EATING ORANGE COUNTY
By Corky Carroll
A while ago I mentioned a couple of great eating places for surfers back in “the day.” I got a ton of response so I followed it up with a column all about classic eating spots and that got even more response. So I have opened up the floor for more on this and this week I’m presenting a few emails that I received.
The first one comes from my long time friend and former Publisher of Surfer Magazine and current Publisher of The Surfer’s Journal, Steve Pezman. I was happy to get this as some of my first trips to the back door at the La Paz was while I was riding in his trunk coming back from surfing at Trestles when I was a punk kid. Here are his comments.
“Had to chime in on some O.C. surf eateries that were not mentioned.
Working Coast Highway north to south:
1) The classic Buzz Inn was a little hole in the wall across from the south side of Huntington Pier next door to where the Golden Bear eventually became a landmark in an old auto show room. A 50’s and early 60’s establishment, you’d find Gordie there, early AM working off a hang over as well as Chick Edmonston. The food was worse than average and the corpulent waitress had a giant birthmark on her forehead which disturbed my appetite but it was right THERE.
2) Then there was the Standard Market where checker Kathy Goode was known to give surfer boys she thought were cute (especially Bill Fury) free food, and where they sold bar-b-qued chicken wings for a nickel each. We’d each get a bucks worth and saunter over to the cement bleachers overlooking the surf south of the pier where we’d park our butts and gobble them down while tossing the bones all about and analyzing the talent on the sand below.
2) The Sugar Shack on Main Street was a breakfast lunch mainstay that came in the later 60s, as did Richards where David Nuuhiwa held court in his salad days.
3) Moving south, there was Martha and Al’s on the inland side of PCH in Newport West, near Walker Foam’s first garage location where they opened the heavy cement clam shell mold with a rope over a pully tied to his car bumper. P&C’s featured solid home cookin’ and Martha was famous for urging her “boys” to finish their milk. They retired in the mid-60s.
4) In Newport Beach was the Stuft-T-Shirt, Frank Muldoon and wife Roni’s place behind a famous local watering hole of the same name where Doug “Spanky” Aunger, who was sitting at the bar with some guys ex, answered the guy’s caustic query of, “How do you like that used stuff?” with, “Its OK once you get past the used part!” Frank and Roni put out giant helpings of great chow and the place was always packed with boat yard and surfboard factory workers.
5) Down in Capo Beach on Doheny Park Road was another husband and wife institution, Pete and Clara’s, an out door breakfast and lunch counter with stools, around the corner from the Hobie Surfboards factory where a kook could rub elbows with famous shapers like Ralph Parker and sander Ronald, his brother glosser Bobby Patterson, and many other notables of the period.
6) Lastly for this tirade was Vii’s Peanut Butter Pies on El Camino Real across from that off-ramp in San Clemente, where the burgers and namesake pies were the stuff of road food legend, until a big truck coming off the freeway too fast took the entire place out, lock, stock, and barrel.”
From John DiFrenna
“1) A’s Burgers in Dana Point? Greasy and great. It was a short hop over the fence from “killer Dana”. ? And – It’s still there!!
2) The original Olamendis across from hole in the fence. “when there were holes in the fence”. Never saw Nixon there, but there were always lots of pics on the walls from his visits while living in San Clemente. Still there and I swear not a thing has been changed. Which is kinda good & kinda bad. Like good, the food is still great and bad the bathroom feels like genuine Tijuana.
3) The Harbor House Café in North Dana Point. Two reasons to go there. Terrific morning hangover food and great late night grub after hitting the Villa Bar or being hit at the Villa (remember the Villa … now gone, torn down), Harpoon Henry’s or the Wind and Sea.”
All this talk of food has made me hungry.
A STOKED SURFER GIRL ~ THE WAVE
by Corky Carroll
Every now and then I get an email that just stokes me to the max. The following is one of those. It is a story that came from a young girl who, at the age of 10, just had her first surf adventure to the island of Tavarua in Fiji. It is titled “A STOKED SURFER GIRL” by Erika Barnett. I love this kind of pure joy. I did not change any of her wording or grammer because I love the way she tells this in her own way. When you read this imagine being 10 years old again.
“Bula! Everyone yells as we get out of the bus. I’m so excited as I smell the salt water and feel the ocean breeze on my skin. My Mom points to the boat we will be riding to the island, but there is no dock so we have to walk through the sharp, colorful coral to get to the boat. All the other kids race to the boat I don’t know why they are in a hurry, but they must have a reason. The boat that we will ride is called Tavarua 11. Because it is mainly for Tavarua, I stayed at a slow pace observing the beautiful tide pools, they swim with so much life it’s wonderful. As I got closer to the boat I saw the Fijians, they are black and are very tall certainly far away from petite. They can’t afford shoes so they walk on the coral bare footed; hopefully they are used to it by now, or that would be painful. I saw that it took four boats for all of us plus the surfboard boat. I definitely will not be bored on this trip. When we got going, we were splashed by tropical 83 degree water and I saw the other islands going over. I studied the other people on board and kept looking behind us at the other boats. As soon as we got close to Tavarua we saw the crystal clear water and all the fish and coral. It was as marvelous as standing up on your first wave as a surfer. From a distance I saw the Fijians with shell lays and cheerful smiles playing cultural songs on guitar. When we stepped out of the boat on the white sand I knew I was in paradise and I was hot with surfer fever to catch one of those perfect island waves. As we walked up the beach a Fijian girl gave me a lei and put it around my neck as if it were a token of gratitude. She smiled with radiant beauty, making me smile to. We saw a shed for our surfboards and, went to the office and they had the air on full blast. We were assigned bure seven; they also said that Andy Irons stayed in that bure. I sprinted to bure seven. We came to the bure to find a Fijian lady waiting to greet us. The bures are on stilts and the walls and ceiling are weaved with palm tree leaves. There is a bucket at the bottom of the stairs to wash your sandy feet off before entering in the bure, they are different than I pictured. The lady slid the door open and we threw our bags on the bed we wanted. I got the bigger bed and my brother got mad at me and stormed to the smallest one. I striped my clothes off, put on my bikini. Then I ran to the surfboard shed to find a boy named Mason getting his board. We both hit the water to feel the warmth; it was more enjoyable than from the boat. We saw a set and clawed over the next four waves. We finally got to a brake called Restaurants. I paddled for a wave, felt the push and stood up. I carved left and fell. Mason told me not to turn so sharp. He paddled for a wave and I watched him do maneuvers on the wave. He paddled out to me again and he told me to go on a set wave was coming at was coming at me. I paddled but it was a late take off. I went under with my heart pounding with fear of the reef. I came to the surface and gasped for air. I paddled to Mason and he told me to paddle for a bigger wave. I felt the push and I was in the GREEN ROOM!!! I came out, slammed the lip and turned over the wave. We caught waves until it was dark. When I came in everyone was cheering and I got a soda to celebrate. Everyone gave me a compliment and Mason gave me a high-5. We ate dinner and I slept with dreams of waves, I was one STOKED SURFER GIRL!!! And well, wouldn’t you be too? “