The Pier

Since I started this blog, I have purchased a few Manhattan Beach history books, complete with old photos and they have generated some reminiscing. So, if you don’t mind, I may just meander around in my memories for awhile…hoping not to repeat myself.

One of the notable landmarks in Manhattan Beach is the pier. The main east/west road (Center Street) traveled directly to the pier and its location defined all locations in town, you were either north or south of the pier.

As a young boy, age 7, I would often walk down to the pier to go fishing. You didn’t need a pole or even a license. Most fishermen my age would use a simple gadget, a square wooden framework that held about 50 feet of deep green cotton fishing line, a lead sinker and a hook. Holding the wooden frame loosely, you could let the line revolve off of the frame. To retrieve the line, you wound it back on, a few inches at a time. Not at all high tech, but you could buy one at Oscar’s Bait shop for about a dime. And another dime would get you a package of sardines for bait. Or you could patrol the pier and easily find enough abandoned sardines to cut bait from.

My favorite place to fish was out near the end. Close by, there were wooden steps that led down to a floating dock. This had been used for a shuttle boat that took fishermen out to a barge, anchored further out and in prime fishing waters. Since the barge was no longer operating, you weren’t allowed to descend the stairs, but I enjoyed watching the waves swirl around the dock. And I imagined that the fish would be hanging out near its shelter.

I would spend the entire day on that pier if I could. Usually catching perch and mackerel. Once in awhile I would catch a Sand Dab, but those were only caught close to the surf line and that made keeping your hook baited problematic.

The big attraction for fishermen on the pier was presence of the halibut. And they were only caught at the end of the pier. There had been stories that small boys had caught very large halibut with just the same kind of fishing rig I used…though I had never met one of those boys. But I could certainly dream!

When one of those halibut were caught, we all ran, men and boys, to the spot where the lucky fisherman was battling his catch. A large round net was always available to slide under the fish and someone would always help the angler to get the fish from the water to the top of the pier, a distance of 20 feet or more.