I like going down Pacific Coast Highway from Ventura in route to LAX… had to take family there this past week.

It was a nice warm summer day and as we went past Zuma Beach. Seeing the crowd of beach goers along that stretch of sand brought back memories.  When I was growing up Zuma was the beach the family would go to for day trips. That’s the beach I got really interested in waves… body surfing, playing around in the surf. Skim boarding and laying around in the sand.  I got stung by a bee that was stuck in the wet sand along the waters edged one time too.  That hurt.

I don’t quite know what the attraction is of the place.  Everyone that goes there has to drive some distance… a serious destination spot.  The wind will start to blow almost everyday  by 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. and a decent summer south swell will beat the crap out of you.  But, nice rest rooms and changing rooms a good size snack bar, life guards. 

It had to be an hour’s drive from where we lived, even still when the family took off for a day at Zuma Beach I couldn’t wait to get there. Except for the one time when my sister fell off my skim board and got the wind knocked out of her which meant that we all had to pack up and go home… only after being there for maybe an hour, every time we went to Zuma it was fun.

No body really surfed the spot until the late sixties. I’ve surfed there a few times, always when it was pretty small and never got it on one of those good days I’d hear about from time to time.  Seems now if you go by the place in the morning on any day there are guys surfing the north end.  Sometimes it does get good, and I’m sure that if I drove by the place on a regular basis I’d surf there when it got good and have a lot more good memories of Zuma Beach.

D.R.