Santa Monica Lifeguards

From the early days of the 20th century, when lifeguard legend Cap Watkins rode a horse to make ocean rescues, to present-day crew members who are aided by Baywatch rescue boats, the history of the Santa Monica Lifeguards is one of the most colorful in ocean lifesaving. Under these guards careful gaze, Pres. John F. Kennedy swam along the Santa Monica shoreline, Charlie Chaplin collected seashells, and surfing icons Duke Khanamoku and Miki Dora took to the waves. From historic legends to millions of yearly beachgoers, Santa Monicas lifeguards have provided decades of ocean-lifesaving services. Their work has helped to make Santa Monica Beach the world-renowned destination it is today.

Thousands of men, women, and children owe their lives to the Los Angeles County Lifeguards. Made famous by the television show Baywatch, these lifeguards patrol 72 miles of coastline extending from Zuma Beach to the Los Angeles Harbor. Working on some of the world's most scenic and active beaches, Los Angeles County lifeguards protect the safety and lives of more than 50 million visitors each year. For nearly a century they have braved hazardous weather and surf conditions to rescue drowning swimmers, sinking vessels, and downed aircraft in the ocean. As the Lifeguard Operations Unit of the Los Angeles County Fire Department, they make more than 10,000 ocean rescues a year.

Ocean Lifeguards make tens of thousands of rescues every year on the fabled, crowded beaches of Southern California. "Warm Winds and Following Seas: Reflections of a Lifeguard in Paradise" tells their stories, recounts their challenges and rescues, and illustrates the pressures of a misunderstood, high profile and physically difficult profession. From the rite of passage of Lifeguard Training, to the grit and grind of surf rescues and piloting rescue boats in big waves, to life-threatening saves in the icy waters of Northern California, this journey into the world of Ocean Lifeguards offers a fresh perspective on open water lifesaving and these unsung heroes of the coastline.

Despite a genuine admiration for Native Hawaiian culture, white Californians of the 1930s ignored authentic relationships with Native Hawaiians. Surfing became a central part of what emerged instead: a beach culture of dressing, dancing, and acting like an Indigenous people whites idealized. Patrick Moser uses surfing to open a door on the cultural appropriation practiced by Depression-era Californians against a backdrop of settler colonialism and white nationalism. Recreating the imagined leisure and romance of life in Waikīkī attracted people buffeted by economic crisis and dislocation. California-manufactured objects like surfboards became a physical manifestation of a dream that, for all its charms, emerged from a white impulse to both remove and replace Indigenous peoples. Moser traces the rise of beach culture through the lives of trendsetters Tom Blake, John “Doc” Ball, Preston “Pete” Peterson, Mary Ann Hawkins, and Lorrin “Whitey” Harrison while also delving into California’s control over images of Native Hawaiians via movies, tourism, and the surfboard industry. Compelling and innovative, Waikīkī Dreams opens up the origins of a defining California subculture.

Lifeguards of San Diego County traces the origins of the nine professional lifeguard agencies that serve the public swimming, diving, and boating along the shorelines of San Diego County. Sporadic lifeguard service existed as early as 1906, but on a single day in 1918, thirteen people drowned at Ocean Beach. The drownings focused community and government attention on the need for consistent lifeguard services along San Diego County's beaches. Today there are more than 600 lifeguards from city and state agencies that serve San Diegans throughout the county. Here for the first time, the origins, experiences, and stories of these dedicated and most often heroic people are woven together into one volume.

The Surf City USAAA(R) lifeguards and marine safety officers protect and serve one of the busiest and most famous beaches in the world. World-class surfing events, volleyball tournaments, and other activities transform Huntington Beach's waterfront into a sea of humanity regularly each summer. The lifeguards patrol three and a half miles of beautiful wide, sandy Orange County shores, which can draw more than 10 million annual visitors, necessitating as many as 3,000 rescues. The ultimate lifeguard sentinel and guardian is the iconic structure on the HB Municipal Pier called Tower Zero, known as "The Eye in the Sky," from which lifeguards can see for miles. These vintage photographs include shots of the pier, beach, junior lifeguard activities, competitions, and neighboring Huntington State Beach. Thousands of people and families owe gratitude to the lifeguards of Huntington Beach for nearly a century of vigilance, dedication, and service.

The 1960's were a unique time for Americans and American culture. The movies, music, and media of the day were fueling the public's unprecedented desire to go to the beach and go surfing. Nowhere was this fascination more evident than at the focal point of this attention, the beaches of Southern California. Millions flocked to these beaches to be part of this cultural phenomenon. It fell to the ocean lifeguards of the day to stand watch over this massive wave of novice beachgoers. Tower Tales offers a rare first hand account of what it was like to be an ocean lifeguard during this era and what the lifeguard lifestyle was like in those early years. Follow the author through testing and training to find out what it took to become an ocean lifeguard and what the lifeguards were being taught so you may better protect yourself and your family when at the beach and in the ocean. Meet the watermen who populate these tales. Go toe to toe with Luscious at "The Ringers," the annual lifeguard competition, learn how "Lips-to-Me" got his nickname at Hussongs', and follow Heck as he saves the lives of three young girls over a mile away from his tower. No other book offers such an intimate and knowledgeable insight into the little known and often misunderstood world of ocean lifeguarding.