Here is how the story goes. Huge Mac Meda Convention at WindanSea. Cops like always were waiting out of sight, usually lined up like a fright train somewhere in Bird Rock or at the top of Nautilus St; glued to their radios, tapping fingers on the dashboard, just waiting to bust underage drinkers.
And the wishful wish of finally put the end to the La Jolla outlaw drinking group that had been terrorizing the so-called respected citizens of La Jolla for the last 5-6 years. Oh my … such bad boys and girls of the beach life.
Unfortunately, one over excited and ambitious cop got a little too carried away and forgot about the sharp turns at the bottom of Nautilus and Bonair streets.
So, instead of flying off on to the shore break of WindanSea and/or a nice nose dive into the rocks and sand, this one elected to crank the wheel to take the sharp turn (smart man). He suddenly found himself rolling upside down under the sounds of screeching metal, breaking glass and tires popping. Oh yes, the hood found its way resting in a pile of dust.
The once spit-polishing clean AND very lovely, black and white rolled a couple of times and laid to rest like nicely freshly planted flowers on a grave, right in the red zone of WindanSea parking lot and in front of many WindanSea Wallers. The cop walked away a tad embarrassed and with a few bruises and scraps; hated to have been him the next day answering to his superiors.
Oh my … what “bitchen excitement” it was back in those good old days.
I once wrote an article for Longboard Magazine on Ronald patterson. I interviewed 10 guys in 4 different states. I noticed a trend with the La Jolla guys…not only did they know the cops’ first names…but they were on a first name basis with san Diego’s finest…
I haven’t heard “Gumball (or Bubble gum) Machine” for quite some time. My brother and I both had a paper routes and would get our papers under the canopy of Dick Wheeler’s 76 station (later at the Bird Rock Pharmacy). One morning we were semi-looting the tire weight bin in the back of the service bays. Not exactly a crime but SDPD was being run by Ray Hoobler and was close to the Gestapo, any questionable actions called for intimidation. When we spotted a cop car, looked at each other, whispered “Bubble gum machine” and hit the trail post haste. Our tag a long friend, who had been out of town for a year was not familiar with the term and stayed there. The cops hassled him about trespassing, etc. then let him go. When we hooked up later that day he was pissed because we did not warn him. He did not know the reference Bubble gum machine means cops. I think the term was La Jolla “Kid Speak” only.
Was this after the SDPD took the gum ball machines off the top of their squad cars?
I checked the Ford year model police vehicle in the photo and determined that it was too old to be used by Mike Angus, the LJHS Alum who joined the SDPD and subsequently was involved in several high speed pursuit accidents with fatalities. I also eliminated Cliff Resch, an old Bird Rock Sandlot Ballplayer and SDPD member.
Ya know … getting caught in the net is sometimes a whole bunch of fun, especially now looking back a lifetime ago to remember Dameron’s, Bumbsteads, Crawfords, Crosses, etc. Of course the cops knew them by first names … we went to school together at Muirlands and La Jolla High. As a born and raised Bird Rockian, we lived in south La Jolla area surfed Wind-an-Sea too, I remember big brother Cliff Resch, Richard Maylor, and school mate Mike Angus as brothers in the SDPD. We grew up there, but our paths took us towards a career in law enforcement. I especially remember working a police ambulance in the beaches of La Jolla, Ocean Beach and Mission Beach in the seventies … what a hoot. Remember Shorty? If your still stuck in the past, this is a great place to visit to remember the old beach community, the pill boxes above La Jolla Hermosa and Peterson’s Drugs. The Village is gone … yet my memories are still with me, at least for a little while anyway.