Photo Trip: El Nino - January 1983 - Santa Monica/Venice Beaches

[Silver Fox]

A metal detectorist here and there will always report finding goodies at the beach usually at or near the wet sand where people coming out of the water will shake the stuff off. But there's plenty of golden objects hiding under the dry sand. How deep? Probably feet! I don't know how to explain it properly but most if not all beaches have a base upon which the dry sand rests. In Santa Monica/Beaches I found this base to be clay-like. How do I know? Because when the El Nino hit in January 1983 the waves that hit Santa Monica and Venice removed all of the dry sand! As much as about 7-10 feet! As I detected and got a signal, I would put the rod down (I had a hip-mount) and as soon as the coil hit the sand I would get another signal. And on it went. Retrieving each signal took only a few seconds 'cause there was no sand to scoop, just a fraction of an inch and scraping it was enough.

I will never forget what I encountered when I arrived at the beach. I would park my car on the street, not in the beach parking lot which was below street level and which usually was full. Then I would walk down a flight of stairs that led to the parking lot which was level with the beach with a path between the parking lot and the sand. On the first day, after parking my car and approaching the stairs I couldn't believe the sight in front of me: there was no sand and the water was way in the distance. Lots of people walking around with expressions of awe on their faces.

I detected my butt off going home with lots of jewelry, coins, etc. On another day I returned and instead of a similar scene, now there were giant waves crashing onto the beach. I returned to the car, put the detector away and came back with the camera. The photos below are a record of a couple of similar days.

There was a bikeway/path adjoining the sand but now it was in shreds. You can see it torn up in the photos. In the photos I'm walking towards the lifeguard station tower in the distance that you was seen in the early episodes of "BAYWATCH" with the damage looking worse and worse and people still dodging the waves that were coming in. The beachside building with the words FOOD on its wall had an area behind it where one could walk but now you can see the waves hitting the building. One day I took a wave right there when I tried to jump up on the low ledge that you can see. I couldn't complete the jump and the wave washed over me. Fortunately, I always plastic-bagged my detector when at the beach. The last photo is of my buddy.

 

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[au4me]

Wow,
I would give anything to be there.WOW

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Hey Silver Fox, thanx for the trip down "memory lane". Those storms actually hit the entire length of CA (the whole west coast I suppose). They were actually a series of back-to-back storms, all occuring at the best tide times (best for US anyhow). There were actually some storms/swells that started it in Oct. of 1982, then again in Nov, then in Dec., then in January of '83 (your photos), etc... Each swell coinciding with the high tide time of month just kept lowering the beach. And the subsequent "calms" between each system were not long enough to allow the beach to "recover" and sand back in. So by the time you saw what you were photographing, it was actually a composite of several storms erosions over previous months, all adding up.

I was just a few years out of high school during those winter storms, and didn't really understand the in's & out's out beach storm erosion detecting. Also didn't have a good detector at the time (a G***ett) which probably peaked at 4" on mineralized sand We were working beaches like Carmel & Watsonville. I remember the cuts being 7 ft. high on parts of Watsonville at one point! So bad was the erosion, that they had to take emergency steps to protect endangered beach-side condo's, etc.... Coins were as fast as you could dig them sometimes. My best day though was only 20-ish silver coins, and perhaps 200-ish total coins. I simply didn't know how to maximize the hunt time, locations, etc... Plus was working week-days, so could only go out after work, or on weekends. In retrospect, I should've quit my job for those few months!

One mistake we made was going to where we heard the "action was at". While there is nothing wrong with that, per se, it often resulted in hunting side-by-side with many other detectorists, instead of having all the targets to ones-self. For example, I specifically recall working a gully washed eroded area at Carmel beach one day with 8 or 9 other machines also working it. It was an area no bigger than a basketball court. But everyone had at least 1 or 2 gold rings each, and 8 or 10 silver coins each, etc.... Since there were so many machines in such a small area (mother nature put all the goodies into precise little patterns), that the action was soon over in only 30 min. to 1 hr. As I left, I did the quick math in my head, and realized that .... while no one person particularly scored tons of stuff, yet when you added it up, there had been 15 to 20-ish pieces of gold, and perhaps 100-ish total silver coins found. It dawned on me that if a person had had that "pocket" all to himself, there'd have been nothing from stopping him from having staggering totals.

