{"id":319064,"date":"2023-01-27T08:39:27","date_gmt":"2023-01-27T16:39:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sdnews.com\/?p=319064"},"modified":"2023-01-25T11:44:40","modified_gmt":"2023-01-25T19:44:40","slug":"new-book-explores-culture-of-surfing-and-growing-up-in-ob","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/new-book-explores-culture-of-surfing-and-growing-up-in-ob\/","title":{"rendered":"New book explores culture of surfing and growing up in OB"},"content":{"rendered":"

A. Lee Brown, Jr.\u00a0describes being rocked in the cradle of the emerging surf culture by his mentors while growing up in Point Loma and Ocean Beach during the \u201950s and \u201960s in \u201cCradle of Bitchin: A Story of Mentors, Watermen, and The Sea.\u201d<\/p>\n

A retired professor emeritus with a Ph.D., Brown\u2019s latest work is a firsthand account of what he characterizes as \u201cone of the most wonderful decades in human history to be young and alive.\u201d<\/p>\n

Joking that he is \u201cnot just a geezer,\u201d the octogenarian said his new work is a remembrance celebrating the theme of \u201cgrowing up back in the day in a Southern California coastal community emphasizing the many mentors \u2013 older beach boys, lifeguards, and watermen \u2013 who taught us invaluable life lessons.\u201d<\/p>\n

To capture the timeless moments of his youth, Brown draws upon personal experience offering anecdotal incidents, oceanic adventures, interaction with older mentors, friends, and lifeguarding to illustrate his points. In so doing, he provides a humorous and enlightening portrait of the beach culture of those times.<\/p>\n

In \u201cCradle,\u201d the author stresses the importance of mentoring in the development of a just and moral culture. He praises the Polynesian tradition of respecting experienced elders for their water skills and willingness to guide and direct a younger generation.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were prominent people, a good 10 years older than the rest of us then,\u201d said Brown of his mentors adding, under their guidance, he and his pals learned to surf, dive, sail, and explore the sea\u2019s extensive bounty as well as acquiring a deep respect for the sea\u2019s power and moods.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is a tale of how such an alternative curriculum broadened the traditional lessons of family, school, and religion resulting in a rich and rewarding life,\u201d Brown added.<\/p>\n

\u201cCradle explains how growing up on Point Loma, in the village of OB, instilled a sense of awe, joy, and self-confidence, emotions that served as beacons throughout life,\u201d concludes Brown on his website, www.aleebrown.com<\/a>. \u201cIt is a story chock full of humor, successes, and blunders, not to mention quirky characters whose attire, music, and values created an infectious way of life influencing the rest of America beyond Southern California.\u201d<\/p>\n

Brown recounts surfing in OB during the formative days of the sport, riding waves on a 10-foot wooden Redwood plank he paid $10 for, which took two people to carry to the beach because it was so heavy.<\/p>\n

Concerning the term bitchin\u2019 in his book title, Brown noted, \u201cIt was a very common word in the contrarianism (cultural rejection) of the \u201950s and \u201960s that meant \u2018good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Noting the post-World War II era was characterized by more prosperous economic times and opportunity, Brown praised his watermen mentors for \u201ceducating us into the code of the sea and its moods. It was more than just surfing. It was learning ethics and a sense of values, as well as learning how to dive to get abalones and lobsters. It was a whole way of life.\u201d<\/p>\n

Asked what he\u2019d like readers to take away from reading the book, Brown said there are two things. \u201cOne is just the sense of the history of the times of OB and other similar coastal communities. The other is the real role that mentors can play in helping youth navigate the treacherous shoals of adolescence. That is really what these mentors did.\u201d<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

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 <\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A. Lee Brown, Jr.\u00a0describes being rocked in the cradle of the emerging surf culture by his mentors while growing up in Point Loma and Ocean Beach during the \u201950s and \u201960s in \u201cCradle of Bitchin: A Story of Mentors, Watermen, and The Sea.\u201d A retired professor emeritus with a Ph.D., Brown\u2019s latest work is a […]<\/p>","protected":false},"author":840,"featured_media":319065,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"11561","_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"A. Lee Brown, Jr.\u00a0describes being rocked in the cradle of the emerging surf culture by his mentors while growing up in Point Loma and Ocean Beach during the \u201950s and \u201960s in \u201cCradle of Bitchin: A Story of Mentors, Watermen, and The Sea.\u201d","_seopress_robots_index":"","jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":{"source_name":"","source_url":"","via_name":"","via_url":"","override_template":"0","override":[{"template":"3","single_blog_custom":"","parallax":"1","fullscreen":"1","layout":"right-sidebar","sidebar":"default-sidebar","second_sidebar":"default-sidebar","sticky_sidebar":"1","share_position":"top","share_float_style":"share-monocrhome","show_share_counter":"1","show_view_counter":"1","show_featured":"1","show_post_meta":"1","show_post_author":"1","show_post_author_image":"1","show_post_date":"1","post_date_format":"default","post_date_format_custom":"Y\/m\/d","show_post_category":"1","show_post_reading_time":"1","post_reading_time_wpm":"300","show_zoom_button":"1","zoom_button_out_step":"2","zoom_button_in_step":"3","show_post_tag":"1","show_prev_next_post":"1","show_popup_post":"1","number_popup_post":"1","show_author_box":"1","show_post_related":"1","show_inline_post_related":"0"}],"override_image_size":"0","image_override":[{"single_post_thumbnail_size":"crop-500","single_post_gallery_size":"crop-500"}],"trending_post":"0","trending_post_position":"meta","trending_post_label":"Trending","sponsored_post":"0","sponsored_post_label":"Sponsored by","sponsored_post_name":"","sponsored_post_url":"","sponsored_post_logo_enable":"0","sponsored_post_logo":"","sponsored_post_desc":"","disable_ad":"0"},"jnews_primary_category":{"id":"","hide":""},"jnews_social_meta":{"fb_title":"","fb_description":"","fb_image":"","twitter_title":"","twitter_description":"","twitter_image":""},"jnews_override_counter":{"override_view_counter":"0","view_counter_number":"0","override_share_counter":"0","share_counter_number":"0","override_like_counter":"0","like_counter_number":"0","override_dislike_counter":"0","dislike_counter_number":"0"},"footnotes":""},"categories":[11549,11547,11561],"tags":[15048,15049,12547,12546,12792,12704],"class_list":["post-319064","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-arts-entertainment","category-features","category-peninsula-beacon","tag-1950s","tag-cradle-of-bitchin","tag-ocean-beach","tag-point-loma","tag-southern-california","tag-surfing"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319064","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/840"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=319064"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/319064\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/319065"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=319064"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=319064"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.sdnews.com\/es\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=319064"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}