Imperial Beach, California—My favorite beach

There are many popular beaches in San Diego County.

Ocean Beach is always busy since it is at the end of Newport Avenue, the main street in Ocean Beach.

Pacific Beach has its boardwalk and Belmont roller coaster.

La Jolla Beach has its seals and sea lions.

Blacks Beach is world famous among the Naturists and Nudists.

Torrey Pines State Beach has great waves for the surfers.

Coronado Beach was rated the nation’s best beach in 2012. It’s a great beach but it’s a misleading rating because all beaches previously rated #1 are banned from the list. Makes no sense.

Mission Beach, Carlsbad, Oceanside, Swami’s, Mission Bay, Silver Strand, Point Loma, Leucadia, Cardiff-by-the-Sea…….. Each beach has its own characteristics, and characters.

My favorite beach, though, is the most southwesterly beach in the most southwesterly city in the continental United States: Imperial Beach.

When I came to San Diego in April 1993, Imperial Beach, both the city and the beach, were areas of high crime, drug deals, murders, shootings, property damage…. generally just an area to stay away from. One friend called it North Tijuana. In the late 1990s, the people of Imperial Beach decided to take back their city and beach, and they have succeeded.

The picture above was taken at the 2011 United States Open Sandcastle Championship, hosted for over thirty years by Imperial Beach, and usually the only time that masses of people went to Imperial Beach. Otherwise, the beach typically looked like this:

 

I like Imperial Beach because it stretches along Imperial Beach’s downtown area, making it easy to come in from the beach for lunch or supper. It also has a long pier, and I love piers.

Another factor that influences me is how clean the beach is.

The extremely popular beaches, like Mission Bay and Pacific Beach, can get pretty grungy at times, especially holidays.

La Jolla Cove gets smelly because of the seals and sea lions, but the seals and sea lions frolicking in the surf and giving birth to their pups each year make the whole scene well worth a visit.

 

Many of the most popular beaches also have to be cleaned regularly of the kelp that is left on them by the high tides. Kelp can get quite messy and smelly, and the sand flies that like kelp can make a trip to the beach a nightmare. Kelp does make pretty pictures, though.

When I first came to San Diego, a trip to the most popular beaches early in the morning would reveal special beach trucks roaming the sands picking up all the kelp that the previous evening’s high tides left behind.

Mismanagement of San Diego’s finances put an end to that luxury, and even though the city seems to have gotten its financial books in order, luxuries like beach cleaning, libraries and parks that are open on a daily basis with regular hours, and streets without potholes have not returned. Maybe if the city could get its politicians under control (U.S. Representative Randy Cunningham in prison for accepting bribes, several city councilmen resigned and are appealing prison sentences for accepting bribes, a mayor elected in November 2012 resigned in 2013 after 19 women accused him of sexual harassment………. on and on), luxuries would return to America’s Finest City. Aerosmith might have said it best: “Dream On.”

Imperial Beach doesn’t have as much a problem with kelp as the more popular beaches like Blacks Beach, Ocean Beach, and Pacific Beach. Although I have not done any official measurements, I think Imperial Beach is the widest of the beaches, with maybe only Coronado Beach coming close.

If you like crowded beaches, stay away from Imperial Beach except on holidays. If you want a little peace and quiet with your beach, so you can hear the roar of the waves and the cries of the gulls, give Imperial Beach a try. Be sure to walk to the end of the pier and have a meal at The Tin Fish. It’s a fast food restaurant, but I always find the food tasty and worth the price, and the view back to shore as you’re eating makes the price even more acceptable.

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend James Frimmer,
Realtor Century 21 Award, BRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!

Loews Surf Dog Competition in Imperial Beach, June 22 2013

Later today I will be in Imperial Beach, the most southwesterly city in the continental United States, for the Loews Surf Dog Competition.

This year’s event has a little controversy surrounding it because this year Loews Coronado Bay sought out a major sponsor and wound up with Unleashed by Petco. Petco obtained exclusive rights to produce the event.

Uh-oh.

Exclusive rights….

In my opinion, rarely are exclusive rights a good thing for the masses. Exclusive means, well, others are not welcome. In this case, IB Pet (and a few other local businesses) is not welcome.

