Category: History

By Matthew Wood

Growing up in the Ocean Beach area, Ryan Ybarra had a dream in life: To become a fire fighter at the OB Fire House No. 15. He waited for his opportunity, even enduring a hellacious commute from a job at a fire department the Los Angeles area back to his wife and kids in OB.

Finally, about two years ago, a position opened up at the OB station on Voltaire and Ebers and Ybarra grabbed it. Didn’t matter to him that he lost the seniority he had built up. Or that he had to go through training and the department’s probation program. He knew he was home.

“And I’ll probably finish here,” he said with a smile. “As a kid, I always wanted to work in OB. That commute (from L.A.) just about killed me. But it was definitely worth it.”

Ybarra is an engineer on the 12-man crew at OB fire house. The guys were nice enough to give me access to their daily routine, and even ride along in the fire truck to their daily workout regimen.

Here’s a bit about how it works:

OB Historical Society Presents:

Landscapes Rediscovered

Featuring John DeBeck

—Thurs., Nov. 21st at 7PM

at P.L. United Methodist Church,

1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd., O.B.

John DeBeck, former long-time School Board Member will present a program on the recovered San Diego Unified School District art collection, an extraordinary project he accomplished that benefits historians, school children and all San Diegans.

Who will Ocean Beach vote for?

Today’s the day that San Diego voters go to the polls to elect a new mayor in the Special Election.

Just whom will the mainly liberal voters of OB vote for? Will OBceans turn out in sufficient numbers today to offset their conservative relatives up in Point Loma? Will the middle-of-the-road voters overwhelm both sides of the political spectrum?

The four main candidates are, of course, Mike Aguirre, David Alvarez, Kevin Faulconer, and Nathan Fletcher.

Our sisters and brothers over at the San Diego Free Press have put together a number of articles to assist voters in deciphering just which candidate suites them.

November 19 – Today – Is Deadline for Comments to City Planner

Today is the deadline for OBceans to get their comments, recommendations, suggestions and ideas about the new Update OB Community Plan to the City planner responsible for OB’s plan.

Here is Teresa Millette: tmillette@sandiego.gov

And here are the OB Rag’s comments (presented at the Nov. 13th Town Hall meeting):

• The new Plan calls for a 6% increase in residential units by 2030 – that’s 850 new residents. The City anticipates these new residents will be housed in the 3 community commercial districts along Voltaire, Newport and Point Loma Avenue. These figures are based on SANDAG estimates – which are often wrong.

• The City is trying to place parts of OB into the “City of Villages” concept, but …
  

An artist by the name of Lincoln Cushing once live in Ocean Beach, over on the 4900 block of Brighton Avenue back in the Seventies. In those days, the houses that activists lived in had names, and his was “Vegetable House” – presumably because everyone there was a vegetarian. (This was during the era of “Red House”, “Animal House”, “Cape May Barracks”, etc.)

Lincoln was well known locally for producing politically-charged progressive poster art. He eventually moved to the Bay Area and found kindred spirits in an Oakland print shop that was a workers’ co-op.

Just recently, a poster that Cushing created while living in OB was chosen by the Center for Disease Control in Atlanta for an exhibition about public health.

By Frank Gormlie

This may not be a surprise to hardcore corporate media watchers, but CNN has joined the ranks of those establishment outlets that are continuing the cover-up of the assassination of John F Kennedy. The news station has jumped on the bandwagon that is making a lot of noise these days due to the 50th anniversary of the President’s murder.

It was a real disappointment however, in viewing CNN’s “The Assassination of President Kennedy” because one of my favorite actors, Tom Hanks, was one of the producers and I was looking for some truth. Alas, it did not come through.

By Frank Gormlie

Last night, Wednesday, November 13th, the OB Planning Board hosted a Town Hall meeting for public comment on the new draft Community Plan Update. And comment they did, as over sixty people filed into the Masonic Center to participate. This is OB, so before it could begin, everyone helped get out the chairs and tables for the set-up.

City staff were on hand as Planning Board chair Tom Gawronski gaveled the meeting to order (a little on the late side as Joe the guy with the key thought it was another night). Gio Ingnolia also helped lead the meeting, as chair of the public resources financing sub-committee. Mindy Pellesier – who is not now on the Board but has been substantially involved with the Update over the last 11 years – joined the Board in front.

As Ray Blavatt and Pat James filmed the event, City planner Teresa explained the upcoming time line for the update as it travels through various levels of approval.

From the OB Town Council

The Ocean Beach Town Council (OBTC) is seeking the help of 100 responsible persons who would like to volunteer and help ensure that the 34th Annual Ocean Beach Holiday Parade is a successful and wonderful event for our community.

The Holiday Parade occurs on Saturday, December 7, 2013, and it cannot occur without the dedicated support of our volunteers.

Please CLICK HERE to sign up to Volunteer!

Details:

• The Parade starts at 5:05 pm (OB Time). All participating volunteers will need to report in to the Ocean Beach Recreation Center, 4726 Santa Monica Ave, Ocean Beach, at 2:00pm sharp on Saturday, December 7th and check in with the OBTC Volunteer Coordinators.

By Frank Gormlie

We’re all fairly aware now that this month is the 50th anniversary of the Kennedy Assassination. President John F Kennedy was murdered on November 22, 1963 in Dealy Plaza in Dallas, Texas.

And boy, we’re being swamped with films, articles, videos and books about the assassination and the subsequent cover up. For example, both the History channel and National Geographic channel are throwing new films at us this month at almost a daily basis.

So, how can you tell if what you’re reading or watching is still part of the Kennedy murder cover-up?

Here’s three simple rules:

Tonight – Wednesday, November 13th – there is a Town Hall meeting, hosted by the OB Planning Board looking for community residents to voice their opinions and thoughts on the new draft Community Plan for the community.

The Planning Board will be there – and so will city staff – all to listen to the people and residents of OB on any and all aspects of the draft plan that has been in the works for over a decade now.

Editor: We continue to post comments and statements sent to us via email on the future, status and role of the OB Rag. Below is #2 from an anonymous admirer who also shares a bit of her/his own history and aspirations.

By Anon #2

I wish I could give money and time to the OB Rag. It is so very necessary for our community. It’s how the collective group of peaceful OBcians get together to discuss, rant, blog and review changes in our community, ideologies both locally, regionally, nationally and internationally, and we can do so without worry of never being employed again (almost no one posts with their full name).

Its one of the last vestiges of OB that makes it GREAT.

Editor: During the past two weeks of our hiatus and re-evaluation of the OB Rag, we have received numerous donations in efforts to keep us publishing, as well as some wonderful feedback. Here, below, a supportive reader – who remains anonymous – writes us that it’s possible that the OB Rag is an “anachronism” and needs to change its name. Do you agree?

By Anon. Reader

I would first like to say that I think the OB Rag has done an admirable job doing what it does. I like it, as do many others, because it provides a point of view that can’t be found elsewhere. The writing is very good and it is refreshing to read in depth articles that also can’t be found elsewhere either.
I think the problem is that the Rag, and much of what it exists for, have become anachronisms to the general public.