Two Mission Beach old-timers, Terry Curren and Phil Prather, have been having a great time collecting and scanning old photos of Mission Beach. In November 2006, the two were selected by Debbie Seracino, acquisition editor for Arcadia Publishing (AP) to assist in the publication of a photo book on Mission Beach.
“Arcadia Publishing specializes in photo histories of small towns and communities called ‘Images of America,'” Curren said.
Curren and Prather, have extensive photo albums of their youth in Mission Beach when the Bathhouse at Ocean Front Walk and Redondo Court was the “in” place for San Diego’s young beach-going crowd.
“High school and college students from all over the county came to old Mission to have fun at the beach,” Curren said. “Many of us are still friends after 50 or 60 years.”
Since signing the contract with AP in December, Curren and Prather have been asking everyone they know to share their photos of Mission Beach with them.
“The response has been great,” Curren said. “So far we’re getting pictures from 1915 to 1970 and scanning them immediately so we can return them right away. It’s been amazing what people have shared with us.”
Although the photos have been forthcoming, there are some gaps in the growing collection.
“We need photos of the store fronts in Old Mission like the old Piggly Wiggly and Safeway markets, Pappert’s Hardware Store, the Cave, the Driftwood Dining Room on Santa Clara Point, Mr. D’s coffee shop and the Frog In the Pond restaurant,” Curren said. “There also used to be a church on Venice Court and Mission Boulevard.”
Curren and Prather were selected by AP because a few years ago they and Steve Kovalcheck had put together a slide show of old Mission Beach photos on disc which they presented at the Mission Beach Woman’s Club (MBWC) for a fund-raiser.
According to Curren, the response was great and more than $1,500 was raised for the Santa Clara Recreation Center on Santa Clara Point to support their program for young people. When AP contacted the MBWC in a search for people who could work on a photo book of Mission Beach, Curren and Prather’s names were given.
“We’re not historians,” Prather said. “It’s a work of nostalgia which we wanted to do before all these old photos are lost. For Terry and me, it’s been a fun walk down Memory Lane.”
One of the problems they have encountered is that many families moved away beginning in the 1960s when property values began escalating and people just starting a family could buy much more space inland.
“Most of the kids don’t care about Mission Beach the way we do because they left the beach so young,” Prather said. “The number of kids growing up in Mission Beach now is probably less than 50, and most of the young people of college age are from all over the state and country. Even so, we’re sure that someday people will be glad we put this book together.”
Anyone who has old pictures of Mission Beach is urged to share them.
“It doesn’t matter if Aunt Minnie is in the foreground if the pictures show something interesting about Mission Beach in the background,” Curren said.
To contribute photos to “Images of America Mission Beach,” contact Curren at (619) 224-2730 or Prather at (858) 488-7805.
The deadline for contributing photos is April 15.