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After 7 decades, “The Green Store” at 22nd St. and Hermosa Ave. Hermosa Beach, Ca. is closing…
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“Signs of life, the way we were…” My favorite quote from this site…
“Told your parents that you were staying over at your girlfriend’s house, and they did the same, when actually we were with girls and boys, drinking some Boone’s Farm, burning an old surfboard at 8th Street and sleeping overnight on the beach in sleeping bags, back when that was safe.”
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I lived right across the street from The Green Store in Hermosa Beach, Ca from late 1965 to early 1968… The Facebook page “growing up in Hermosa & Manhattan Beach…” has given me tears for more than one reason. These were the years following my tour of duty in the US Navy when the ocean and surfing was dear to my heart. It was healing to be on the ocean as it is today on the Central Oregon Coast these many years later. My first daughter, Deanna, was born on this day July 15, 1968. She still lives just a few miles away from Hermosa Beach near Pt. Fermin Park with her husband James See. My son-in-law James See is a surfing legend and makes the well known “Onion” brand surf boards near Pt Fermin Park…
I called my daughter Deanna and James last night to say Happy Birthday to my “little girl.” We talked along time about “the way we were” back in the day. James wanted to know where we lived after Deanna (Dee) was born in Redondo Beach, Ca. Deanna reminded me that she used to give me a towel when she was a toddler after hitting the waves in Hermosa Beach way back then…
I cried with joy thinking about back in the day when all the dreams were just getting started and also the big challenges that always go with us during our journey in life. It is a blessing to be around today at the prime age of 67 to enjoy the power of social media. Without this magical technology it would have been nearly impossible to reconnect with so many old friends in Hermosa Beach, including some of the legendary surf dudes, we all admired…Greg Noll, Mike Purpus, Bing Copeland, Hap Jacobs, and Dewey Weber to name a few… I put Greg Noll in front because I bought my very first surfboard from Greg right around 1960 at his shop on Pier Ave., and PCH. And now, it really bothers so many of us with Hermosa Beach roots to see The Green Store closing. Change is good in my view. But there are just some things very special in life that you don’t want to see changed, and The Green Store is on my list…
Happy Birthday to my loving daughter, Deanna Sparks See!
Steve Sparks
Author
Reconciliation: A Son’s Story click to order…
