Whats the deal with Ocean Beach/ "Loser Beach" (San Diego: condos, house)

[lrmsd]

Originally Posted by pballnc

Whats the deal with OB and being full of meth heads, bust outs, homeless, and weirdos????
Why do the police do nothing about it???
What happened here that it turned into a loser haven?
I like OB a lot, greats views, cool shops. but its the trouble makers that make me not want to go anywhere around here after dark.

Public Drug Use Upsets Ocean Beach Residents - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

Old time OB'ers still think OB is the 'hippie bohemian enclave' of SD,which it WAS,decades ago. It also felt like an enclave still back then-you had to drive in and out of it,and Pt Loma did not feel like it was part of OB,pratically.[if felt more remote,when i say that you had to drive in and out of it. I'm not sure when the 8 was built/extended to OB,either. Either way,it was more of an enclave like LJ or PB,back then].

OB really had that aspect to it,and people go there, on the history of the place,projecting that image onto it b/c the long time residents like to think it's still 'free OB' instead of dangerous OB.

OB People's food co-op,San Diego's only food cooperative,is still there,and a few years back moved into a huge new building.

But that gives you an indicator of what OB used to be-in the 70's,people got together and started a food co-op;OB was hippie part of SD,laid back beach culture.

btw,People's is AWESOME. Great deli and great store,and great people who work there;it's the only reason I personally drive to OB.

Will OB change?
Not as long as folks w/egos take 'pride' in superficial ideas like OB is hippie b/c some people have dreadlocks in OB,and homeless crazies are endearing.
The reality is that OB is an identity crisis in progress.

To me,it's just part of 'the city' now,pt loma,etc. Not a unique pretty community.

I agree-about cringing when people suggest OB to a family moving to SD,or to anyone,really. [where's a liberal family friendly part of SD? Why,OB,you will love it there! Not!]...But this is what i mean: people project their own idea of what they WANT OB to be,instead of what it really is. And this keeps perpetuating itself with newcomers,and the old timers who are still stuck on the past/what OB was.

There are plenty of other surfer/bohemian vibe places in SD that I'd recommend-encinitas,PB even over OB,leucadia,etc. North park for artsy.
I jsut don't find anything cool about OB anymore. True,the houses off the main area are very upscale,esp. in price...but like someone said,why live somewhere that you don't enjoy being,if outside your house?
And who would swim at OB,given the choice of all the beautiful beaches in SD? There are syringes on the sand oftentimes,etc.
It's like a live wire in OB,very unpredictable with violence,drugs,instability,etc.

I'd rather have something safe and pristine,even if it is less trendy in appearance,or less edgy.

I guess maybe the police DO like to keep folks congregated in one area,ie,OB.
Maybe that is smartr???

I had thought that w/the alcohol ban on the beaches,many had migrated from OB and PB,into hillcrired of est/normal heights. This was in the news,plus I saw it first hand in normal heights/HC when living there. Ridiculous meth,violence [one dude offed himself in broad daylight,at 2:30 in the afternoon-homeless guy who got tired of it all,i guess,shot himself right in the park on adams ave.]
Fortunately,I took my son to starbucks that day before we went to the park,and when we got there,the police had it coroned off.my son said 'they are probably trimming the trees,right?'
um.right.
and then an older kid/young teen we knew,told us what had happened;he had seen it!
I am not exagerrating-many areas of the city are getting rougher,unfortunately. And meth's a huge issue.
Apparently,however,the migration to hillcrest and that area has not decreased the presence in OB of unpredictable folks and behavior patterns. Unfortunately.

[sdurbanite]

Originally Posted by Jenkay

I actually feel less safe in OB than I do in North Park. Every time I'm down there I feel like I'm running a gamut of tweekers, dropouts, and junkies.

That's why I *cringe* every time I see someone suggestin OB as a nice beach area for people thinking of moving here- I know it's not like that so much when you get back into the residential areas (away from the beach), but why would you want to live somewhere where your main commercial/shopping area is an area you don't want to hang out in?

Yeah, if you are woman, it probably IS safer to be in North Park than OB. And you are right, the further away you are from Newport Ave and the beach itself at night, it's another world.

[sav858]

I generally don't like a lot of the scuzzy characters you see in OB but I don't feel it's that dangerous and as someone who is mixed race I've never had a problem with that there either.

