Storms shattered SLO County piers, damaged Highway 1 and made ‘mess on the beach’ in 1983
We haven’t seen much of Superman in recent years. It may have something to do with the extinction of telephone booths.
I’m not clear on why Clark Kent had to dash into a phone booth to change outfits.
Superman had the ability to move so fast he could change time, so why couldn’t he pull on his tights and cape without having to find a phone booth? And wouldn’t the confines of the booth slow a superhero down?
Maybe the Man of Steel was modest. Phone booths are mostly window, after all.
In addition to convenient spots for quick changes, phone booths provided a low-cost, compact setting for movie scenes.
Remember that scene in “Airplane!” in which so many reporters rush into phone booths that they knock them down?
Phone booths also made a great backdrop for dramas. The cinematographer could choose from a wide shot showing the whole streetscape to a tight shot of the receiver dangling as the protagonist ran out of the frame.
Tony Hertz shot a photo of a San Luis Obispo man in a rain-streaked phone booth worthy of a film noir as a major series of storms wound down in 1983.
The storms of 1983 triggered a rebuild of the Pismo Beach pier.
Recently a more dramatic upgrade has been unveiled.
Dan Stephens wrote about the impact of storms in San Luis Obispo County on March 11, 1983, in an article excerpted here for length.
Good grief! Good weather at last
Good news for sunworshippers:
Sunny weather’s in store for the Central Coast this weekend and the beaches will be open.
That’s the word from county safety officials and weather forecasters.
Clearing weather also has allowed officials to tally the cost of winter storms damage. They’ve also begun replacing lost piers and repairing roads.
Legislators are considering raising the tax on gasoline to help pay for repairs. And a disaster relief office staffed with federal and state officials will open again next week in San Luis Obispo.
Duane Leib, county general services director, said beginning Saturday, Avila Beach, Pirate’s Cove and Poly Beach, near Port San Luis, all will be opened.
Signs, however, warning of dangerous floating debris in the surf will be posted, Leib said.
The beach closures and the signs were prompted by the death of a 7-year-old girl Saturday. She was collecting shells on Avila Beach when she was struck and killed by a wave-tossed piling.
But the month of fierce pier-shattering storms that have littered beaches with debris have passed, according to Eckern.
That has given communities, particularly on the coast, a chance to regroup.
In Pismo Beach, officials have decided to rebuild the pier area.
Crews are shoring up the old seawall at a cost of $650,000 all state funds, according to Public Works Director Charley Johnson.
The sea wall will be resurfaced and extended out two feet.
Also the parking lot is being ripped up for resurfacing.
The Snack Stand, which was located at the pier entrance, has been relocated. Plus the restrooms have been demolished.
But as for the pier itself, Johnson said as soon as a contract is made with an engineer the pier — what is left of it — will be reinforced.
“We’re not going to add the other 400 feet to it until we find some big bucks,” he said.
Further north in Port San Luis, Union Oil Co. crews were winding down their clean up. Its pier there collapsed two weeks ago under fierce surf.
Union Oil Area Supervisor E.J. Van Harrelveld said “90% of the mess on the beach is gone.”
Van Harrelveld himself along with two other Union employees were tossed into the ocean when the pier collapsed. All three were rescued.
And as for the 800 or so piles of pilings that have been hoisted from the beaches? Sold to the highest bidder, Van Harrelveld said.
“Should make some fine fence-posts,” he said.
Meanwhile, deals have been made with other oil companies to handle the oil that was coming into the Port San Luis pier.
To finish up the job, a barge will be in Port Sunday. And Monday crews will begin tearing down the dozen or so pilings that remain sanding.
Also, below the water of Port San Luis sits a crane that was on the pier when it toppled. Salvage crews will resurrect it sometime next week.
Harbor Master Bill King said things were returning to normal on the Port San Luis pier.
Meanwhile final damage figures on road damage are in. The state Department of Transportation reported Thursday it will cost at least $18 million to repair roads throughout the state.
Damage along Highway 1 between the Big Sur area and Santa Barbara totals at least $3 million alone.
Dick Elliot, Caltrans operations chief in San Luis Obispo, said opening and repairing that stretch could cost $3.2 million, depending on the weather.
The preliminary figure does not include the damage to scenic state Highway 1 north of Big Sur, which was covered by an estimated 1.5 million cubic yards of sliding mud and debris on Wednesday.
That slide, along with an earlier slide south of the coastal community of 500 inhabitants on Highway 1, isolated the town, forcing authorities to plan an airlift to supplies by the weekend if road access isn’t made available.
