It was bad enough to drive on salted roads in the winter. I never understood driving on salt water at the beach.
In 1933, our dad was a student at LBCC campus that was located at the current Long Beach Wilson High School location, 4 miles away. He said it was a terrible event, but did not get hurt while attending or attempting to attend classes. He had evening classes and had to take cover outside of the crumbling buildings. When asked, he was always reluctant to continue the stories from 1933. Hello, The powerhouse photo is taken from the waters edge called “Crabs.” It is a short jetty that sticks out on the city side of the large breakwater entrance to the Alamitos bay harbor. There were millions of crabs crawling all over the little rocky jetty. Parking back by the generator plant and walking up the beach was the normal thing. When it was cold, a walk in low tide channel to the left was much appreciated due to the warm water flowing out to the ocean. But, care was to be taken when walking on the other side of this small jetty. Why? Well, in the warm fresh water meeting the salt, small stingrays littered the warm water bottom surface. If one did not learn the “Seal Beach Shuffle,” then one had a nasty sting from one of the little critters just laying around under a thin layer of sand. When entering the water channel at any point from the parking lot, the shuffle was mandatory. We learned our lessons, early as it was painful. One of the remedies for the pain was to get treated by the lifeguards who were non existent at this end of the beach. The other is to pee on your injury. It was rumored to stop or at least lessen the pain from the stinger. Did it work, well if one got over the fact that it was pee, then yes, it lessened the pain. The low rock jetty on the other side had plenty of folks standing around away from the others… YRMV If one was on a wave and fell off in the warm water, the "splaying effect" was learned fast, so one did not land on the sandy bottom surprises. Shallow dives off of the board, so that one does not go deep into the sand and wake something up was also the key. For some, the nickname "Ray Bay" was coined. Jnaki But, as fun as walking around the short jetty to paddle out to the breaking wave in the warm water channel, the wave it self was one of a kind. The South swell came in just at the correct angle and made the shifting peaks a good fast take off and a nice short ride, in warm water. Yes, sometimes at certain times, the water was hot enough to start melting the wax that was on the longboards. Great peaks in the middle of this small channel was one of a kind surf spot. The locals knew of its summer swell power and peaks. For others, the location was called "Rivermouth," as it was the end of the line for the San Gabriel River. But for us Long Beach surfers on the other side of the big deep water entrance channel to the Alamitos Bay Marina, the 72nd Street Beach was a place for fun waves and teenage gatherings. So, it was a spot to check out first. If we stood on the Long Beach side and looked across the calm deep water channel, we could see peaks and breaking waves at certain tides. Sometimes, the Long Beach side had some fun waves, but if the Seal Beach side was looking better, then a long paddle across the deep water entrance channel was in the works. The 72nd Street beach jetty at the deep water entrance to the Alamitos Bay Harbor. Seal Beach is to the right, across the channel. We plastic bagged our clothes and paddled across the channel to get to the Seal Beach power plant side and definitely better waves.
The Jalopy Journal
