/t26/dirt-devil/