@Sky Six Hello, As the years rolled on in our Long Beach historical times, there were bigger, wider beaches facing directly to the ocean. Gathering in all of the power of the waves, storms and might the ocean creates and blasts the shoreline. Our dad used to tell us, he body surfed the waves and peaks that were right next to the roller coaster in Long Beach. My brother and I laughed at that. What waves? An ankle biter if anything could get past the large rocky breakwater we could see from the time we were little. That prevented 90 % of the waves from coming into the harbor area and shoreline. Jnaki But, as the internet grew and the public became aware of the stored facts just sitting in the air for anyone to reach and identify, the roller coaster in Long Beach did have waves on both sides. Now, there are photos of surfers riding waves from the Los Angeles River mouth all the way to Seal Beach, with surf breaks along the approximately 5+ miles of shoreline sandy beaches of Long Beach. For us growing up, it was a rare sight to see waves coming into the shoreline, but during the South Swell storms, waves do come up the coastline during the season. The waves and swells do sneak inside of the openings of the breakwater and there are waves inside the normally calm waters. Old cars on the Rainbow Pier next to the Pike and the Roller Coaster. Yes, surf crashing into the laid out rocks making up the base of the circular pier for driving old cars to see the ocean up close... Note: In our junior and senior high school years, we had waves come into Rainbow Pier area next to the Cyclone Racer Roller Coaster. It was a rare Southern Hemisphere swell and there were ridable waves next to the circular pier. In the senior year, I was late in going to graduation practice being held in the adjoining Municipal Auditorium, across the parking lot. The waves were just too good to pass up. The older days... I was one of several seniors walking into the practice arena with wet hair, shorts, T-Shirt. I made my way to my reserved seat, as my friends filtered into their own row of seating. The rest of the audience sat through the graduation practice procedures as everyone watched the only moving student coming up the aisle to the front row. My graduation marching partner was in the student government and they got the front row for the whole student body. But, I was the only one to arrive in the middle of the practice seating and marching. Whistles and random laughing with hoots galore! The principal was not laughing… And this was before the breakwater rocks protected the long shoreline from Terminal Island to Seal Beach. Just a few miles from our old Westside of Long Beach house, along the Los Angeles River (flood control) in the area where it met the open ocean. So, when any photo of old Long Beach pops up, it is nice to see different time periods during the long history of an old city in So Cal and how it has changed from those times. Some for the better and other times no so much…YRMV Rainbow Pier waves with the Villa Riviera Hotel on the top of the cliff, the old days…
The Jalopy Journal
