GROWING UP ORANGE COUNTY: CONTINUED

1-31-07
By Corky Carroll

From time to time I like to run stories that I receive from you, the best and more tasteful readers in the world, about your own experiences growing up in Orange County. This is one of my all time favorites.

“My name is Bill Faerber and I was born in Orange, California. I had a liking for the beach at an early age. In about 1938 my parents rented a house in Balboa. It was across from the Yellow Bungalows. It was very calm until about 1 or 2 in the morning. We found out the first night that our house was in between two houses that were rented to band members at The Rendezvous Ballroom. My Mom and Dad would take my sister to the dance. My Mother would stay with my sister but Dad and I would sometimes take a boat ride into the ocean. The boat had a light for spotting flying fish. This boat might have been Leading Lady, which was doing some business about that time. It was powered by an Allison V12 engine.

About this same time there was a barge anchored off the Newport Pier. You could rent a mackerel pole, which had a line the same length as the pole. You were taxied to the barge from the pier. When you caught a fish you would just jerk it aboard sometimes hitting a person on the other side.

In 1948 and 1949 O.V. Clawson had a 41-foot inboard docked at the Pavilion. It was called Balboa Boat Company. He gave rides out into the Ocean. Power was a Packard V12. It also had a gray marine to use inside the bay. His grandson, Mike Leach has a boat he races. Its power is an Allison V12. He also owns a muffler shop in Orange.

In about 1948 a group of guys that I went to school with started camping with me at El Morro, on the ocean side of PCH. There were some trailers parked at the bluff end of the beach. For the most part these people were a generation older. We bought canvas from Orange Pest Control (they fumigated orange trees) made a frame out of wood and erected these tents the weekend before Memorial Day. We took our tents down the weekend after Labor Day. The man that we rented from was Bob Windolph and he was from Tustin. It was here I got a strong taste for Abalone and Pismo clams (which we free dove for at El Morro.)

One weekend two of the guys put on a fight on top of the bluff near the edge so we could see them from the beach. They then disappeared from sight. A short time later one of them came running back into view carrying a dummy which he threw over the cliff. The people in the trailers just about fainted. We stayed for 2 or 3 summers here.

The first year after El Morro we tried camping at Huntington Beach on Memorial weekend. Florence Chadwiche had tried to swim the channel. We didn’t last here as the wind about blew us off the beach. Some people left and went to Crystal Cove and rented one of the houses. One gal had kept hers clear up to the time the State took over. I started going to Doheny, learning to surf on a red wood and white pine board with a squaretail. As you can imagine it weighed a ton.

In those days the entrance was on PCH across from a gas station that had a tower. The entrance was a single lane with a pipe bar gate. If you wanted to enter you would line up abreast of one another on the station side. At 6 a.m. the Bar gate would be opened and you would make a mad dash for the opening.

We hiked down the cliff at Dana Point to dive for abalone. Loren Harrison (Whitie) had made an outrigger. It was hewn out of a tree. One day he brought it to the beach, we launched it and paddled to Dana Point and dove for abalone. Doheny had what was called an inside and outside indicator. The outside is near the entrance to the harbor. One day Loren picked up a wave at the outside and surfed all the way to the Beach.

In 1952 I became a member of The San Onofre Surf Club. My family and I would go there on weekends. At night we would stay on a street in San Clemente. My board was impounded once by Marines.

In the late 50’s and early 60’s I owned a service station on Tustin Ave. in Orange. Tustin Ave. in those days was the only link between Riverside, San Berdoo, and the beaches. By this time Loren had started to make foam boards. He gave me one of his earliest models. (Board number 161) Up until this time I was making my own. The balsa wood came from a lumber company that was in the Downey area.

Hobie had some surfing Movies that he showed one night. Loren also had movies of surfing at Corona Del Mar before the jetty was put in. There were other people from Orange who surfed in those days.

I feel fortunate to have lived in that era of time. We all had so much fun.”

ADVENTURES IN SURF TRAVEL ~ The Wave 1-31-07
By Corky Carroll

Yeah folks, there is nothing like a good old surfing safari at this time of year. It’s freezing cold and the water is full of ice bergs and who can even get into one of those new stretchy wetsuits anyway. Just getting out of the car and the cozy warmth of the heater is challenging enough. But to have to change out of the parka, sweatshirt, snow cap with ear muffs, sweat pants, long underwear, thermal socks and Ugg boots and into a wetsuit on the frozen concrete of the beach parking lot is just not any option that I care to deal with anymore. It is the perfect time to take a trip. Somewhere warm and tropical.

Sure, I know the airport can be a bit of a hassle these days. Everything has to go into the checked luggage because there is nothing you can take in your carry on anymore except gum and your Ipod. They have a list of things you can’t take that takes up the whole side of a building. It is a bit funny though. They have things listed like ice picks, axes, flame throwers, sledge hammers, tomahawks, bazookas, missile launchers, throwing knives, machine guns and swords. Geeze, like we don’t have that figured out by now? But then I saw a thing on television where they showed a table full of things that they had taken away from people and most of those things were right there. I mean really, who goes on an airplane with a flamethrower these days anyway?

And then they have that random code on your boarding pass that means you have to go through the extra security check where they search you real close and personal. And when you get into the little area there is always one really hot looking chick and she seems to always be busy and you get this dude that looks like a caveman who is all eager to pat you down. Everytime it’s like that. Why don’t I ever get the hot looking babe for the pat down?

The in-flight meals are not what they used to be either folks. I recently got the smallest box of raisins that I had ever seen on a Delta flight. I didn’t know they could make a box of raisins that small. It contained 4 raisins. It cost more to make the box than it did for the raisins. Of course on some flights you have the option of buying a five-dollar meal, which consists of a miniature hotdog and a bag of trail mix. You can wash that down with your in-flight soda, which goes down in one gulp because they use a 2-ounce plastic cup full of ice and you wind up with one-third ounce of soda.

But eventually you get to your paradise destination and are stoked and ready to find some epic surf. Which would be better if only they hadn’t have lost your luggage, which includes your board bag. But they promise it will be there on the next flight. Bummer that the next flight isn’t until the next afternoon. But you have a week so what is one day right?

Naturally your board bag shows up the next day and you are all happy when you see it. But wait. Why is it folded in two? Yep, that’s right. Your board is broken in two and also has forklift holes in it. Totally trashed. A few hours of filing a claim later you are a bit bummed out but are still intent on having a great surf trip. So you head to the nearest surf shop to buy yourself a new board.

Why is it that they always have every size board in stock except the one you like? So what. You decide to get a slightly smaller one anyway because the water is warm here and you will not be wearing a wetsuit. No big deal. But then there is the price. Wow. How come boards cost three times as much in exotic locations as back in good old Huntington Beach?   But you have your credit card so all is cool.

So now you are ready. You have your new board and have rented a car and are now ready to check out of the airport hotel and head out to the surf destination. But there is a problem at the front desk. It seems your credit card is being declined. What’s up with that? You know you have enough credit left on it. So you call the credit card company and find out that in a moment of rage that you are on a surf trip with your pals your wife has gone on a shopping spree at Fashion Island and that combined with your new board purchase has maxed out your card. Geeze, now what?

Ahhhhhhhhh, what am I talking about? None of this is going to happen. Go ahead, take the trip. Everything will be great.