I go to OB once a week, eat at their restaurants every couple of weeks, I've gone out to the bars there before several times in the past. The farmers market there on Wed night is good too. There are some shady characters but I still feel the majority of people there are fine and very hippyish/laid back. I've never had problems there. Aside from some of the characters you see there I don't really get what people are making such a big deal out of. It's no more dangerous or that different than Venice Beach, Haight-Ashbury, Telegraph, etc.. But if you generally don't like those types of places you probably won't like OB either.

[pballnc]

it isn't the laid back/hippy feel of OB that is sketchy, that part of it's cool. it's the junkies, homeless and schitzo's that you see yelling at the stop signs on the corner that they do nothing about that make OB sketchy.

[sav858]

^I know what you mean, I guess I just accept it as part of the territory. I get the same feeling when I'm in Venice, Telegraph, Haight. Those "tolerant" communities can be too damn tolerant sometimes imo. There was a recent article about the new, wealthier yuppie residents of the Haight getting real fed up with the crap there similar to OB. I guess OB just doesn't have the demographics that want to take action and clean it up.

[mossomo]

The bums give it character and keep the bougie away.

[Oerdin]

Originally Posted by pballnc

Whats the deal with OB and being full of meth heads, bust outs, homeless, and weirdos????
Why do the police do nothing about it???
What happened here that it turned into a loser haven?
I like OB a lot, greats views, cool shops. but its the trouble makers that make me not want to go anywhere around here after dark.

Public Drug Use Upsets Ocean Beach Residents - San Diego News Story - KGTV San Diego

OB is kind of like a PB for older middle aged folks. It's historically filled with pot smoking hippies, beach bums, and folks who wanted to live near the beach but couldn't really afford any where else. There is also a large population of people in their mid to late 20's and you get the kind of stuff that comes along with those sorts of demographics.

As for "cleaning it out" San Diego has community policing where each neighborhood or area gets input over policing policy and many of the folks who live there don't want to be cleaned out. If you're looking for gentrified beach front property then there is a ton of it in north county and you'd probably be happier in those areas culture wise. Personally, I say viva la difference even if I'd never move to OB myself (I had my fill of that sort of stuff back in college living in Isla Vista).

[Oerdin]

Originally Posted by pballnc

that just boggles my mind that a community wouldn't want to do anything ya know, it seems that if you were to clean it up it would be really enjoyable area to hang out in. i guess some people just have rocks in there head.

A difference of opinion really. A lot of the "losers" there want to live the classic beach bum life style idolized in movies and pop culture and know they could never afford to live there if the area was gentrified. They like the low price and the beach front location they can afford so they take actions to keep the culture the same as the one which originally attracted them to the area. Sure, it's not my cup of tea but I won't tell them how to run their neighborhood.

[Jenkay]

Originally Posted by Oerdin

A difference of opinion really. A lot of the "losers" there want to live the classic beach bum life style idolized in movies and pop culture and know they could never afford to live there if the area was gentrified. They like the low price and the beach front location they can afford so they take actions to keep the culture the same as the one which originally attracted them to the area. Sure, it's not my cup of tea but I won't tell them how to run their neighborhood.

That's the thing, though- I can't imagine the culture is the same.

Even in the 80s it was going downhill- hell, when I'd be at the beach with my family as a teenager I couldn't walk to the bathrooms by myself without some creepy older dude offering me speed or weed, and it happened to most of my friends, too. That's not really what I think of as the "classic beach bum style", and as far as I can tell it's just stagnated from there.

[sav858]

Originally Posted by lrmsd

Not as long as folks w/egos take 'pride' in superficial ideas like OB is hippie b/c some people have dreadlocks in OB,and homeless crazies are endearing.
The reality is that OB is an identity crisis in progress.

But this is what i mean: people project their own idea of what they WANT OB to be,instead of what it really is. And this keeps perpetuating itself with newcomers,and the old timers who are still stuck on the past/what OB was.

OB is what it is and just b/c you don't like it doesn't change that. You seem to be trying to project what you think OB is onto others by arguing that others don't realize what OB is "really" like, from this thread most people obviously do. Considering most people do feel that it is a hippy type place, including those that live there, it pretty much is. It's identity is pretty clear.

I agree-about cringing when people suggest OB to a family moving to SD,or to anyone,really.

If you have spent much time on this forum you would seen pretty much no one ever recommends families move to OB. And if a single person or childless couple is looking for the type of neighborhood OB is, then why wouldn't it be recommended? OB is EXACTLY what some people want.