THOSE OLD BEACH TOWNS ON PCH 101

THOSE OLD BEACH TOWNS ON PCH 101
Originally uploaded by roberthuffstutter

A PICTORIAL ESSAY OF THE OLD SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA BEACHTOWNS BY BUD FRYE AS RELATED TO R.L.HUFFSTUTTER

SKETCHED HERE IS A PASSING GLANCE OF A MEMORY OF TIMES PAST: A TYPICAL SEASIDE TOWN IN 1960S SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA. IT COULD BE SANTA MONICA, HERMOSA BEACH, REDONDO BEACH, MANHATTAN BEACH OR ANY OTHER SMALL BEACH COMMUNITY BETWEEN LA JOLLA AND SANTA BARBARA. "You could close your eyes when entering the town, open them once downtown and never really know which one you were in," stated Bud Frye, a retired desk clerk who has worked every hotel desk up and down the west coast. "It's not a bad thing," Bud continued, "what I am trying to say is that they all looked just about the same. There was the surf shop, the suds shop, the laundry mat, several small bars like the old Passport Inn in Manhattan Beach," he continued, his voice trailing into a low whisper as though he was lost in another time and place, a place like the west coast in the 60s. Snapping back to the present, Bud chuckled and shook his head. "Yes, that old Passport Inn--that was the place that rocked, a cool bar where the gals just kept coming in from the hot sandy beach and turning on the charm like crazy. Man, those were the days. We played darts, drank pitcher after pitcher, all the while bare-footed with the floor so covered with sand we sometimes thought we could feel the surf on our feet. Oh, for sure. It turned out to be a spilled pitcher of beer. And the smell of suntan lotion and beer? It was like heaven. Blondes, brunettes, firery redheaded chicks with so much tan they glowed. I mean, man, like there were blondes in bikinis, brunettes, hot women, for sure, with glowing tans. Yes, those were the days, for sure. Now, they all look the same again. But this time they are all a bunch of concrete instead of the old wooded shingle and planks, you know that old-style beach type buildings."