Everyone has treasured places where they spent part of their youth just raisin' hell and havin' good times...
For many it might be at the lake or in the mountains or...
Wait for it...
AT THE BEACH!
Being a lucky cuss and growing up in the San Fernando Valley in the golden 60's we had THE BEACH!
Friends, meet Zuma Beach, located north of Malibu on Pacific Coast Highway (PCH)...
Two miles of pristine sand and good waves (most of the time)...
Still sporting 14 lifeguard stations, Zuma is where most of us from the valley headed for cool off in the summer months...
Sometimes we would venture to Santa Monica, but that was always too damn crowded and the surf sucked compared to the usually gnarly body surfing found at Zuma...
The far north part of the beach was where you found the surfers, but zillions of zit faced valley teens hung on the sand stretching the first two miles of Zuma on PCH...
Food stands were always busy and there were more than sufficient heads and showers...
Let's face it, guys took their leaks in the surf...I suspect most of the chicks did, too...
I always liked that warm quick rush you would get when you let lose your bladder and stood for a moment or two frozen and enjoyed that special moment...
Many flicks and TV shows have been shot here on the sands of Zuma..."Back to the Beach", "Zuma Beach" "Charlie's Angels", "Where The Action Is", "Baywatch" and countless more...
You still see old monster movies and usually when they were at the surf they were at Zuma or nearby Point Dume...
And Frankie and Annette frolicked here many times in the "B" Beach Party films...
Plus Point Dume next to Zuma was seen countless times in a zillion flicks...
The most famous scene is the end of the first "Planet of the Apes" film when Heston rides up on the horse and sees the State of Liberty and realizes he has returned back to earth...I have many memories of Zuma but one that stays with me is seeing the sea of young teen bodies glistening in the burning sun and smelling of Coopertone and tanning butter as they listened to portable transistor radios...
Transistors were "the thing" in the mid 60's...Kinda like the I pods and phones today...
EVERY kid had them tuned to KHJ "Boss Radio"...Every kid...
In those days KHJ scored more than 60% of the total LA radio market...
No station has even come close to those numbers over the past forty plus years...
KISS Radio in it's heyday did a little more than a ten share...
KHJ WAS radio for LA and on the sand at Zuma you knew it...
I liked to travel in my old family '51 Chevy Belair with some buds and spend those chilly and windy winter days at Zuma...No one was there expect the guys in the main lifeguard building...
They would watch us with binoculars as we hit the strong winter waves to body surf...
I bought a custom wet suit called a "Farmer John" that was cut like a wife beater T...It allowed you to flail your arms and dig into the water as you struggled to hit your wave...
You had a mega cold rush of water down your back and then you were riding the four footer for several seconds and then ending up on the shore break and eating sand...
Once we were around a trash barrel and had lit a fire to keep warm...The trash was burning as the lifeguard drove up and hopped out and came over to us...
He was so cool he stayed a bit and warmed up his frosty hands in the flames of the fire...
Heck, no one else was stupid enough to be on the sand let alone in the water when it was only in the high 50's...BRRRRRRR!
I liked to smoke Wolf Bros. "Crockettes"...Little cigars either soaked in rum and dipped in wine or the other way around...They were sweet and tasty to smoke...
Also did the Eric small cigars thing back then...Just about my only vice late in my high school days...
Drinking wouldn't begin in earnest until my USC days...But that friends is truly another story...
If your travels take you to So Cal, take the drive up to Zuma and park in one of the 2,000 stalls and walk the sand...Whatever the weather, Zuma is one of the jewels on the crown of Southern California beaches...
I can still hear 'em back then screaming out, "SURF'S UP!"
Just don't eat anything less than an hour of hitting the waves...Remember that line? Why did we believe that stuff back then...Why?
See ya back soon all...
