Laguna Beach lifeguards mark 90 years of watching over the coast
If you watch closely, you’ll notice they’ll never turn their backs to the ocean. Even if they are talking to someone, their eyes scan the beach for signs of danger.
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There’s an old saying: “Once a lifeguard, always a lifeguard.”
And along a stretch of rocky, dynamic coastline in Laguna Beach, lifeguards for nine decades have watched over beachgoers who have flocked to the ocean.
The city is celebrating 90 years of lifeguarding, the first official lifeguards starting duty in 1929, two years after the city was incorporated. On Saturday, June 15, a gathering brought old-timers together with current lifeguards, some competing in a fun event on the beach before sharing stories about their years of service.
The City Council, last week, made it official by adopting a proclamation honoring 90 years of lifeguarding.
The first employed lifeguards were Ed Hobart and George Griffin, lifeguarding on horseback on select beaches watching over seasonal crowds. It wasn’t until the 1950s and ’60s that lifeguards started using modern techniques such as first-aid, water-rescue skills and testing standards, the proclamation reads.
Dale Ghere, a Laguna Beach lifeguard from 1960 through 1974, has been collecting hundreds of stories from around the world told by past lifeguards, a project he began in 2004 to document their memories.
The stories tell about dramatic rescues saving countless lives, but also what people did before and after they were lifeguards, what they liked about the beach job and what they learned from their experiences.
“What I found was that being a lifeguard changed people’s lives. It set them on a path that focused around the water. Most of them, after 20, 30, or 50 years, are still living near the water and still carry the mantra of ‘once a lifeguard, always a lifeguard,’” Ghere said.
“They talked about who influenced them, lifelong friendships they’ve developed and a need to help pass that baton given to them on to the next generation.”
Ghere, now 78, has his own tales, coming from landlocked Pico Rivera to earn a seasonal job. His food allowance each day was $1, so many afternoons he caught abalone for lunch or scoured the hills to hunt wildlife.
“You won’t find any of the lifeguards doing that today. All the places I used to hunt turned into houses or shopping centers,” he said. “We have a marine reserve, so you can’t collect anything anymore.”
His boss encouraged him to offer abalone to regulars on his stretch of beach. In turn, they would invite him home for dinner.
“Each guard had their own beach,” Ghere said. “Today, the guards move from beach to beach, they get to know the families but they don’t have the same opportunities to go home and have dinner with them.”
There were no full-time lifeguards back then, only seasonal summer guards who had other jobs during the off-season. Ghere, like many he worked with, became a teacher so his summers would be open to lifeguarding.
One of the lifeguards who documented his memories became a pilot for Air Force One, Ghere said. Still, he wrote before he died in his 80s that lifeguarding was the most important thing he ever did in his life.
“That story just keeps getting repeated over and over again,” Ghere said. “I made lifelong friends, developed a lifestyle I maintained my whole life.”
Still these days, when Ghere strolls along Laguna Beach, he can count the lifeguards — not just the ones sitting in the towers with binoculars, but those not in uniform who he can tell were once lifeguards by the way they watch the water.
“For somebody who is experienced, it’s easy to spot someone who was a lifeguard,” he said. “They always face the water. They are talking to other people, but are always looking up and down the beach. And it’s not uncommon for them to spot something that needs assistance, even before the lifeguard does.”
Lifeguarding is a year-round operation in Laguna Beach now, with 32 lifeguard towers, two personal rescue water crafts, 100 seasonal employees and 400 junior lifeguards. In 2018, Laguna Beach lifeguards made about 5,000 water-related rescues.
The event at Main Beach on Saturday was hosted by the Laguna Beach Ocean Lifeguard Foundation, which assists the Marine Safety Department, provides scholarships, and works to preserve the history of Laguna’s lifeguards.