This page is intended to be a catch-all for all the different ideas and things that might be looked into at some point or are in process
Years ago, the city used to require the property owners to maintain the plant growth to keep the small pathway useable -or if not, the city would trim and bill the owners as I understand it. This has not happened for many years with the result that people often have to walk on PCH to get through the section between Victoria Place and Solana.
I can vouch for having to duck out on PCH to get through that section. Clearly, it is completely insane for either us or visitors. Definitely belongs on this list!
ACTION ITEM: We need to get the city one way or another to make sure that sidewalk is usable.
Wow, you have of course seen them all over the place.... and probably had a few near calls walking anywhere around the area. On the one hand, better than cars as far as residential traffic tie-ups go but they are often running a bit too fast along the streets, don't care about which side or direction of flow, and we don't have anywhere designated to put them once here.
ACTION ITEM: Sufficient regulation as to speed and behavior
ACTION ITEM: Places to park them
What about a mural under the bridge? Huge amount of canvas when you consider the winges leading into both sides of the bridge. This is a Caltrans controlled area. They have said they had no issues with the idea and would be willing to repaint if something like graffiti got out of control.
Proposal: Something that would make space for many artists. Smaller canvases telling many stories, maybe linked to both the long term history of the area as well as the personal stories of how people here now ended up here or relate to it. If done right, it could be a kind of never-ending story with new stories or art first gradually filling up the space and then new stories painting over the old. Lots of ways to approach it.
ACTION ITEM: Kick it around for awhile, maybe discuss with the art school, etc., see if there is a way to start something like that.
UGH..... Trash, algae, absolutely everything that has ever been on the streets above, and people using it as their bathroom. This literally stinks! I have been told that there is a plan/proposal to extent the ramp by 20 or 30 feet to allow year round beach access and do something at the same time to treat or divert the street run off. By in any case, something we should absolutely have on our long term list!
Proposal: Some kind of drainage system that at least takes the worst of the trash and toxic street run-off and keeps it off the beach. Likely should include some kind of monitoring in that specific sand area to keep an eye on it.
ACTION ITEM: Contact the city and find out if there are any proposals in place, what the possibilities and thinking is, track it.
A few years ago, Steve Robbins had a small dinner party hosting a couple who had been locals for many years. I've forgotten their names at the moment but they had done the most incredible first source research on the history of our city that you could possibly image. Census data was found in the old mission records along with amazing stories of core foundations having to do with the introduction of honey bees to North America, errant Mormon priests, wild chases and religious persecutions, the worlds first divided tree-lined boulevard in Riverside, the invention of the Teletype, and of course the Question Man dressed up as a pirate and hiding coins in what actually was known as the Pirates Tower.
Websites with some historical information:
https://www.latimes.com/socal/daily-pilot/news/tn-dpt-xpm-2002-04-26-export7522-story.html
Proposal: While we can, collect and document what knowledge exists relevant to Victoria Beach including old pictures and so on. Get them stored in some persistent fashion and available on our website. Pass them on to new comers and future generations!
ACTION ITEM: Start collecting the stories and see what we can get documented. I'll see if I can find the historian for a start and see about pooling some of the old photographs from the people who have been around for awhile!
Just tracking what things have been called historically. At some point, maybe create a map, etc.
What we know:
Pirates Tower: Yep, that is actually the name from about the 60s when the owner used to dress up as a pirate and hide coins in the tower for kids to hunt for. He was also known as the "Question Man". He would walk around downtown with his pockets full of coins. I believe he was a history professor. Kids would follow him all over and he would toss out questions. Hard ones were worth a quarter, easier ones would be 10 or 5 cents, etc if you got the right answer. Pretty cool!
Old Ladies Cove: The area around the corner by the tidal swimming pool
Tidal Swimming Pool: Yep, that is the name ;)
Sugar Loaf Point: The bluff between the stairs and the ocean at the north end
Two Rocks: the rocks in the middle of the Vic beach
Aesops: The rock off of Blue Lagoon, kinda shaped like an "A"
Goff Island: What is commonly called "Treasure Island". But really, it is named after one of the early Mormon settlers in the 1890s
Christmas Cove: The cove between Geoff Island and Blue Lagoon although no one knows why....
At some point, we could consider acting as a community to find a way to build over the new concreate walls on the inland side of the stairway with river/sea rocks. That could be a much better aesthetic for the ages!
We might be able to have more effective support if we could connect a number of people to something happening that needs some attention. And if anybody else on the tree can see or verify or be on the lookout for that issue and then also call it it, we start getting much more specific records from a number of vantage points in the police logs -and perhaps get a more focused attention on the issue.