OB - Ocean Beach

Here in SoCal, we can say PB, OB, or IB and even the tourists know the correct beach.  But none would even dare call Coronado Beach CB.  Not sure how these familiar terms came to refer to 'my' beaches. Thus we’ve made a couple bike rides. to OB.

Built in 1966 the iconic OB Pier has been shuttered since an October 2023 storm caused significant damage.

Damage from high surf has caused closures of the pier in recent years.
Photo: Sean M. Haffey/Getty images

This past week the city has confirmed that no additional repairs will be attempted.  The OB Pier will be demolished and replaced.  The current plan rendering has been released.

Ocean Beach Pier rendering.
Photo: Courtesy of the City of San Diego

The estimated cost is near $200 million! and will take years to complete. The new rendering shows the pier to be 2000’ as was the original.

I believe the WOW Cafe on the pier is also gone forever :(, it has not reopened anywhere in the OB area ... so I am now on a personal quest to find another fish taco in OB worthy of replacing WOW.

Fran and I rode our bikes over the recently completed bike path on Sunset Cliffs Blvd through Rob Field and down to the sand volleyball courts at Dog Beach.  She had heard that Beach Tennis is to be played there.  It’s kinda like Pickle Ball on a half-height volleyball net, in the sand.  We enjoyed walking the beach, but alas no tennis.

It’s nice to have the sand between the toes, it’s even nicer to wash it out.

We walked all of Newport Ave from the beach and then back checking out the options.  And we ended back at South Beach an old favorite.

Really, it is a very good taco, with a variety of condiments

At $5 their ‘World Famous’ grilled Mahi Mahi is going to be hard to beat.  But their service is a bit slow and does not have the personality the WOW had.

Saturday 9/7 Old Mission Beach Athletic Club (OMBAC) was sponsoring a wheelchair Over The Line (OTL).

Many of the participants are not disabled, but are there to support friends or family.  OMBAC provides chairs for the them, so they too can compete.

A while back I put together an OTL-101 blog.  If you want to check up on the game that blog can be found HERE.

A few concessions for the ADA version.  Although the ball must still go Over The Line.  If the ball is fielded cleanly in the air that, of course, is an out.  However in Chair OTL The ball can be fielded cleanly after a single bounce or simply touched in the air before a bounce and that too is an out.

The use of a T-ball stand is permitted at the batter’s request.

Field positions are the same with 2 forward to protect the corners and 1 deep to prevent a home run.  A good hitter will spin the ball into a corner over the line and with bounce out of bounds.  It's only a homerun if the ball travels over the last defender's head without touching the ground, hence he plays deep.

Rather than use a T-ball stand, the batter may chose to have a teammate pitch the ball.

The idea is to drop the ball near the wheel so a nice one handed golf shot can spin the ball over the line into a corner or sideline.  After watching for awhile I drove to Rob Field to unload my bike for a ride over to the Sunset Cliffs Auto Show.

With 250,000 miles on my truck I just put on a set of new tires.  I should have waited!, now these are some tires!, don't think they'll fit.

My personal fav at the show

Custom surfboard graphics to match his car.

A fully restored 1929 Hudson and it’s available!

A Stoddard Dayton 10-K.

A 1953 Bentley

also with some nice tires.

This 2017 Rolls-Royce Ghost is a commissioned build.  Simply it’s one-of-a-kind.

You get the idea the OB Auto Show has some really classic entries.

New to OB is a City Tacos.  They are a chain found throughout the county.  But this one is  their OB playground.

I wanted a grilled fish taco, but what came was fried.  Hard to compare grilled tacos ... maybe next time.

But their salsa bar is to be recommended

The outdoor patio is pretty open.

With it’s own fenced dog park

Foosball and cornhole for adult entertainment.

And on the puzzle table, Aj and I finished this mosaic.  Aj calls the edges 'The Crust', since neither of us start there and we completed the guts, we left all the 'crust' for Fran :)

Then Aj whipped out this Bobcat in record time.  Since it does not have an interlocking 'crust' and a nice collection of pieces in the shape of animals, I thought it might be more of a challenge … nope ....

That’s the action from the past couple weeks.  Fran has planned her Ohio trip for next week.  And I’ll let you know how my new tires hold up, next time!