Origins of San Diego Beach Breaks

General Discussion
1

Hey everyone,

This post is for anyone with some knowledge of San Diego. I’m working on a project for an anthropology course, Surf Culture and History, to find and name all the beach breaks from Cardiff to Ralphs (Point Loma). However the real hard part of the project is understanding the origins of the names. I’ve found some interesting things about a couple of places and was hoping for any kind of help.

So far my list is as follows:

Cardiff, George’s, Seaside, Tabletops,

Solana Beach: Fletcher’s Cove, South Side, Seascape Surf,

Del Mar: Dog Beach, Del Mar proper (29 to 15th street), Gutters (11th st), Old Man’s (8th st), hole in the wall (1 and 2)

Torrey Pines: North Torrey, Rivermouth, South Torrey, Flat Rock, Rock Piles

Blacks

Scripps Pier, Scripps, La Jolla Shores,

La Jolla Reefs: Princess St, Devil’s Slide, La Jolla Cove, Boomer Beach, Veggies, Casa, Wipeout Beach, Hospitals, Horseshoes, Marine St, Dunemere Reef, Little Point, Simmon’s Reef, Windansea, Big Rock, North Brid Rock, Little Makaha, South Bird Rock, Hermo’s

Pacific Beach: PB Point, Tourmaline (Old Man’s), Crystal Pier, PB. . .

Mission Beach: MB. . . South Jetty

Ocean Beach: OB Jetty, Avalanches, OB Pier,

Sunset Cliffs: Orchard St, Pescadero, Adair St, Tivoli St, J’s Spot, Osprey, Birdshit, No Surf, Needles, Indicators, Luscomb’s, Rockslide,

                North Garbage, South Garbage, Subs, Abs, Newbreak, Chasms, 33s, Pill Box, . . ., Dolphin Tanks, Ralph's

If you have any info on the origins of these names (or any other names) please let me know.

2

I think i speak for alot of people when i say Fletcher’s Cove is better known as “Pillbox”…

3

I know why Birdshit is called Birdshit. It’s pretty obvious, if you’ve ever seen it. Back in the day we used to call the river mouth in Del Mar the (derogatory term deleted)'s A**hole because it smelled so bad… now you call it Dog Beach? Whatever.

I can’t believe anyone could get college credit for this stuff, though. While interesting its hardly academic.

4

Huricane Harbor…

From north to south…Somewhere in San Diego

Shipman’s ,Eddie’s reef,New house,The reef ,The Lot ,Hole in the fence , Roundy round, Dip in the road ,Dead mans ,Trailers…Ten miles of beaches I won’t name…Snake pit ,sewers, Crown Point? ,Hair Mo’s , Pickleweed Point, Jay’s ,Ray Bay ,Bird Shit Rock ,Point Loma…Not in order…Go surfing…

5

Glad to see my favorite spot, where I have been surfing for 50yrs, STILL HAS NOT MADE ANY LIST. “See’s reef”, not to many of us left who know where and why. Gonna keep it that way.

7

Jay,

You’ve been doing your homework. Few people know of Hogan’s. But, do you know the FULL name for Hogan’s. Or did you censor you post, so as not to offend the sensitive members of the forum?

8

My favorite name origin for one of the spots on the list is the myth/fact the spot was created by an earthquake. I’m not comfortable talking about or any type of ‘advertizing’ specific surf spots on public forums, however. Good luck with your project.

Keith, I got college credit in anthropology for a paper I wrote on a Reggae concert. It wasn’t very interesting, I admit. Mike

10

Thanks for your posts,

I had previously considered that this might be a bit of a touchy subject, but I figured that anyone savvy enough to be using Swaylocks isn’t going to mob a place they’ve never been to just because they now know the name. Posting the list was really just to refresh memories about the origins of the names. There’s a lot of history in a name, and some of these places I just have no clue where they come from.

Obviously, most places are named after landmarks or some geographical feature, but certain names give no hint to it’s location (which I’m sure is at least part of the reason for the name).

I know almost nothing about Solana Beach breaks, and very little about some of the reefs in La Jolla and Point Loma.

These are the spots I know of, but don’t know the origin of the names:

Devil’s Slide, Boomers Beach, Dunemere Reef, Hermo’s, Luscomb’s, Subs, Abs, Newbreak, Ralphs (and of course some of the names you all came up with).

11

I have a friend that lives a few blocks from Hogan’s. He rarely ventures beyond it. He’s the only one that lays claim to getting head high surf when the rest of the coast is flat. The frequency that he surfs the place is a running joke with my friends.

12
Quote:

Jay,

You’ve been doing your homework. Few people know of Hogan’s. But, do you know the FULL name for Hogan’s. Or did you censor you post, so as not to offend the sensitive members of the forum?

Hogan’s ****l

15

no comment

16

My cryptographic skills tell me that you got it right!

17
Quote:

Hey everyone,

This post is for anyone with some knowledge of San Diego. I’m working on a project for an anthropology course, Surf Culture and History, to find and name all the beach breaks from Cardiff to Ralphs (Point Loma). However the real hard part of the project is understanding the origins of the names. I’ve found some interesting things about a couple of places and was hoping for any kind of help.

If you have any info on the origins of these names (or any other names) please let me know.

Is this for a paper or a website exposing every spot in San Diego.

My friends in San Diego are none too happy about this website.

18

"My friends in San Diego are none too happy about this website. "

I agree, the last thing some of those spots need is internet publicity - so why are you telling more people about it???

(I’d never heard of it until you posted the URL, maybe you should delete it.)

19

Just letting people know they may be getting baited.

20

A few years ago the Union Trib did an article on Luscomb’s being named after Rod Luscomb who wasn’t a great surfer but when driving past would always say, why don’t we go out there. They interviewed him and I beleive he did not even know it was named after him. Might have been a Terry Rogers column where they interviewed Mouse.