Princeton by the Sea Memories

Photo: Michael Wong, Spring Mountain Gallery

Distinguishing Characters: Ranges in size up to seven inches, but most individuals are three to five. Shell oval, long and narrow, considerably flattened.

Exhibits less variation in shell form than other species. Color dark brick red with occasional mottlings of greenish blue and white. Holes four to eight, usually five or six open.

Surface sculpture spaced, lamellac-like striae. Inside of shell pale pink, with green reflections. No muscle scar although some may have small clumps of scattered green and brownish nacre in the muscle attachment area.

The body is a mottled yellow and brown with tinges of green. The epipodium is lacelike along the upper edge, colored a yellowish-green with large brown and yellow splotches. The surface of the epipodium is rough and the tentacles are dark green and slender.
Distribution: British Columbia to La Jolla, California, but rare south of Carmel, California. Generally not plentiful but occasional abundant in small areas.

Habitat: Found subtidally and to depths greater than 70 feet. Lives on and under rocks with other species of abalones. Feeds by grazing on small attached algae.

Here’s the true story by Coastside Photographer Michael Wong, Spring Mountain Gallery

In the year 1959, my family moved to Pacifica, CA., from San Francisco. All of a sudden, I was in peaceful Westview School. Up until then I had to fight to survive in the tough city. That year in second grade, I met a cute little girl named Deborah Hagler. We were immediate friends.

They sent me away to a new school for third grade, but in forth I was back. Debbie and I were kind of an item even at that tender age.

Debbie and her sister Laurie were artists in many ways. Debbie would have kids standing over her shoulders to watch her draw; her specialty was horses. I can remember the teachers would send them from classroom to classroom so that they could perform their singing and ukulele act: “We Ain’t Got a Barrel of Money”. They harmonized beautifully, and I was spellbound.

In one incident, I asked Debbie to please draw a horse for my wall.

Debbie drew a stick figure, and threw it at me. I laughed it off, but was puzzled. 36 years later, I would find out her reason. My whole childhood world would change drastically in the fifth grade. My Mom and Dad announced that we were moving. We packed up and I said goodbye to friends, teachers and to little Debbie Hagler.

Life wasn’t too bad at the south side of Pacifica. It was more of a surfer, coast part of town. I made friends, as all children do. Attended Terra Nova High School, and graduated in 1970. I won’t go into all that I’ve done with my life because that’s not what this story is about. Fast forward to the year 2000, 30 year class reunion coming up. As I logged into classmates.com, I couldn’t believe how many of my old classmates were writing online. It was unbelievable, almost a timeless world where we felt like teenagers again, writing stories and reuniting. The class reunion was a two-day success, including about 10 teachers. We had a blast, and a lot of it was planned through classmates.com.

Then the reunion was over, all that could be written on classmates was posted. Bored, I jumped over to our rival school, Oceana. As I read their posts I ran into a topic: “Westview Kids”. As I scrolled down, there was a class photo from my 4th grade class, my very young smiling face was something that I hadn’t seen for decades.

Who the hell posted this? Scrolling down I saw that it was Deborah Hagler. Almost 40 years had past, seeing her name gave me an exciting, wonderful feeling. I wrote to her through the message boards. She replied by telling me: “You were my very first boyfriend”. Since this was a public message board, we quickly went to private email.

Many emails and phone calls later, we made a date to meet in person. Our first meeting since we were very young children, it was as if we had never parted. We were instantly close….very close!! Oh, of course the question came up about the stick figure horse. It turns out that she was very upset (at 9 years old), because I had turned my attention to another girl in class.

Well, I have my horse drawing on our wall, and I have the bride that I was meant to be with all my life. Debbie and I were wed on January 9, 2002. For many pictures and stories about our life together, check out debwong.com

Friends have told me that they spotted some very rich, beautiful looking “hippies” staying at the Oceano Hotel in Princeton-by-the-Sea.

I got excited and asked: What does a rich hippie look like? What were they wearing? What did their hair look like? How many of them were there? What are they doing in Princeton? Making a movie?

The friends smiled broadly as I bombarded them with questions, ending with a harsh reprimand: “Didn’t you talk to them? I would have been ‘right there,'” meaning, I couldn’t pass them by without getting the answer to the most important question: “WHO ARE YOU?”

But my friends are not in the business of asking rich hippies who they are, and what they might be doing in Princeton; instead my friends just looked and admired and loved looking and admiring these seemingly out-of-place people wearing perfectly made counter-culture clothes and beads from the 1960s.

Now I hear that they were from a production company, involved with making a tv commercial for the “Hummer.” Hummers in Princeton?

(Image: The Michael Powers homestead in Miramar Beach, with the huge redwood log in front. Photo by Michael Powers.)

In the late 1970s, Princeton shipbuilder Manuel Senteio, arrived at Miramar Beach, driving his crane to move a 20-foot-long, 3000 pound redwood log to photographer/sculptor Michael Power’s healing center, then in development.

The log had washed up on the nearby beach, and when Senteio saw how huge it was, and what his crane would have to lift, he exclaimed: “It’s big!”

Yes, it was VERY BIG AND VERY HEAVY–heavier still, from the sea water that had soaked into its pores.

Could Senteio’s crane lift the thing? To fulfill Powers’ plan, which was to carve the log, it had to stand upright. Could this be accomplished? Nobody knew for certain.

If all else failed, a crowd of Powers’ artist friends were on hand to help “psychically” raise the mammoth totem pole; its destination the peaceful inner garden. Half Moon Bay City Manager Fred Mortensen, a neighbor of Michael Powers, was there to lend more practical expertise.

There were many oohs and ahhs and oh no’s. This was the most dramatic event to occur in Miramar Beach for many moons.

But the crane lifter, Manuel Senteio was a professional: Can you hear the great burst of applause and laughter when the redwood log found its final resting place?

“Within this tremendous mass of redwood brought here to Miramar Beach by the sea,” said Michael Powers, “I intend to carve the forms of a man, a woman, and a child, a trilogy. It will probably take a year to complete but hopefully it will become a source of beauty and inspiration for everyone who comes to see it.”

Distinguishing Characters: Shell oval, moderately thin, arched. Attains a length of six inches but most are small than four. Surface fairly regular with prominent, broad spiral ribs interspaced by several low, narrow ribs or ridges.

Distribution From Pt. Conception south to Turtle Bay, Baja California, primarily along the mainland.

Habitat Rocky bottoms offshore in depths ranging from 10 feet (rare) to over 120 feet; greatest numbers are found in 70-100 foot depths.