The Ocean Beach Pier is 50 Years Old
Apr 14, 2016
The Ocean Beach Pier, at the end of Newport Avenue in Ocean Beach, California, was built in 1966 and holds the distinction of being the longest concrete pier on the west coast at almost a half mile long. The pier is surrounded by tide pools with sea grasses and seaweed growing over and between the rock beds, making it a destination for everyone to enjoy.
The Pier was built as a fishing pier; it enabled anglers to cast their lines into 25-30 foot depths and avoid tangling their lines in the rock and kelp beds near the shore. For you fishermen and women: the first fish caught from the pier was an 8 inch Perch :-)
The first developers of Ocean Beach -- originally named Mussel Beach but having nothing to do with Muscle Beach in Santa Monica -- had good intentions but lacked scruples. One of the developers became the mayor of San Diego -- right before he became a federal inmate, charged with land fraud! Of the many lot owners, David Collier managed to survive the fallout from the these scandals and began to promote the area. He laid out streets, built a school, and donated park land to the city. But even with an amusement park on the beach, carriage rides to downtown San Diego, and a trolley line, development of Ocean Beach was slow. Eventually the amusement park washed away and the trolley line was dismantled, isolating the community for a while.
When the jetty for the San Diego River channel and Interstate 8 West was finished in 1967, things began to pick up again. Surfing became even more popular and O.B. became a destination for hippies and partiers. Today if you walk down Newport Avenue to the beach, you see that the hippie culture is still there, but the sidewalks are also filled with tourists and locals enjoying the day.
With the 50th Anniversary of O. B. Pier coming up this July, there are a lot of events planned, including a surfing competition, a street fair, an art show, and a community birthday walk. The O.B. 50th anniversary webpages shares nostalgic memories and photos from long-time residents as well as the specifics of the anniversary events.
This painting is my depiction of this wonderful spot on the shores of Southern California.
Thanks for reading my blog,
~Teresa