A special monthly meeting was recently held by the Ocean Beach Historical Society on Nov.16 at St. Peter’s By The Sea Lutheran Church. Members and guests met at the beautiful church hall across from Sunset Cliffs for the premier showing of the new movie: “O.B. Walkabout-Talkabout.”
Board members Kathy and Ray Blavatt produced the film, starring Dean Hollenbeck, exclusively for the OB Historical Society Archive Library.
Ocean Beach is known for its characters, and Hollenbeck is one of many known around the beach community. Basically, Hollenbeck loves to walk and talk. At 89 years old, Hollenbeck sometimes walks up to 16 miles a day, depending on how many people he stops to talk to.
Kathy and Ray Blavatt filmed Hollenbeck on several of his daily ventures as he spoke with other interesting longtime OBceans. These discussions were actually of historical interest as the tales and histories of living in OB for many years were shared with Hollenbeck.
Hollenbeck moved to Ocean Beach in 1948 and shares a lot of his history with those he meets on his daily walks.
Living history is unique to this community by the fact that so many moved here long ago, fell in love with Ocean Beach, and made this their home for life. Now they have the opportunity to share their stories with Hollenbeck and the OB Historical Society.
Featured film guests included Flickie Dormer, Virginia Davis, Shoeshine Willie, and Darlene the Garden Lady.