OB Rag

My mind can’t move away from thoughts of fatherhood ever since I wrote “An Unrequited Wish” for the OB Rag sometime ago wherein I shared my belief that my late soul mate’s dad’s indiscretions with her throughout her childhood led to her taking her life.

Most of my reflecting has been about my own experiences as a dad starting back when I first heard that I was a father to be. The news caught me off guard completely. I mean, in one moment, I was strutting down the halls of Tucson High, wearing my big red “T” for my basketball artistry, All-City, All-State, All-Star, All-Ego, in the flow, high fiving and asking “What’s happening?” of everybody I happened to know, throwing in all the latest dance steps just to diversify the show – and, in the next moment, somewhere in the middle of all the festivities my girlfriend managed to say to me: “I’m pregnant.”

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.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. It has been a crazy two years since Patty Jones and I started this here blog. Now, we’re no longer even a blog, but a website. October 25th, 2007, right in the midst of the 2007 fires, we posted our first articles – about the fires- one was on whether “mandatory evacuations” were any good, and the other was a critique of local media coverage of the fires. (see inside for links)

Here are a few birthday greetings from Dickie Magidoff, Wireless Mike and Doug Porter. Let’s start with:

HAPPY BIRTHDAY OB RAG!

By Doug Porter

I started contributing to the OB Rag blog towards the end of its first year. Having returned to San Diego after thirty some odd years as a hospitality manager, it took a little while for me to find my “voice”. This is, as you may have heard, an all volunteer effort, so finding your passion has to come from the inside.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. Every now and then, we like to check in to what’s been going on Newport Avenue – OB’s main drag. What is going on with the community’s main business street?

Well, there’s lots to report – both good and bad.

COW IS MOVING OUT OF OB

We spoke to Greg last week, the owner of Cow, Newport’s only music store. And unfortunately for the community, his business will be moving out of Ocean Beach by the new year. He is on a month-to-month lease. The reason for the move from the beach? Well, there are two reasons:

by Dave Maass / San Diego CityBeat

For nearly 30 years after the end of World War II, the U.S. Navy engaged in a practice one might call “truck fondue.”

At Mole Pier, a section of the Navy’s Broadway Complex, Naval personnel hosed down trucks and heavy machinery with diesel fuel, then dunked them in Paleta Creek, a tributary of San Diego Bay. The Navy sprayed, burned or buried an estimated 500,000 gallons of fuel during that period.

Editor: Way back in the Sixties, then-Mayor Frank Curran – before he was sent to prison for his involvement in the Yellow Cab scandal – proposed building a floating airport for San Diego off the southern tip of Point Loma. Well, the idea has resurfaced but this time off the shore of Ocean Beach. Is OB ready for its own airport? Hell, we can’t even deal with a marshmellow fight! Then we’d really need new public restrooms at the lifeguard tower.

by Jebediah Reed / The Infrastructurist / October 22n, 2009

San Diego desperately needs a new airport. It has needed one for years. The existing facility, San Diego International, is crowded onto a puny 675 acre parcel.

by East County Magazine

On October 14, Southwestern College District Governing Board approved cancellation of its agreement with Xe . The agreement allowed the college’s law enforcement students to use a training facility in Otay Mesa operated by Xe Systems LLC, the company formerly known as Blackwater. Blackwater, which gained notoriety for its activities in Iraq, was also the center of controversy in East County, where the company sought to open a private military training base at Potrero but withdrew following massive public opposition.

OCEAN BEACH, CA. Last night 10/22/09 at the Masonic Temple, the OB Rag received a special award from the Ocean Beach Mainstreet Association for our coverage of OB’s annual Street Fair held last June.

OBMA awarded the blog a 2009 Community Partner Award “For outstanding coverage of the 30th Annual Street Fair & Chili Cook-Off Festival”. Doug Porter and Frank Gormlie accepted the plaque on behalf of the website. Others from OB Rag attending were Lane Tobias and Gary Gilmore – who is also on the OBMA Board of Directors.
It is true that the OB Rag’s coverage of the Street Fair was awesome!

Here’s a break-down of the scope and breadth of what we presented : ….

by Frank Gormlie

I have taken it upon myself to wage a campaign against carpet bagging reporters, flying in to our paradise to take up residency with new, pricey jobs with the growing online news industry here in town. When Voice of San Diego announced recently that they were hiring three reporters from out of town, I gave them all kinds of hell.

Why, I asked, would you hire someone from out of town when we have all kinds of good and decent and knowledgeable reporters and journalists right here in good ol’ San Diego? New reporters come in, knowing nothing about our history, the players, the scandals, what’s going on, and have to take months just to catch up. The Union-Tribune itself has laid off all kinds of journalists over the last year, and I’m certain many of them would be happy to move to online news production and writing.

The San Diego River Park Foundation says it expects to reach a milestone at a river clean-up event Saturday. The group estimates it’s removed one million pounds of trash from the San Diego River over the past four years.

Volunteers with the San Diego River Park Foundation now spend 30 weekends a year removing garbage along the river from Santee to the river mouth at Ocean Beach.

Locals Set Out Surfing Rules for Sunset Cliffs

A few days ago, a sign appeared at Ladera Street at the end of Sunset Cliffs Boulevard, just before the stairs. It was a privately-made sign, nailed to a post and stuck in the ground.
Yet it boldly set up surfing rules for Sunset Cliffs, and emphasized that “Locals” have priority on the waves. It also cautioned inexperienced people not to surf at the famous Cliffs, known for their beauty and their dangers. (Just last week, a young surfer got caught in the high tide and had to be rescued.)

See inside for more…..