Posted in Civil Disobedience, OB Time Machine, Ocean Beach, San Diego, War and Peace

New scenes from OB’s past

   June 9, 2009  7 Comments on New scenes from OB’s past 0 Likes 852 Views

Here are some real treasures from OB’s past – these are from the original pages of the OB Peoples Rag – most from 1972.  These images reflect a time when a vibrant youth culture had taken root in Ocean Beach, that it had a politicized edge, very much against the Vietnam War, against unbridled urban development in OB, and for more of a loose, de-stressed lifestyle that emphasized music, peace, harmony, brotherly and sisterly love ….

Ocean Beach, by 1968, had become the beach version of Haight-Ashbury for San Diego, where for the first time in modern American cultural history, surfers and hippies merged together. No where else in Southern California did the surfing sub-culture mesh with the budding hippie counter-culture, as it did in Ocean Beach from 1968 to 1972.

And it was the emerging mesh of a surfer-hippie-ecopolitico subculture – so unique to Ocean Beach – that it literally was able to become a strong force within the community, spawning residents who created groups and organizations that eventually saved the community from over development.  Some of these groups were the OB Rag, People’s Food Co-op, the Child Care Development Center, and what became the OB Planning Board.

This is a scene of the OB Festival - a live, free concert held at the foot of ____?___ Street - can you guess? during May 1972. While local bands played, the event had a visible anti-war current.
A pro-marijuana demonstration - see caption.
An anti-development rally and march sponsored by the OB Ecology Action - some of whose leaders were teachers at the OB Free School. Here the demo is primairlly made up of Free School kids and teachers.
This 1972-73 image was featured on the cover of the OB Rag. We've always thought that it was of a local OB church and stop sign. But can't figure out where. Can you? Winner gets coffee and pastry.
Opposition to the OB Town Council's then controversial chair flared up even at the annual Kite Parade - March 1972.
What the original Ocean Beach Precise Plan, circa 1971, envisioned for OB's waterfront. Due to organizations like the OB Ecology Action, the OB Planning Organization, the Community Planning Group (CGP), the OB Rag, the Town Council, and eventually the Merchants Association, this image of future OB was torn up and burnt. A new Precise Plan was written once the election of the first OB Planning Board was held. Democratic California urban planning was first established here in Ocean Beach.
The construction of the jetty, spearheaded by the Army Corps of Engineers and the City of San Diego, eventually stopped by the community through direct action, civil disobedience and law suits. Summer 1970
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Frank Gormlie
Author: Frank Gormlie
A former lawyer and current grassroots activist, I have been editing the Rag since Patty Jones and I launched it in Oct 2007. Way back during the Dinosaurs in 1970, I founded the original Ocean Beach People’s Rag - OB’s famous underground newspaper -, and then later during the early Eighties, published The Whole Damn Pie Shop, a progressive alternative to the Reader.
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7 thoughts on “New scenes from OB’s past”

  1. Whoa! What a great bunch of photo’s! I’m pretty sure the church and stop sign photo is of the red brick church near Voltaire and Chatsworth. I loved the line in the drawing of a proposed high-rise/resort complex where it says “makes this an ideal location for high-rise hotel and apartment development”. That just cracks me up. It’s good to see that the evolution of this town has been positive.

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  2. that drawing from the ob precise plan should be enlarged and posted along newport ave to remind people of what caring about your community can accomplish. can you imagine what things would be like if we hadn’t stopped the developers? apathy sucks!

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  4. agree with fresh…how can we show apathetic people in the community how lucky they are the Precise Plan didn’t go as planned? Also how easily it could happen if everyone forgets?

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  5. mr fresh, frank, lane – before we start to over-glorify the past, let’s make sure we understand how strong the remnants of that past are today.

    this blog itself has had critical articles about the Planning committee, for example.

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