When it rains it pours! Another Cal Porter gem for you all to enjoy on a Sunday in December.
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WHO AM I ?
The First
Installment in the Lifeguard Guessing Game
The Clues
The first time I saw this young teenager he was swimming and
bodysurfing with a group of his school buddies to the south of my station on
the beach. It was a moderately rough day
and I was watching but I wasn’t particularly worried about them; every one of
them seemed quite at home in the water. But
I wondered about them since this was a school day; the Spring of 1950 I believe,
and I didn’t see a school bus. Some of
the kids showed some pretty good wave riding ability, especially one of them
who was picking up some nice angles.
After a good session most of them left the water, and after some
roughhouse horseplay in the sand, one
of them, the angler, came hobbling over to my station with a bloody foot. It was a nasty looking slice, probably from a
sharp object or piece of glass in the sand, and I told him I would clean it up
and first-aid it but maybe a doctor would think a stitch or two would be in
order. In chatting with him and then
making out the report I learned that the group was the swimming team from
Black-Foxe Military Academy located in Hollywood on Wilcox Ave, adjacent to the
Wilshire Country Club.
Any Guesses Yet?
Black-Foxe was a well known academy and a lot of movie star
offsprings went there, including the sons of Charlie Chaplin, Bing Crosby,
Betty Davis and baseball’s, Joe DiMaggio.
Dynasty’s Larry Hagman went there, as did stars Michael Douglas and Gene
Wilder and many others. I’m pretty sure
I one time swam for my high school team in the Black-Foxe pool, but that was
probably way back in the late 1930’s.
Anyway, when I asked my bloody new friend his name for the report I
recognized it immediately. He was a hot,
record breaking young high school swimmer and I had seen his name in results
frequently since I followed swimming diligently in those days. I immediately went into recruiting mode and
asked if he had ever thought of lifeguarding.
His answer was no so I launched into the glories of the profession, the
good pay, life on the beach and in the water, and the splendid opportunity to
meet girls. Sold! When he was old enough he took the test, passed
high, and that summer he came to work right there where I had met him and
patched him up, good old Zuma Beach. And
the rest of his career with the Los Angeles County Lifeguards is history. If you didn’t recognize him from the photo
above these clues should have wrapped it up long ago.
Cal
Cal
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*** Story by & Copyright Cal Porter 2012. All Rights Reserved. Photo courtesy of Cal. Used here with permission.
Thanks Cal !
10-4
Until next time.....
"County Recurrent" News
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| "Zuma Downhill". Photo by & Copyright Will Maguire 2012. |
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