Editor,
Saturday I took a trolley north from south Laguna to Divers Cove, in Heisler Park. The trolley was filled with local young people going from beach to beach. I walked north to Monument Point and the flagpole and there sat a friend. We looked north to see Picnic Beach, the “giggle crack” at Diver’s, Fisherman’s Cove, Shaw’s Cove, seal rocks, paddle boarders and pelicans dating back to pre-historic times. Later I walked north by Rock Pile beach. I could feel the ghost of Tom Rizzo, musician and surfer who loved Rock Pile and taught young Latinos how to surf through the rocks.
Ending up on a bench at the pick-up basketball courts at Main Beach, I was amazed as I have been many times at a group of men playing basketball with what looked like a 10-year-old and teen-age boys. It was a pick-up game I will never forget because the two boys, who were guarding each other kept making great moves and scoring baskets to the astonishment of the adult players and onlookers.
After a while, I walked south remembering when south of the old guard tower was a LGBT friendly, destination beach, much like West Street is now, and on that beach the occasional silver service brunch was served on the sand by gays. Memories of Dante’s, public gay bar right there came back to me too. Hundreds of locals and visitors from around the world inside Dante’s and on the porch and on the beach enjoying another whimsical day in beautiful Laguna. Today is important, but so are memories. There’s no place quite like this in the world.
Roger Carter, Laguna Beach
