OB Rag

by Jeannette De Wyze /Travels in San Diego / June 14th, 2010

Given how much San Diego has changed in the 36 years I’ve lived here, it warms my heart when I run across something that seems timeless. Case in point: the current flap roiling Ocean Beach, which I’ve been following in the always-entertaining OB Rag blog. At issue is a $2.50 sticker that’s been sold for about three weeks at The Black, the community’s venerable head shop/novelty store. Displaying the silhouetted imaged of a Depression-era hobo and his dog, the sticker recalls California state park messages not to feed the bears. Only it instead directs OB visitors not to “feed our bums.”

by Randy Dotinga / Voice of San Diego / Originally posted June 2, 2010

There’s a funny thing about the San Diego anti-nudity law that’s in the news this week: It used to actually allow people to be naked in public. But only at Black’s Beach, the country’s only city-sanctioned nude beach and only for a while.

Then city voters had their say in 1977 and told folks to cover up already, thank you very much. But 33 years later, beachgoers still flaunt the law and rarely get in trouble for it.

On May 28, Anastasio Hernandez Rojas, 42, was shot with a Taser stun gun by a U.S Customs and Border Protection officer at the San Ysidro border crossing after he resisted agents trying to send him back to Mexico. He later died. His death has pushed an already-heated debate over illegal immigration to the boiling point.

On Sunday, June 13th, a 20 something young man decided to walk and swim naked on the beach during filming at the OB Pier – filming by Firefly – a production company that was shooting the promotional stills and video for the show “Terriers”.

By Michael Hiltzik /Los Angeles Times / June 12, 2010

We may finally have discovered a remedy for corporate executives with more greed than brains: Let them invest corporate funds by the millions in California ballot initiatives, then vote the things down.

Isn’t that the lesson of Tuesday’s balloting on Propositions 16 and 17?

I just got off the phone with Ken Anderson, one of the co-managers of The Black. He has worked on Newport Ave for 18 years and has seen everything. He is the one who ordered the new, controversial anti-homeless stickers that say “Welcome to Ocean Beach. Please don’t feed our bums,” with a graphic of a 1930’s hobo and dog.

The Black, the iconic head shop that has been a mainstay in Ocean Beach “since 1969” – has entered the Dark Side – get it? The Black on the Dark Side. Their sale of the anti-homeless stickers – is stirring up the community. The Black used to be the only place where you would find items of the counter-culture, smoking instruments, sandals, incense, weird, psychedelic posters, … you name it – if hippies wanted it they could find it there.

By Jeremy W. Peters / The New York Times/ June 10, 2010

A pilot wanted to take a photographer from The Times-Picayune of New Orleans to snap photographs of the oil slicks blackening the water. The response from a BP contractor who answered the phone late last month at the command center was swift and absolute: Permission denied.

UPDATE: 9 PM : Apparently there was a stabbing in and around the restrooms at the west end of Dusty Rhodes Park late this afternoon. (Please see the comments inside for more updates.)

Our roving reporter has discovered the source of the ‘don’t feed the bums’ stickers that have mysteriously appeared on municipal signs and a couple local store windows lately around OB: The Black headshop on Newport Ave.

Someone is spending more money on their underground campaign to rid Ocean Beach of its homeless. They are placing slick yellow and black stickers on city signs around Ocean Beach with the message “Please don’t feed our bums.”

Well, Primary 2010 is finally over, and as usual, it had mixed results for progressives. Extremely low turn-out for out San Diego County – 25% Geez!

Here are some victories: * The biggest news is that Prop 16 – bankrolled by PG&E – LOST! …