Posted by Admin | Posted in animated bass fishing | Posted on 19-08-2011
Tags: belmont shore, fish, lifetime, maintenance worker, vacation getaway, wife norma
It is Sunday morning, and the sun hasn’t yet breached the marine layer gray ceiling above the Belmont Shore Pier where people with fishing poles are sitting, casting, waiting, standing, gabbing, reeling, laughing and, most of all, relaxing.
“We live in San Bernardino, and we try to come here every weekend,” says Armando Tamayo, a maintenance worker.
“It’s at least 20 degrees cooler here than it is in San Bernardino,” says his wife, Norma. “We like coming to Long Beach, and going to the Aquarium of the Pacific and to the Queen Mary and to the city’s shops and restaurants. This is our weekly one-day vacation getaway.”
“But what possesses you to fish?” asks a reporter who has spent a lifetime avoiding such a pursuit since he endured only frustration and boredom – never catching anything – during the few times he dared attempt it.
“It’s not work,” answers Armando. “Remember, as they say, the worst day of fishing is better than the best day of working. I find it fun.”
A rainbow pier
Indeed, as one looks down the 1,620-foot concrete structure that opened in 1967 and replaced the original wooden one that had been there since 1915, one observes both sides of it lined with a culturally diverse group of people reflecting Tamayo’s joyful words in trying to land a halibut, barracuda, shark, sand bass, croaker, perch and various other species.
It is a most serene setting with a picturesque backdrop as married and unmarried couples, families and friends, kids and teenagers, senior citizens and loners quietly mingle on the ocean walkway that’s officially known as the Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier.
“This has just become part of my life,” says Mike Contreras, a 29-year-ancient Lakewood native who works for an air conditioning company. “I’ve been coming to the Belmont Pier since I was a kid when my dad brought me here.
“This is what I like to do. some people like to play baseball or soccer and basketball. I like to fish. I wouldn’t be leaving now, but I got to get home to my wife and 11-month-ancient son. We’re going to do the family thing together today.”
It is 9 a.m.
“Been here almost since 6,” he says. “I clear my head here. Best place to get away from everything.”
Jorge Juarez, a 56-year-ancient Bell resident, agrees.
“I’ve been fishing around here for years,” says Juarez, who works for a demolition company. “This is my leisure activity.”
He brought with him his 10-year-ancient grandson Antonio, who seems to be savoring the experience.
Juarez is standing among weekend regulars who have become his friends, skilled anglers with stories to tell and with a keen knowledge of baits, lures, hooks, reels, rigs and knots.
“There’s been some tragedy on this pier in recent years,” says one of them, a 67-year-ancient Arkansas native named Jimmy Hines, a resident of Long Beach.
“A couple of guys we knew drowned a few years ago at the end of the pier. One was clowning around, and accidentally fell in, and couldn’t swim. His friend jumped in with his boots on to rescue him, and they both went down. an Argentinian fisherman we all knew died of a heart attack here.”
Hines is seated in a wheelchair, and he says he severely injured his hip in 1972 jumping out of a second-floor apartment building that was on fire at Nickerson Gardens in South Central Los Angeles.
“Fortunately, I wasn’t paralyzed, and I can still walk,” he says, as he rises to check on his pole that is leaning against the barrier.
“But I have to use a cane, or hold on to the wheelchair. The doctors say I’m too big to get hip replacement. my weight is over 400. like to eat too much.”
Hines also likes to fish.
“Fish almost every day,” he says. “Come here a lot. Nice people here. very friendly. Also do some fishing at Shoreline and Ports o’ call in San Pedro. biggest fish I’ve ever caught? a 28-pound bonito shark.”
A gentleman adorned in a Los Angeles Dodgers jacket, Luis Garcia is with his 7-year-ancient daughter, Natalie.
“This is just so peaceful, and my time to relax a small,” says Garcia, a 30-year-ancient veterinarian technician who’s employed at the Golden State Humane Society. “I have a pretty intense job. Involved in about 30 operations a day. This is a fantastic way to get away from it all.”
Familiar stop
Nearby, a former Poly High and UCLA defensive lineman, Stacey Elliott, is with his girlfriend, Debra Walker, who is making only her second appearance on the pier.
“Debra is a newcomer, but I’ve been coming down here for 35 years,” he says. “I was only eight when my mother’s boyfriend first brought me here. been coming back ever since.”
A small unlit cigar dangles from the corner of Elliott’s mouth, and the 1986 Poly graduate, who is a bookkeeper at the Bonne Sante Saladmaster Cookware plant in Santa Fe Springs, is set to sit down in one of the two lounge chairs that he brought for the occasion.
“There’s no better place in Long Beach to be on a summer day than here on the Belmont pier,” he says.
An animated person down the way, Marcus Armstrong, certainly is in agreement.
“I’ve already caught two fish,” he says excitedly as he points to the pair squirming around a bucket filled with water. “This is so much fun. I like it.”
Marcus is 6.
“This is the first time I’ve brought Marcus fishing,” says his father, Jim Armstrong, 38, a construction worker and 1991 Lakewood High graduate who now resides in L.a. “And he’s already caught two more fish than I have. my grandfather, George Raddansky, brought me here when I was a kid. and now I’m bringing my son here. and he’s really enjoying himself.”
At the end of the pier adjacent to the food outlet Buoy’s stands 35-year-ancient Kieley Cockrell, flanked by his sons, Gyasi, 11, and Khyre, 8, and nephew, Emajah Cole, 12.
They are all intently grasping fishing poles, doing what all people do in such a situation – waiting patiently.
“Spent an hour with my sons in our front yard yesterday showing them casting,” says Cockrell, a 1993 Jordan High graduate who works in the business department at the UC Irvine Medical Center. “They’re quick learners. and they seem to be enjoying themselves. They’ll really enjoy it if they snag some fish.”
As I head back to the parking lot and near the end of the pier, I notice a grim-faced fellow in a hat holding a fishing pole with no one around him, a solitary figure who gives one the impression he likes it that way.
“Yeah, I’m kind of a loner,” concedes Fred Faith, an abstract painter whose name appeared in the Press-Telegram early last October after he found a discarded treasure trove of World War II photos of American soldiers and Filipino guerilla fighters in a Belmont Heights alley. “This is my way to relax and get rid of tension.”
A Texas native whose flattened nose evinces a past of pugilism – “I’ve had my share of fights in my life” – he says he’s a retired driver who these days has been concentrating on getting his SSI Disability benefits.
“When I’m out here on the pier,” he says, echoing the prevailing view, “I have no worries. This place removes you from the realities of everyday life.”
Doug Krikorian can be reached at