IB Pet opened in 2009, in Imperial Beach, and had been a sponsor and vendor at the competition since then.

Until this year….

Now I’m all for shopping locally first, and in this case, IB Pet is local to Imperial Beach, a city of 4.485 square miles and, at the 2010 census, a population of 26,324. Granted, Petco is kind of local, too, since their international headquarters is right here in San Diego. However, guess where the Petco closest to the event in Imperial Beach is? It’s in Chula Vista, 5.2 miles away.

Sure, there are people in Imperial Beach who live closer to the Chula Vista Petco than the 5.2 miles to the event, but come on, Petco. You can do better than this. I can’t believe the big dog is afraid of the little dogs.

IB Pet owner Lori Blauert is not boycotting the event and encourages others not to boycott since proceeds raised at the newly named 2013 Loews Surf Dog Competition-Unleashed by Petco will go to the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA). In the end, that’s what we all want.

Lori had blue T-shirts made with the IB Pet logo on the front and “SUPPORT LOCAL” on the back. The shirts cost $20, and $5 will be donated to PAWS of Coronado and Coronado Cares.

Since I already have over 500 T-shirts, I chose not to buy one more since I’m actually trying to decrease the number of T-shirts in my collection. Instead, when this story broke a couple of weeks ago, I went down to visit IB Pet. I took some pictures of the storefront and the interior of the store, talked to a guy working at the store, and left a $20 donation with him to either give someone a free T-shirt or donate it directly to PAWS of Coronado and Coronado Cares. Although I could have donated myself, I wanted IB Pet to get credit for the donation, and maybe one more person will be wearing a SUPPORT LOCAL shirt today!

Although IB Pet won’t be an official part of the event at Pier Plaza, they will probably have a table set up in the parking lot at Jersey Boys Diner across the street from the beach. Two other local stores that were not invited to the Surf Dog Competition, IB Groomin’ and Seacoast Pet Clinic, have been extended invitations to join IB Pet across the street.

According to a representative of Loews Coronado Bay Resort and Hotel, “Anything that brings more money to the ASPCA is welcome.” Word is that even before today’s event, the competition has already doubled the $10,000 that was raised for the ASPCA last year.

Another big change this year is that the event is less like a street fair with booths and more like a festival. Every sponsor had to create a fun activity for everyone. Some of the new attractions include

• a Family Splash Park where children can play in sprinklers while adults (perhaps unintentionally) test how waterproof their electronics are.
• Ice cream for pets and owners.
• Massages for pets and owners.
• Tillman, an English bull dog with a YouTube following, his own TV show on Hallmark Channel, and mascot of dog food maker Natural Balance, will sign autographs and catch some waves.
• Stone Brewing Co. beer tasting at the Natural Balance Beer Garden (that’s the real reason why I’m going!)
• On-site pet adoption by the San Diego County Humane Society.
• There will be a Chill Zone where one can get out of the sun (why would you go to the beach to get out of the sun?), eat, and watch the surf dog competition via CCTV.

Since the event is raising money for the ASPCA, and since sponsors and vendors pay money to participate, and since businesses that want to participate are being excluded, it just seems to me that something isn’t right here.

I really liked what Lori Blauert (IB Pet owner; had to throw that link in there again) said about Petco (the big dog) excluding local Imperial Beach businesses (the little dogs):

“Is it really a big deal that we’re there? The few IB pet businesses like [us], the vet and IB Groomin’? Are we really going to take away from Petco’s sales? No it’s not. We’re the little guys,” Blauert said.

How can you exclude vets who want to particpate? That’s just crazy.

I had always thought more of Petco than I do right now. After all, they bought the naming rights to the stadium (Petco Park) where the San Diego Padres (sometimes attempt to) play major league baseball.

Lastly, you knew I was going to show you a flash video of Zoey the Cool Cat in a pet post, right?

The Loews Surf Dog Competition-Unleashed by Petco will take place today from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at Pier Plaza, 940 Seacoast Drive, Imperial Beach. See you there!

Looking for real estate services in San Diego County?
I can highly recommend
James Frimmer, Realtor
Century 21 Award, DRE #01458572

If you’re looking for a home inspector,
I recommend Russel Ray — that’s me!