Well it turns out that that's exactly what some lucky people were doing on beaches with less detector traffic: Some guys simply could go down mid-week (were not working, or were playing hookie from work or something), and dig non-stop with no competition. Stories circulated back into the club of guys who'd had "12 gold rings in a day" and "over 100 silver coins in a day", etc... Turns out they had "avoided the crowds" and found beaches or days with no other hunters. One friend of mine, in fact, says it was so red-hot one day at Seacliff beach, that he just put his detector down and just started randomly scooping around exposed riff-raff, which had become a sort of gravity trap for all heavy metal items. As the waves and sand would receded around these obstacles, coins and targets would get caught up against these fixed objects. He said that every single scoop, for hours on end, would have oodles of nails, sinkers, coins, etc... He ended the day with about 100 silver coins, 700 total coins, about a dozen gold jewelry, etc.. He said when he left, it was not due to "lack of more to dig", but simple exhaustion, dead batteries, and incoming tide.

As for southern CA, there is a hunter down there who sort of followed this same logic of "finding his own zones": He relates how he went to Santa Monica (the obvious heavily used tourist beach) during those storms, but saw lots of other detectorists already down there. Rather than join in in the fray, he decided to try some other "newer" beaches over near LAX (El Segundo, etc...). Those are sort of post-war town beaches ('20s at the earliest?) So while he may not have been getting many seateds or barbers, he was in it "as fast as he could dig". He related to me that for an entire week, he dug a MINIMUM of 100 silver coins per day. I think his peak on gold was teetering at 15-ish gold items. He dug so much and so furiously, that by the end of the week, he had to go to the emergency room for some sort of excruciating shoulder pain. Turns out he'd given himself severe muscle strain, repetitive damage, or whatever :P

Another thing that I recall from that year, was that since this was exposing sand that had previously been "high and dry" for the previous 50 to 100 yrs, that sometimes the silver was coming out nice and shiny (since they had been in the high dunes). Unlike storms that only churn and erode the lower wet sand zones (don't cut "up high") which produces silver that is tumbled and grey

I'd venture to say that on open ocean facing beaches, that bedrock is extremely deep. The only times I've seen that sand-stone bedrock revealed is when about 5 to 10 ft. of sand is removed. On cove or "pocket" beaches (protected, or shallow in harbors, etc..) then bedrock can be shallower.

Thanx for the beach erosion shots. Ever since that year's event, I vowed to myself "not to miss the next one". But alas, there has never been such an event since. A week or so now and then (like the '97-98 El Nino), but nothing as long lasting or severe as '82-83.

 

[Silver Fox]

Hey Silver Fox, thanx for the trip down "memory lane". (snip)

Darn, you sure have some great memories also. Isn't it great to have experienced El Nino in California? Especially, the popular beaches. If I would have taken photos each time I went during El Nino I would have one hell of an archive. But I wanted to detect also and I took on some really scary waves. Where one had only one chance at one scoop before the wave came back in with seemingly vengeance. I remember seeing wedding bands sticking out of the sand! However, I didn't see that many detectorists, just a few and we were far from each other with everyone thinking that where they were was where it was. I remember detecting with one guy who had an unbelievable system of recovering whatever was in the scoop without reaching for it and "wasting time." He would shake the sand out of the scoop so that only the object was left and then he would flip his scoop so that the object went flying out and he would catch it with the scoop hand! You had to see this technique. And he never dropped anything.

That guy in my last photo, my hunting buddy, he was behind me and to one side and I looked back to see if he was kneeling anywhere and he didn't have to kneel; I saw him grab something and pull and pull and pull and it was a very long silver chain! I don't remember the details now but gold chains from the 1715 fleet off Sebastian Bay in FL remind me of what he found. I turned too fast otherwise I would have been where he found the chain.

