Saving Oceanside Sand interviews Oceansiders with a passion and vision for our beaches. This month local icon Charlie Anderson stops by for a chat with SOS.
SOS- As owner of the Privateer and Wine Bar you have a big stake in Oceanside. Please tell us how else you are involved in Oceanside?
Charlie- I always say if you don’t get involved you can’t make a difference, for better or worse… I’ve found that our voice matters and if we use it correctly we can make change for the better and for me that meant volunteering to be on the board for Visit Oceanside, The Oceanside Unified School District, Oceanside Chamber of Commerce and the South Oceanside Business District and helping SOS on top of my daily business running The Privateer, The Privateer Marketplace & Wine Bar and partnering at The Buccaneer Cafe.
SOS- Growing up in Newport Beach in the 1970’s what was their beach like then?
Charlie- I only remember running across, what seemed like an endless beach, to the ocean from my Grandparents home between 26th and 27th street on the boardwalk. Back then I took that beach for granted until I found out that my uncle Tommy Anderson was instrumental in helping to build the jetties that created that amazing beachfront paradise. His interests were primarily self serving in retaining the sand to save our family home and create amazing surf, which was a great side effect. Our family home had old photos of the ocean coming up to the front of our house, there was no boardwalk back then, and several houses were built on stilts to allow the ocean to flow underneath without taking the house out. The Jetty solution fortunately turned out to be a blessing and the reason we had such amazing beaches while growing up there and still today. I believe Newport Beach actually sells its excess sand to its sister cities creating a revenue source now. Who would have known…
SOS- When did you land in Oceanside, and what brought you here?
Charlie- My parents moved us to Oceanside in 1978 because at the time my step dad worked for Hobie Cat which moved its headquarters to Oceanside. I started school here in the second grade at Palmquist Elementary and our house was up on Fire Mountain which is the neighborhood that we still live in today. My kids Sage and Chas both went to Palmquist and Lincoln and my oldest, Sage, had the same 3rd grade teacher that I had, Mrs. Marcy… Crazy right?
SOS- What’s your vision for our Oceanside beaches?
Charlie- I’m an advocate for seeing the beaches come back to the glory that they once were. When I grew up surfing Buccaneer Beach we had, what seemed like, a ton more sand (beach). And it seems that the beaches that retained sand in Oceanside, the Harbor and Pier, have jetties or structures (Pier) that have kept the sand from eroding away. I’m not saying that Jetties are the only solution, but in my short 50 years on this earth I’ve traveled most of the world surfing, and everywhere there are big beaches there seems to be a structure to help keep the sand from eroding. So whatever can help to retain sand and build our beaches back for the enjoyment of what we spend so much money to live here for, the ocean, seems like a good idea to me.
SOS- Describe for us a great Oceanside day.
Charlie- The perfect day for me in Oceanside is getting up early for morning meditation and yoga, surf with my kids and the friends I’ve grown up with since 2nd grade at Buccaneer Beach, grab an Acai bowl and coffee from The Buccaneer Cafe, maybe an afternoon walk on the beach from the harbor to the pier (since South O doesnt have much beach) or SUP in the harbor with my wife checking out the boats, and watch the sunset from our van at North Jetty while having an amazing meal from one of the many outstanding local restaurants in our fine city! Call it a day!!!
Contact !SOS Oceanside! sosoceansidebeach@gmail.com
