Category: OB Time Machine

Mention the Strand Theater to an OB “old-timer” and a smile instantly embraces their face. And probably a laugh too. Now I don’t mean “old-timer” in the classic sense (the stooped-over scraggly white-haired old guy) – I mean somebody who experienced the Strand in its heydays of the Seventies. The Strand does brings back good memories to them. Funny memories. Incredible memories.

It was a gaggle of people moving back and forth – many with signs – in front of a Newport Avenue business. There was about twenty of them, many women, some children, and they began chanting:

“Get the smut out of OB! Get the smut out of OB!”

Come meet the OB Town Council of yesteryear … of 1972. OB community activists were engaged in a stand-off with the then president Bob Miller. Here is a portion of the front page of the original OB Rag in March 1972.

It’s been nearly half a century since the Peninsula Community Plan was officially launched by Peninsulans, Inc., its creator, in December of 1965. For the first time the organization of Point Loman business and property elites opened their vision of Point Loma and its sub-communities to the public.

The first urban plan for Ocean Beach was to grow out of this endeavor, as OB then was simply viewed as one of those sub-communities of the greater peninsula.

Peninsulans, Inc., or just “Pen Inc” – itself the child of the Peninsula Chamber of Commerce – had been officially endorsed by the San Diego City Council as “the citizen’s committee” for area planning on Point Loma. In 1968, three years after its launch, the Peninsula Community Plan was adopted by the City Council as the official plan for the Point Loma communities.

Today a good friend sent us a tidbit that he found tucked away in his morgue file, and that got me sidetracked in a real fun way….

Frank has written a lot of historical pieces on Ocean Beach (click on HISTORY up there in the navigation bar, you won’t be sorry) and in my opinion this article needs to be part of the story of the Collier Park Riot. Originally published in the door (another San Diego underground paper) in May of 1972, it tells a bit of the story of our very own EditorDude on that infamous day in March 1971.

by Frank Gormlie

The dilemma of the disenchanted progressive has come full circle. If the progressive is disenchanted and deeply puzzled, what about the progressive community – what about a place like Ocean Beach?

This then is the third and final part of the series. In Part 1, I presented what I see as this dilemma for disenchanted progressives: as people on the political left we are disenchanted about the tempo and types of changes that President Obama has ushered in to date. And yet, as I discuss in Part 2, this country is facing a mass movement that represents an American brand of fascism, and it’s gunning for President Obama.

By Fall of 1972 the OB Rag and Other Ocean Beach Alternatives Were All in Full Swing

Staff: The history of the OB Rag will be the subject of a presentation at the next OB Historical Society’s monthly gig. That will be Thursday, June 16th at the P.L. United Methodist Church, 1984 Sunset Cliffs Blvd, 92107. The presentation will be by current OB Rag Editor Frank Gormlie. In light of that, we thought it would be cool and appropriate to publish some more history of the original OB Rag, OB’s underground newspaper of the 1970s. The following recounts the 2nd anniversary of the first OB Rag.

By Fall of 1972, it was the OB Rag’s second birthday – the beginning of its third year, and the community-wide effort to develop alternative institutions was in full swing.

The OB Community School was a year old. A childcare center had arisen among needy parents who were assisted by activists. The OB People’s Food Store had opened in a storefront.

Originally posted August 21, 2009

by Frank Gormlie

No other corner in all of Ocean Beach has had as much attention and been the point of so much contention and conflict within the community as has the corner of Voltaire Street and Sunset Cliffs Boulevard. The northwest corner to be exact.

by Frank Gormlie

Since I came of age here in Ocean Beach, I’ve always believed that urban planning should be a process in which the citizens and residents of a community have a significant and substantial role to play.

This concept was shared by an entire generation of grassroots activists here in OB during the first half of the Seventies.

In this continuous series about the history of urban planning in Ocean Beach, I’m attempting to outline the historical record so newer generations of OBceans can appreciate how OB came to be what it is today.

Originally posted on January 12, 2008

by Frank Gormlie

Always intrigued about the origin of words and idioms, I found interesting the history of Ocean Beach street names.

It is axiomatic in our world that whoever plans out and develops a community gets to name the streets! And the rest of us then get to live with those street titles. Now, of course, who does plan out and develop a community from scratch? Who was responsible for putting together the sub-divisions that make up what is the present community of Ocean Beach?

Originally posted June 19, 2008

2 ENTREPRENEURS DEVELOPED TOWN IN THE LATE 1800s

By Joe Tash / UNION-TRIBUNE /June 14, 2008
Long before Dog Beach, the People’s Organic Food Market and The Black became Ocean Beach fixtures, Billy Carlson and D.C. Collier put their stamps on this seaside community. The two entrepreneurs are considered co-founders of Ocean Beach for their pioneering roles during the late 1800s and early 1900s, said Pat James, a businessman and president of the Ocean Beach Historical Society.

by Frank Gormlie

Have you heard of the OB Planning Board? Meeting monthly, the Board is the official body – made up of local residents, property owners and businesses – that advises the City of San Diego on development and construction projects and issues slated for Ocean Beach. And it’s the closest thing to an elected body for OB. … MORE INSIDE …