1.
NJ Mike and I got some okay waves at Wind**Sea this morning.
2. I think that about 200 years ago, I wrote something about Parking Lot History - La Jolla Shores Style - on this lame site.
Naturally, I can't find the previous crap I wrote, so I'll just start over.
In 1953 or so, I started walking from my grandparents house at The Shores
[1955 photo] to the beach. The Shores
parking lot was in my direct path, and I would short-cut thru it.
Back then, of course, I didn't own a surfboard, so, water wise, I was of zero threat to the local surfers - the locals would let me access the beach, and I didn't need a day pass or anything like that.
[it took me a few years to figger out that I musta really been a pretty amusing site to the older surfers - after all, how many kids, wearing Catalina type "clam-diggers" would walk thru the parking lot carrying a plastic surf mat - a mat that was complete with a transparent plastic viewing window]
It didn't take me too long to figger-out that the coolest surfers, at least in my opinion, parked their cars at the very north end of the lot, and the "Clubhouse" boundaries appeared to be the brick bathhouse, the north end of the lot, and the sea wall.
[I also noticed that if the older guys brought some younger, non-driving gremmies with them, the grems were made, err, forced, to stand close to the bathhouse wall, in a puddle that never seemed to dry-up. I learned a bit later, after I was dunked in the perpetual pond, that the correct name for the standing water was
"Voodoo Water."]
"Jeeze BA get to the efffing point - you're babbling more than you did just a few months ago - how old did you say you were?"
You're right - the point is - the La Jolla Shores Parking Lot had a pecking order that was
almost strictly enforced by the Shores Tribe - kooks at the south end or back rows - locals, and respected visitors in the front row's most northern end.
I could hardly wait 'till I had a car, and I too could park with the locals at the north end - hopefully -
It took a while, but I was finally accepted into the local fold, and by the time I was 16 I could surf reasonably well [for a Shores Guy] and I was permitted to north end park.
I continued to park at the north end until this week - the north end is now the gateway to the land of despair - and The Bench.
Most - not all - of the north enders are flat out kooks - and since kookdom attracts kooks - the area is full.
The younger guys - local guys - wouldn't think of parking in the first row - kook row -
They all park at least 2 rows back.
"Hey BA you old kook - where do you park now?"
As for me, 50 years ago, I used to be enthralled by the tales, spun by the north enders, of giant waves, ridden for the first time in Hawaii by the early WindanSea surfers, now I'm appalled by the new breed of north enders, bitching and moaning about how crowded The Shores has become, and why does the flag get moved so early, and and and -
The new north enders have a new bench to go with their turf - I call it
Their Bench of 10,000 Reasons [of why we didn't surf today]
In my opinion - everything that's wrong with surfing today can be found at the north end - again, as for me - when I surf The Shores, I'll be parked at the south end of the lot - it's closer to my paddle-out area anyway.
BA
