Localism …Palos Verdes

I’ve been ferrying the boys around in the last 2 weeks . It’s mainly been Leroy and his mates . We’ve shared the duties amongst the dads ,finding new skateparks close enough to home .The skateparks in our area require booking times , a means to controlling numbers in the covid pandemic . Not every jurisdiction mandates strict distancing policies . We venture out of our area , to places that don’t have the protection of the “bubble “ . It’s a risk on our part , but the kids stay masked up and generally stay in there own lane . The only thing that really worried me was a kid breaking a wrist . As I’ve stated before , it’s not the time to get hurt . The skate community can have a hardcore reputation . The skateparks are loaded with kids and adults that are from both sides of the tracks , it’s not blonde hair and blue eyes . It’s a race mix up , with big differentials in talent and experience . Volkom in Newport was there favourite . A cool place with a family vibe , and of course and excellent lay out . Still , it was a bit of an eye opener to see so many unmasked . This is typical of the OC and there disregard for safety protocols surrounding the pandemic . It’s understandable that there health system is on the brink of collapse . There were other skateparks we went to .Westchester was the mainstay . A skatepark with a reputation for being close to the hood . I saw it as well . 2 young kids buying drugs ( probably weed ) in plain view . This will probably be the only issue I have with these places . Fortunately our boys were oblivious to the goings on , they just wanted to skate . The park is on the other side of the airport , surrounded by sporting fields edged with trees and homeless encampments. It can be intimidating at first entry ,but what I’ve noticed at all the parks is the acceptance of all types that just want to skate . No matter how tattood up , how black , Hispanic , Asian , or age ,no one was hassled or forced off an area to skate . The skaters respected the skaters . The more I go to these places the more I felt at ease . Yesterday I took the older boys ,Tex and his mates surfing to a new location . We were met with an entirely different attitude .

The tribes of Palos Verdes …. have you read it or watched the movie ? To any of my Aussie friends or any other for that matter who want to see a little of the area , I suggest you get the movie . While not all fact , there are elements of this story that still hold firm today . Yesterday we experienced the dark side of it .

A series of big swells have hit the area over the last 2 weeks . It’s probably been the best window of waves in 2 years . It just happened to coincide with myself having a back injury . I’m consigned to ferrying kids around to activities , Yesterday I took Tex and his 2 mates to Palos Verdes , about 20 minutes south of us . This is an area of rugged cliffs , coves and headlands . For the long stretch of Southern California the coastline is pretty straight , bar this 15 km stretch between the Southbay and Long Beach . It’s an area that most resembles home and it also an area that handles larger waves . Palos Verdes sits up on a hill looking over this rugged piece of coast . It is an area of considerable wealth . There’s no government assisted wealth in this postcode . The waves in this area have a legendary reputation for being fiercely protected by the locals . There have been numerous stories in papers , surf mags and even on the news about the violent attacks on outsiders . I’ve been looking at the waves along here for a few years now . The boys decided they wanted to have a crack on a late cold Sunday afternoon . Indicators was their preferred choice .

The track down is perilous , narrow , winding , covered in lose debris . The 1st mistake : coming here . The 2nd : the boys walking down in wetsuits . Those below and in the surf can clearly see surfers making their way down the trail . Walking down with wetsuits seems a no go . You walk down in clothes and then get changed at the bottom . This of course will leave your belongings vulnerable when your an outsider . The boys were met with verbal insults by surfers coming back up the path . It quickly descended into a heated scuffle with one of the boys boards ripped out of his hands and thrown onto the rocks . Surfers started paddling in , shouting insults . It nearly became an all in brawl .1 of our kids started throwing rocks whilst the other got into a wrestle . The boys backtracked up the hill . The locals got their way . I confronted 2 guys . They accused me of not teaching our kids respect . I questioned him on why our kids reacted that way but he didn’t have an answer . They were both grown men . At 51 , I’m well past my prime . Add to that a back injury had me largely incapacitated, but the urge to do something I would regret was hard to contain . The usual insults about “finding my car and slashing its tyres and sucking dicks and blah,blah “ensued . I laughed . We retreated . Its true , the kids should’ve taken the insults and either turned back or stayed away from the other surfers , but I guess that’s a win for the locals as well . As we were leaving 2 cop cars come flying by . I’m guessing something was going down at the other infamous spot around the corner , Luanda Bay . We left , the boys went onto surf the Redondo Break Wall .

I get it . I get that it’s disappointing to see outsiders surf your spot , but this joint would be lucky to break 10 times a year . That means they have to surf somewhere else the majority of the time and I’m guessing that somewhere else is probably the 3 mile stretch of open beaches where we live . You gotta laugh at a gang that is apparently made up of kids whose parents are multi millionaires . But it’s true . Anyway peoples , it was a very disappointing event. I’ve seen both sides of two very closely related sports and yesterday I saw the ugly side of surfing that I’ve yet to encounter with skating . To the fat little fuck who told me to “ suck his dick “ … I’m guessing you’ll be out in the water down our way sometime .