California beaches

50's to early 60's...before CA officially became the "Land of Fruits & Nuts"/"Left(ist) Coast".
 
What a great video. Oh, how it used to be. We can only dream about those days now.
 
This song is off the first album I ever owned, and I wore it out one summer. I was ten years old. Man, I wanted to be a surfer boy and get a surfer girl. But I was five hundred miles away at the other end of the state.

You look at the video and wonder where did it all go. One this is for sure. Living in California nowadays ain't no day on the beach.
 
Brian Wilson, a true American treasure.
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I lived in Huntington Beach for years, and if I were to ever move back to CA, that (or Newport) is about the only place that I'd want to live, but if you don't have a million bucks or so for your two bedroom hamlet, forget it.
 
I managed to get a look at San Diego and Southern California in the early 1980s. It had already gone bad but was still livable. Today, I just shake my head.

Also, growing up in the 1970s, my friends and I hated the music of the time and reached back to the 1960s for inspiration. I remember a buddy pulling out some old Beach Boys albums. As I looked them over I thought, 'wow, this stuff is old.' It was only about 10 years old but by then the cultural revolution of the 1960s had blown through like a hurricane rendering anything like the Beach Boys passe.
 
Bronk said:
I remember a buddy pulling out some old Beach Boys albums. As I looked them over I thought, 'wow, this stuff is old.' It was only about 10 years old but by then the cultural revolution of the 1960s had blown through like a hurricane rendering anything like the Beach Boys passe.
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Good comparison! It WAS like a hurricane. From the British invasion until acid rock was less then ten years. The styles went from moptop to long hair and beards, from pushing the envelope of morality to wrecking it. The early 1960's were no different from the previous 80 years of lifestyle in the western (white) world, but by 1970 the "revolution" had come and the cultural marxists were taking over.
 
My Grandad used to love listening to the Grand Ole Opry via WSM. As a girl, my Mom remembers Grandaddy & Grandma sitting by the old radio on Saturday evenings listening to Roy Acuff, Ernest Tubb, Bill Monroe, inc. He never cared a lick for any "modern" music...just what he called "hillbilly" music (old time country, bluegrass & southern gospel). I love the same music myself...it never loses it's greatness (over the decades).
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Bronk said:
I managed to get a look at San Diego and Southern California in the early 1980s.
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So did I, namely in mid-1981.

It had already gone bad but was still livable.
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You must've visited different places than I.
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In SD, I stayed in Mission Bay and swam at Ocean Beach. Also visited Tijuana (rode a taxi from the border crossing to downtown), as well as the SD Zoo. My first taco was consumed in SD's Old Town where I heard a mariachi band.

In the El Lay area, I stayed at a friend's in Santa Monica and swam at the beach there. I visited Universal City and Disneyland, and photographed James Garner's star on the WOF.

One thing I noticed about SoCal was there were a lot of Mexicans even then. I didn't go into any bad neighborhoods (South Central, East L.A., etc.). I already knew about their rep.

Today, I just shake my head.
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I'm not too keen on returning to SoCal either. I'd sooner go back to SF, where I went after leaving L.A.

Also, growing up in the 1970s, my friends and I hated the music of the time and reached back to the 1960s for inspiration. I remember a buddy pulling out some old Beach Boys albums. As I looked them over I thought, 'wow, this stuff is old.' It was only about 10 years old but by then the cultural revolution of the 1960s had blown through like a hurricane rendering anything like the Beach Boys passe.
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The other night on my local PBS affiliate, I watched the "TAMI Show", an all star rock/soul revue filmed at the Santa Monica Auditorium in 1964, hosted by Jan and Dean featuring Chuck Berry, Gerry and the Pacemakers, Marvin Gaye, the Miracles, the Supremes, and the Beach Boys. I enjoyed thoroughly the BB's set (Surfin' USA, Surfer Girl, I Get Around, Dance Dance Dance) - you could see the sweat on Mike Love's forehead.
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Very *white* Californian and very nostalgic for that kind of Cali.

John
 
white california decade 1957-1967, beach music. it showed white kids could developtheir ownculture that was informal, rockin', fun, relaxed,but not rebellious orimmoral. Brian wilson captured the hopes and dreams of a lot of white kids growing up. there's a lot of healthy normal sentiments like "be true to your school, like you would to your girl", normal healthy activities "surfin USA","I get around" ("we always take my car cause it's never been beat..."), teenage love ("help me rhonda, yeah, get her outta my heart"), teen angst and need for solitude ("in my room").

but it wasn't just light pop music.the beach scene also produced some incredibly creative guitarwork, and the master was...Dick Dale--king of the surf guitar!

I regret that in the 70's I went with the teenage prejudice against the beach boys--that they weren't "cool" anymore because they weren't angry/lustful/violent enough, and they wrote and sung about normal, happy, healthythings.

Now I know better.

Edited by: Solomon Kane
 
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