On Monday surfing became California's official state sport. Mr. Schindler would appreciate this act since He boarded wood most of his life, and would rather ride a long large wave than score a U.S.C touchdown. Think that you will enjoy part of text on surfing in his story. The action takes place in a Hermosa beach restaurant overlooking the Pacific.
"George, can you have the waiter bring me more water with a straw and lemon....Thanks...And what are those mountains of sand doing there," Schindler remarked as he began to eat his Taco plate with beans and rice.
"The last storm carried away a life guard tower, flooded the strand and nearby stores The mountain of sand acts as a wall so this will not happen again,"I replied
While we sat in a booth overlooking volleyball games with bike riders getting off their bikes and walking them, this ninety year old's eyes seemed to reminisce about the times he could ride a bike. The serenity of the beach scene brought back memories of another time as we made ready for our meal.
"I remember that I had trouble cashing my twenty dollar check as it had the wrong name on it. My boss, the sheriff, gave me twenty dollars and for a dollar or two took the Santa Fe back to the San Diego station with a street car or two, was able to visit my family in the Golden Hills area."
"My main job was transporting briefs and I was forever going under the tunnel on Temple Street to the Hall of Records. Sometime I would take the Red Cars to deliver some important papers to Long Beach or some other city. Several times in Long Beach, I would play hooky from my job and jumping off a pier and body surfing a wave to shore. The police were always chasing me, but they didn't know that I was the fastest athlete in Southern California. I was always waiting for a string of breakers before jumping off the pier to snag them to shore"
"The sheriff was always trying to keep me busy and those many times he could not find work for me I would work on my paddle board plans and hike them from him. He caught me red handed with two boards of plywood and redwood and instead of scolding me, he allowed me to make surf boards with his son at home. He lived off of Pico Blvd and Western."
"The wood cost about sixty dollars and weighed 35 pounds. I was able to stand on the board and take it in on my second try. off the Hermosa Beach Pier. It felt as good as running for a touchdown when I found out that I could stand and not fall off the long board."
"For crying out loud Amby, what are you laughing about? What is so funny and can you wipe the spot off your nose," I insisted.
"Excuse me George, but i just thought about the time in San Onofre where my football bussies buddies took boards on their rumple seats to wear the waves crested just the right way. I made friends with Barney Wilkes who was a dentist in San Clemente and also helped us gain favor with the marines in Camp Pendleton. They had earlier tried to to keep us away from their beach. I drove a Cabriole Roadster at the time."
"After a good day of surfboarding, we would all place or woolen trunks on a pilc of straw to dry and try to sleep at night. The next morning, we were shocked that there were holes in our bathing suits and had to use towels to hide our privates as we drove back to Los Angeles. The squirrels had a good time eating the salt from those suits as these beaches were famous for their salt content."
"We always had somebody plane down the wood for a small fee.. My other favorite spot was to surf were off the Manhattan Beach Pier and the bluff of Palox Verdes. We called these bluffs Little Waikiiki and the waves there were long and wide. I had to be pulled out of the water several times because of charley horses as I was just too muscular." I even entered some paddle board contests that called for us to go from the beach to all the way to Catalina."
"c" George Garrett 2018 from the Schindler Story
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