Event Report
20150627
The photos below are
what we saw.
Ocean
Beach, or OB as the locals call it, is a somewhat less-than-upscale
area. This motel is in a residential area which is rather
odd. But OB is odd, so the whole thing "works" in a manner
of speaking.
OB has
colorful stores and the BEST street folk. This fellow
rolled up with his morning's catch of beer cans. How many
of those he emptied himself is not clear.
We
parked near Robb Field and walked south past Dog Beach.
The streets are lined with nice tall palm trees.
Did I
mention that OB has the best street folk? We came upon Mr.
Sidewalk Sleeper crashed out on a pad of some kind. He
ALMOST got his full body on the pad.
We
spotted this gnarly pine tree on our walk to the fair. The
right hand branch is as crooked as a Sacramento politician.
All kinds
of colorful folks were out and about.
There
were plenty of dogs being walked.
The beer
cannon on top got my attention.
In the
old days, Beach Cruisers were derelict bikes and were never
locked because in reality you WANTED somebody to steal it.
Today, they are expensive, have trick tires and must be locked
with robust locks. Note the spider pattern in the tire
tread.
Some of
the street folks were diligent about working the dumpsters.
Note that with the more fashionable street people, baby
strollers have replaced shopping carts as the conveyance of
choice.
SDPD had a big
presence at the street fair and showed up with their new,
high-tech mobile command center based on a custom Freightliner
platform.
It was
overcast, cool and sprinkling rain so the beach area itself was
not crowded.
The OB
street fair has a yearly chili cook-off. These contestants
decided that the optimum serving vessel for their chili was a
toilet. I do confess, the sight of it was sufficiently
graphic that it caused me to do a double-take. This was
pretty twisted, even for me.
There
were plenty of smiling faces to be seen in the crowds.
The
lines at some of the chili booths were quite long. I did
not see the winner's list, but I am guessing that the winner did
not serve their chili in a toilet bowl.
There
are always street artists at the beach in OB.
Plenty
of interesting people and plenty of dogs. Ink was the
order of the day and plenty of the attendees were heavily
inked. Note this fellow's left forearm.
The
chili cook-off got plenty of attention.
I wanted
to tell this fellow to mime his own business, but did decided
that he would not get the pun
There were a number
of bands at the fair and most of them were pretty good.
Despite plenty to
see, lots of folks were on their phones texting about whatever
folks text about.
Check out the face on
this fellow's knee.
What would the beach
be without skateboards? There was a practice ramp next
to Hodad's and folks were getting big air on the jump.
This fellow's landing was quite unhappy, but he seemed unhurt.
A pretty good jump
with a successful landing.
OB has the best
street people.
Here is something
that you don't see every day: retro swimsuits. Note the
ink on the shin of the gal on the left of the photo above.
This gal finally
maxed-out and had to sit.
Attire at the fair
ranged from tame to lame and everything in between.
One of the nice
things about beach communities is that they attract larger
numbers of fit individuals.
There was a performing
group that used hula hoops (or whatever the current name for
them is) and did a kind of aerobic dance with them. It
was quite entertaining.
A group finale.
Baby strollers are the preferred transport devices for the upper strata street people.
Mr. Street Sleeper
was just where we left him three hours prior except now some
soft-hearted passers-by have stuck money in his hand.
And he managed to reposition himself such that he was mostly
on the pad.
OB is
always interesting and even more so on fair days. When
going to OB, it is critical to have your attitude in the right
coordinate space to insure a pleasurable visit. "When in
Rome..." as they say.
Copyright Bill Caid 2015. All rights reserved.