THIS MORNING WAS NO DIFFERENT THAN OTHERS EXCEPT across the parking lot, through dense fog, came a caravan of old cars, hearses, pick-ups midnight blue with yellow, red, black, and orange, flames. Refurbished station wagons of the '50s, chokes extended to give them a full boat sound, and old boards crammed in the rear, Weber's, Velzy/Jacobs', Wardy's, Rick's, and Bing's.
They thundered up to the curb in front of the "Cup and Sinker"
scaring the tarnation out of the old timers. "Hey, old fellow, which way to San Onofre, we're lost," said one of the drivers,
"We're down from the South Bay, members of the "Double Deuce Danglers," he continued. Tex looked them up and down, thumbed them south and said, "Why you boys ask?" The boys were in their fifties, gray haired, some with pony-tail, others mustachioed.
"Surf safari to 'Nofre." Sounds good, said Tex. "When's the last time you were there," he asked. "The year old Barney tipped over," said one of the men. Tex went on to say they weren't
about to believe it, 'Nofre ain't the same as the early day, lot's of inlanders, kids, barking dogs, it's a real mess down there. "It figures, old timer, same as the South Bay, but we gotta' do what we gotta' do," the guy said. The baby-boomers got back into their kemps and got on their way. Joe Schnitzle said, "Aw, to be young again." Schnitzle is 84 years young.
TUBESTEAK/TIME.MARCHES.ON