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Almost weekly we take a step back to the 50’s and 60’s and go to our coolest little beach town, Ocean Beach or OB as it’s known locally. There is just something about it that attracts us and it’s so relaxed there. Tie dyes are still a fad here and you can buy them at the street markets or in the shops, it’s a trip! Head shops line the streets, people dress from hippy days to modern days. Kids and old folks ride their bikes, skate boards and the surfers come to the ocean in all ages.
There are great antique shops, often a little on the pricy side but still worth meandering thru to see if you find something you just can’t live without. I have been collecting props for many years and people tell me I could open my own shop my treasures have been collected with my photography in mind. I have everything labeled and cataloged so I can locate it fairly quickly. So I’m a sucker for these sort of places.
There is always live music and it can range from Reggae, Country, Pop, Hard Rock, USAF band, and so on.
It’s always entertaining and the locals seem to really enjoy it! The street scene becomes such a fun part of the entertainment and evening festivities.
OB is super pet friendly, which also attracts us because we love our critters!
OB is also artist friendly too, my eyes are always searching for wall art and graffiti art on the doors, utility boxes, curbs, pretty much everywhere. I have a whole collection of this type of art which some day I’ll do a whole blog on just that. It’s beautiful!
Down by the pier, which is the longest pier in Southern CA, you’ll find locals, fishermen, tourist and all sorts of interesting things. Seems everything about this little beach town has it’s own unique character.
We stroll up and down the venues and talk to the local farmers and some of them I’ve visited on occasions at their farms. OB is super friendly and comfortable… well, if you enjoy that really laid back feeling… Some people might look at it and think what a weird dumpy place… I guess I can see how one might come to that observation, I don’t see it that way at all, it’s just a collectic group of very different people that seem to ebb and flow well together in the same space… I think that’s kinda cool!
My husband’s brother, Joe, in West VA now, lived in OB for several years many years ago and we often call him from there or send him iphone images of the stores, he gets a big kick out of seeing that it practically looks the same as it did 20 years ago.
I enjoy our weekly trips to the Farmers Market in OB and each week, it’s different in a way, same vendors and same feel but just the entertainment and flare is enough different that it mixes it up a bit. Last night was a sort of Reggae style and the whole crowd was filled with dancers and people in the moment, as I like to refer to with my images. I could not help but get a smile on my face as we walked thru the crowds and see all the pets, people, unique people in their own world, and having a ball in it – mind you!
Our whole family, which is my hubby and me and the dogs…….love going to OB and everyone gets a big smile and happy face at the thoughts of being there. We all know that once we have enjoyed all the interesting things to see and watch, we’ll find a super good place to eat. We have many favorites in OB but one of our most favorite pizza places is
Pizza Port! It’s just my favorite pizza. We first discover Pizza Port in North County, Encinitas and they have opened a few more through-out Southern CA now. The one in OB I think just opened in 2010 but it’s always full and again, almost every place is dog friendly so it’s so convenient to take the dogs for a bath or walk and then grab a bite to eat somewhere they are welcome too!
One more thing that makes this location, sort of cool, is the
local wild parrots… there are hundreds of these beautiful green parrots and they are soooo loud when they come flying over, you can actually hear them above the airplanes taking off over OB. They fly high enough that you think they are rather small, but they are actually a good size. They tend to fly in a flock and they all yakety yak, Where they live in the winter is as much a mystery as how they got here… but in the summer months, they are beautiful to see and watch. It’s unlikely you would make a trip to OB and not hear them flying thru. They seem to have a routine of early morning shortly after sunrise and late afternoon a few hours before sunset, they swarm thru town, singing their song, talking their talk, quite loudly. There is a huge population of them and their daily flybys with their loud screeching, they definitely announce themselves. They are bright neon green with red heads, they seem to have some blues scattered thru their feathers too. They love tall trees particularly palm trees, which we have several in our yard. Interesting, they travel in pairs.
My dogs have gotten used to their screeching flyovers, but at first they went nuts from the noise. The pup would look for them and he’s so curious of everything, try to figure out what all the racket was about, what they were saying and why so loudly…. he would get that puzzled furrowed brow and sometimes close his eyes or shake his head as they squawked by or landed in a nearby tree to annoy him. We would have to laugh. Quigley would want to eat them… she thinks anything small with fur or feathers is a meal. That’s from her survival days… we rescued her when she was 6 months old and she was just a tiny bag of bones living in the desert and that dog can catch anything.
You can definitely find good food, interesting entertainment, beautiful beaches, rare and unique art forms, as well as rare and unique individuals in OB. Makes for a nice relaxed evening stroll.
…. We love it!
As always, more images in slide show…
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Sweet Pea LifeStyles 