Ocean Beach I: Sand and Shore

North Avenue Beach. Riis Park and the Rockaways. Jones Beach. Coney Island. These are the beaches, in Chicago and New York City, that I have personally gotten to know well. They are the spaces along water in which I have spent many special times over many years.

And then there is Ocean Beach.

For me, San Francisco's largest beach was love at first sight, long ago in 1989 when I deliberately laid eyes on it during my very first visit to the beautiful, legendary city by the bay. After touring as much of the city as I could, I drove to Ocean Beach in my rented car, down Fulton Street along Golden Gate Park, arriving before sunset. I am naturally drawn to sea, sand and shore but it was the first time in my life that I ever saw the Pacific Ocean. I was mesmerized and I never forgot it. I had seen so much that fascinated me but Ocean Beach was one of the true highlights of my life up to that point (before I had visited other places that also held intense value for me). It seemed so right, a beach at the end of a magnificent park, named so simply but perfectly after the ocean it faces and embraces.

above and below, Ocean Beach

San Francisco

1989

Astonishingly, but much to my dismay, it took me another 30 years to see my beloved Ocean Beach again. I was so determined to make it a centerpiece of my visit that this time I chose to stay in a motel directly across from the beach during the entirety of my return visit to San Francisco. I wanted to immerse myself in its blue, salt water magic, its unique marriage of urban edge and natural power. The familiar sound of the waves and the endless expanse of sky were a reward that I intended to experience repeatedly at the end of each day after seeing the rest of a city that was like a long lost lover.

I crossed the Great Highway, a road that had haunted my dreams for years, and let each step sink into the beach during the day. I traveled up Point Lobos Avenue to and beyond the Cliff House toward Sutro Baths and turned around for stunning views of the beach as far as the eye can see. Damn, man, I was happy.

That was just in the daytime. When I returned at sunset (twice), I encountered even more of the true spirit of Ocean Beach, which matched my own soul.