The beauty of Sunset Beach

Angelique Flores

If any town has charm, funk and elegance all at once, it’s Sunset Beach.

This small beach town stretches along Pacific Coast Highway, from Warner

Avenue to Anderson Street, covering the land from the ocean to Huntington

Harbour.

“It’s a piece of coast that time forgot,” said Bob Dowis, a 33-year

resident.

This weekend will hopefully jog some people’s memories of a place where

duck hunters once lodged, where rumrunners landed boats filled with

alcohol during Prohibition and where the Coast Guard watched for enemy

submarines during World War II.

The Sunset Beach Community Assn. revives its home tour on Saturday

afternoon with a 1 1/2-mile walk through the town’s historical homes and

establishments. Proceeds from the tour will go toward scholarships and a

new roof for the community center, where the volunteer firefighters work.

This quaint community of about 2,500 residents is virtually unknown. But

the small town has a full history that dates back to the turn of the

century, when the Sunset Beach Development Co. began selling parcels of

land for weekend cottages and cabins for duck hunters in 1904.

During the oil boom of the 1920s, Sunset Beach flourished. The train ran

through what is now the green belt along Pacific Avenue. Bootleggers

pulled their boats up on the beach. Duck hunters stayed in several of the

homes now on Bayview Drive on Sunset Island.

Almost a century later, the town has grown but hasn’t changed a whole

lot. During the 1970s, there was a prediction by the county that this

strip would be annexed by Huntington Beach or Seal Beach and would be

developed. The prediction was wrong.

There are still no schools, no churches and no libraries. Most of the

quiet area is filled with homes, each of a different shape, size and

color. Several of the houses have hand-painted flowers and fish. Paddles

and lifesavers hang outside. Some are refined, some funky.

Everything and everyone is welcome -- from million-dollar beachfront

homeowners to the smaller studios inhabited by surfers and artists.

“There’s not a social status thing here,” said George Chisler, a 27-year

resident who raised his family in the community.

Most of the businesses are restaurants and bars, with a few motels, some

surf shops and other smaller establishments. The only chain shops are a

Jack-In-The-Box at the town’s edge and a 7-Eleven.

“That was a big deal because it replaced Woody’s market,” said Dowis, who

remembers residents’ resistance to the neon signs along the highway.

Not too far from the 7-Eleven is o7 thef7 place: the post office. With

no mail delivery to any of the homes, everyone comes in to pick up their

mail. Notices of garage sales and local events are posted on the outside

bulletin board. The tiny room sometimes gets loud from all the chatter

between its occupants.

“Everybody knows everybody,” said Fredia Travis, one of the four women

who work at the post office. “There’s lots of love in Sunset Beach.”

The postal workers help spread some of that love themselves. During

December, they serve complimentary coffee and cookies. They will, on

occasion, personally deliver packages. They also help keep track of the

older residents and check on them if no one comes to pick up their mail.

This watchfulness extends to the residents, too. If someone is ill,

neighbors will no doubt be there with soup, ready to walk that person’s

pets, Dowis said.

Resident Kim Packer recalls when her son was missing for a few hours.

“Everyone was looking for him, the whole block shut off,” said Packer,

whose son was at the home of a new neighbor.

Neighbors have been known to reach out with this same courtesy and

concern for lost turtles and hamsters. This informal neighborhood watch

may be why there is so little crime.

“The biggest crime is someone drunk on a bicycle,” Ferris said.

This refuge from the hustle and bustle of the outside world is home to

many longtime residents who range from the very young to the very old,

from families to singles.

“There’s a privateness without the guarded gates. But there’s an openness

that we can go everywhere,” said Sylvia Ferris, who has lived on Sunset

Island for 13 years.

The community’s hot spots are Captain Jack’s -- a restaurant owned by the

late Jack Haley -- the Harbour House and Turc’s. Mother’s Tavern, which

used to be a speak-easy, attracts a crowd or motorcycle road warriors on

Sunday afternoons.

Sunset Beach is not a wild, loud party area like many other beach towns.

But that doesn’t mean there aren’t parties.

“Here on the island, it’s not unusual to have an impromptu barbecue in

the street,” Ferris said.

Fond memories for Bill Lovelace, a 20-year resident, are the “Clam Jams”

he used to throw in the late 1970s and early 1980s for his neighbors. The

parties would round up the locals for music, volleyball, bikini contests

and kegs. He eventually ended the bashes when too many outside residents

started attending, pushing the parties out of control.

Some of the traditional events that have continued are the Fireman’s Ball

in the fall, the Sunset Beach Arts Festival in May, the Christmas Parade

and the Pancake Breakfast in July.

“The Charm, the Funk and the Elegance of Sunset Beach” tour will take

place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. There will be a light lunch.

Tickets are $20, or two for $35 in advance. They can be purchased at the

Community Lot at 12th Street and North Pacific Avenue, or in advance by

calling (562) 592-5913 or (310) 660-0909.