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It's a nice drive from Fort Point to Ocean Beach: along Baker Beach (no surf), past the ritzy Seacliff neighborhood (Robin Williams lives in here somewhere) through the Presidio, along a nice golf course with a million-dollar view of the Golden Gate and the Marin Headlands, left at the Palace of the Legion of Honor and out into the civilized world. Down Geary Street to Cliff House, the civilized world ends and the natural world begins, dramatically. Turn a corner and -- pow! -- there's the Pacific Ocean in all its glory.
That turn at Ocean Beach is always dramatic because, to steal a phrase from Forrest Gump, Ocean Beach is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you're going to get. Ocean Beach is the most emotional stretch of beach in all of California, and perhaps the world, because it's located dead center in the middle of California, and it's open to every burble and bellow from the north and the south. The winds are dynamic, but the real factor is the tide. All that water moving in and out of the Golden Gate sweeps up and down Ocean Beach with enough force to dislocate swell and shift sandbars from hour to hour. Ocean Beach has many, many moods, from the manic ecstasy of clear, blue offshore fall days to the gloom and doom of stormy winter, windy spring and gray summer. There is no stretch of ocean in California that changes as much from hour to hour, day to day and season to season as Ocean Beach.
When Ocean Beach is on, you will see three miles of shifting, meaty, dark-green offshore peaks, from head-high to triple-overhead, cannonading the surf zone from south, west and north. A perfect day at Ocean Beach can be a mind-boggling sight, a mile after mile of perfect surf, with scattered humans doing their best to paddle through the impact zone, make it out the back and catch one of the buggers.
On a lot of days at Ocean Beach, just getting out can be a major accomplishment. Depending on swell and tide and sandbar, on many days there is a 200-yard "zone of death" in between the beach and the lineup. It can be as hard to get off the beach and out to sea for a surfer as it was for a marine to get from sea to shore on the beaches of Normandy. It takes knowledge, skill, strength and courage, but the deciding factor on a lot of days is still dumb luck.
Make it outside, and there are rewards, but your troubles aren't necessarily over. A good day at Ocean Beach is as good as any beachbreak in the world, but the good peaks here have a maddening quality of always being 50 yards away from where you're sitting. Even good surfers who surf the place all the time will get skunked, catching maybe one or two waves an hour, while paddling back and forth, trying to hunt down the big, shifting beasts.
Ocean Beach is bordered by Kelly's Cove on the north end and Sloat Street on the south end. In between are three miles of beachbreaks, which become emptier and lonelier from north to south. There is lots parking from Kelly's Cove down to VFW's in front of Golden Gate Park. At Lincoln Avenue, the parking lot ends, the dunes begin and the streets become alphabetical, beginning at Irving and running all the way to Wawona. You have to park along La Playa or Great Highway the Lesser to walk across Great Highway the Greater to get to the beach. Remember to look both ways as you cross Great Highway because traffic goes by fast.
-- Ben Marcus
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varies with swell and sandbar and part of the beach
NW, W, SW
waist-high to triple overhead
E
1 to 10
sand
intermediate to iron man
shortboard to rhino chaser
fall and winter
Public parking on the north and south ends. Parking in the avenues for the rest of it.
Despite a long 3 mile beach, crowds are steadily increasing.
Small days see some attitude
10, if it's solid overhead
3
Frozen foreheads, noodle arm, broken boards, clean-up sets, and the current
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To replenish calories after three hard hours in the briny, there's a Burger King and a small store that sells gyros behind Kelly's Cove. There is also a Safeway hidden away back there.
Back in the day, The Beach Chalet was a wild biker and surfer bar leased out by the Veterans of Foreign Wars. Now it's a sedate but popular breakfast place, with a view of the surf. The Beach Chalet: 415-386-8439.
Java Beach (415-665-5282) is a good place for a cup of joe and the Chronicle and some sun on your face as you watch the characters go by. It's one of the few businesses along Ocean Beach at Judah Street.
For breakfast and lunch, the guys at SF Surf Shop recommend The Sea Biscuit on Noriega.
There are some Chinese and pizza places up Taraval and, if you have a cast-iron stomach, you can risk the Doggie Diner on Ocean Avenue. Matt Warshaw recommends the Bangkok House (415-566-6143) for Thai food. It's at Taraval and 28th.
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To be close to the action, there are a couple of motels along Ocean Beach. Right along the beach, the Great Highway Inn is a little steep at $110 to $125 a night, but it's easy walking distance from a long, hard paddle. Check out www.greathwy.com. Phone is 415-731-6644.
The Ocean View Motel at Great Highway has rooms with a view starting at $45 a night. Contact it at 415-661-2300 or plug into www.oceanviewmotel.com.
At the other end of Ocean Beach, the Ocean Park Motel allows you to "hear foghorns from our hot tub by the beach." Call 415-566-7020 or plug into www.oceanparkmotel.citysearch.com.
The Queen Anne B and B in Pacific Heights is a popular choice if you're with a significant other.
There are hundreds of other places to stay in the city, but these are closest to the beach. Farther on down the coast, there are a number of youth hostels in scenic places. Even if you're not low-rolling it, these hostels are still a good deal, located in places you could never put a bed and breakfast or a hotel.
Or try
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There isn't much to do around Ocean Beach except surf. The Fleishacker Zoo is down on the south end if you want to go monkey around. Hang out along the avenues long enough, and you might catch a glimpse of renowned high-falsetto crooner Chris Isaak, cruising in his surf buggy, putting white shit on his face and paddling out. Avoid the bathrooms at the end of Taraval, they are an infamous trysting spot for homosexuals -- not that there's anything wrong with that.
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Bob Wise Surfboards is the longest-established surf shop at Ocean Beach. The current shop is on Great Highway, before Golden Gate Park: 415-750-9473. SF Surf Shop is the only shop that makes custom boards, shaped by John Schultze. It's at 3809 Noriega St. and the phone is 415-661-7873. Web site is www.SFSurfShop.com. At the Sloat Avenue end, Aqua Surf Shop is well stocked and across from the zoo. (415) 242-9283.)
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