3d generation Simi, 1st generation South Bay

I got home today and saw a great surprise wedged in my door. BC left a picture of Simi Valley as it looked back in 1938 when his grandparents first took it upon themselves to leave the overcrowded confines of the SFV and pursue a claim in more fertile grounds.

The parallel to where both of us are in our lives could not be more appropriate.

Good sad news

A few of you may remember that back in February Corie Desmond, a Beaches bartender went missing after leaving her shift one night. Tragically, she was found dead less than 24 hours later in the Angeles National Forest. Well as the title suggests, there is some good sad news.

Coming home from LLS last night I was listening to my standard evening winddown with Brian Kennedy on KFI, when he reported that the police had made an arrest and arraigned (where defendant is brought before the court to hear charges and enter a plea) a suspect in the murder yesterday in San Bernardino Superior Court. The defendant, Tony Lopez-Perez was a restaurant manager in the Dode. Read the whole story here.

Glad they were able to make an arrest, as we frequent Beaches a lot in the off-season (aka - when its too cold for the "inlanders" to make the trek), so this story hit pretty close to home.

Red Tide

The first rain of the season has unfortunately come at the same time of a brief windswell hitting the south bay.

Rain can mean two things when there is a swell. Some consider it a blessing, frequently referring to rain during a swell as "crowd control." Oth

ers who don't feel like contracting hepatitis think of avoiding Red Tide.

While rain can be good for the LA basin (i.e. - provides clean air, mudslides, and legitimate reasons to be late/skip work or school), it brings on the burden of red tide.

For those unfamiliar, red tide is the product of living in a beach town on the border of one of

the largest and most populated urban areas in the world. When it rains, fresh water runoff to the ocean brings non-natural nutrients and fresh water algae to the ocean, resulting in large algae blooms that appear from a range of colors, from green to red.

As a general rule, wait 1-3 days after it stops raining to go back into the water. Obviously this is flexible, so for example, 2 days of light rain, 1-2 days is sufficient; whereas a heavy week-long storm may be reason to stay out for more than that.

Usually not a major concern at the major breaks in the south bay, such as

Porto, piers, breakwater, RAT, Hags, things get downright hairy in Malibu after a heavy storm. A couple years ago, a heavy storm broke the sandbar between the algae-filled lagoon and the point.

Malibu Destroyed --->

Stay loose,

Chairseo

Town & Country

As DC put it, whether you're 30 or 30,000 blocks away, everyone is excited about El Porto. To keep up appearances, a regular feature of the blog will be to keep the readership educated about the history, entertainment, and general quirkiness of the 32 acre beach enclave.

This post's title is a reference to a conversation I had with fellow hawaiian transplant KS over the weekend. After checking out the new digz, we headed down Ocean Ave. toward the House of Lords for a night of revelry. We started talking and I mentioned that we needed to head "to town," implying that we were leaving the "country."

For Hawaiians these words carry some weight. If you go to Oahu, you will hear people from the south side of the island (Honolulu and surrounding metro area refer to this part of the island as "town"), while if you're from the North Shore, that part of the island is known as "country." There is even a world-class surf shop and Hawaii establishment dedicated to this jargon.

Town is well known for its hustle and bustle and fast paced lifestyle, while Country is what it sounds like: a laid back, one road, low privacy community.

As we drove through the Porto to Town to meet up with the Lords, we got a good laugh drawing on the parallels between T&C in Hawaii, and T&C in the South Bay. Despite the recent name change and increase in pilates studios popping up along our one main road, there are still traces of the El Porto of old.

In the future, a regular feature on the blog will be reviews of some of these establishments with recommendations and a brief history from the proprietors:

Future Scheduled Features:
- El Porto Market
- The Beach Hut
- Sloopys
- Toullouis Antiques
- El Porto Surfboards


Shout out to BC and KS for a sick sesh crushing the waveage in Town on Saturday morning

CEO

Welcome

So over the weekend I was talking with BC, one of my broz, and we were commenting on the renaissance of web-based personal publications. Both of us were well versed in the medium, having Livejournal accounts back at the turn of the century. I've taken some time off from the medium but I think I'm ready to start dabbling in it again. While some naysayers still believe that "noone gives a shit what you think" - BI, I think that may simply be a reflection based on her own personal experiences.

Personally, my experience on LJ ended up being some of the most productive and fruitful years of my life.

Now, the mere fact that one has a blog, does not give the person the right to say whatever they want. To establish and keep a solid readership, a few ground rules must be strictly adhered to:

(1) The blog is not a sounding board for the writer's personal feelings or a way to garner emotional attention. For example, it is uncouth and in bad taste to publish information regarding any of the following:

- Recent personal failures
- Epiphanies (if serious and not funny)
- Esoteric questions concerning banal subject matter
(i.e. - When will people see that we are all the same?)
- Full names (use initials or pronouns such as "broz" or "babage")

(2) Spelling and grammar:
- The internet may be informal, but take some pride in what you publish.
This should be self-explanatory.
- Common errors to avoid: "a lot" and not "alot"; thx, effect/affect;
your/you're; It's = It is, the possessive form is "Its"
- Lastly, this is a blog, not a dictionary. Simpler is better.

(3) Tailor your subject matter to your readership.


Back in the saddle,

CEO