I don't know if they're still there but these two photos show a structure dealing with some kind of water control on Santa Monica Beach or Venice Beach but when El Nino hit, you could stand next to them on their rock base and their tops were above your head! The photo of me standing next to one also shows in the background the street level where I used to park my car and the stairs leading down to the parking lot. Up on that street level was where I arrived after parking my car and looking down and across the sand I'm standing on was gone!

 

[boogeyman]

I remember doing main beach in laguna at that time. The beach was stripped to rock & instead of getting our machines wet in the rain, we locked then in the trunk and eyeballed. Filled our pockets until the abrasion hurt or we needed a swig of coffee. Dumped our finds in the trunk & went back at it. A guy & his son working down from us got their picture in the O.C. Register. A day later we wanted to go to Huntington Beach, but PCH was closed by sand between Newport & Huntington so back to Laguna, saw part of a wrecked boat thrown up on the beach & a guy told us it sank 15 or 16 years earlier and when he dived it only about a foot or two was sticking out. Can't remember the counts but remember finding Hotel keys silverware rings and more silver than I'd found before that time in a single day. Also made a lot of money pumping out houses between Brookhurst Ave & the Santa Ana River bed. Also, funniest thing I saw was upper Newport Bay (back bay) completely covered in oranges! They all washed down from the orange groves inland.

 

[Silver Fox]

I remember doing main beach in laguna at that time. The beach was stripped to rock & instead of getting our machines wet in the rain, we locked then in the trunk and eyeballed. Filled our pockets until the abrasion hurt or we needed a swig of coffee. Dumped our finds in the trunk & went back at it. A guy & his son working down from us got their picture in the O.C. Register. A day later we wanted to go to Huntington Beach, but PCH was closed by sand between Newport & Huntington so back to Laguna, saw part of a wrecked boat thrown up on the beach & a guy told us it sank 15 or 16 years earlier and when he dived it only about a foot or two was sticking out. Can't remember the counts but remember finding Hotel keys silverware rings and more silver than I'd found before that time in a single day. Also made a lot of money pumping out houses between Brookhurst Ave & the Santa Ana River bed. Also, funniest thing I saw was upper Newport Bay (back bay) completely covered in oranges! They all washed down from the orange groves inland.

I didn't include the photo I have of downtown Venice with an automobile creating a wave in front of it looking like a boat! That's an experience I'd like to live over but remembering the future and detecting more instead of walking around archiving the present experience!

 

[Old California]

Thanks Silver fox for the memories and wonderful story, At the time when this happened I wasn't into water detecting but sure do remember hearing about this mess down south.

I take it you now reside back east and do you ever come back and detect this area?

Santa Monica is one of my favorite beaches for gold jewelry, Once in a while I'll venture into Venice beach certain times out of the year but mostly detect Santa Monica.

Was there about one month ago with a friend and most likely be going back on the forth of July with a few friends, You sparked up my interest of going there soon
Below are a couple of pic's, I'm the one in the water and one of my friends is digging up a target in the wet sand.

Thanks again for the memories,
Paul (Ca)

 

[Silver Fox]

Thanks Silver fox for the memories and wonderful story, At the time when this happened I wasn't into water detecting but sure do remember hearing about this mess down south.

I take it you now reside back east and do you ever come back and detect this area?

Santa Monica is one of my favorite beaches for gold jewelry, Once in a while I'll venture into Venice beach certain times out of the year but mostly detect Santa Monica.

Was there about one month ago with a friend and most likely be going back on the forth of July with a few friends, You sparked up my interest of going there soon
Below are a couple of pic's, I'm the one in the water and one of my friends is digging up a target in the wet sand.

Thanks again for the memories,
Paul (Ca)

It's my pleasure, Paul. When I'm on my death bed (if I'm so lucky) those memories will be my last. The rush of avoiding a huge, crashing wave before I've retrieved the target or leaving it behind to get out of the way 'cause I didn't scoop fast enough; or walking along and seeing part of a gold band sticking out of the sand; etc. To live for.

We (my wife and I) returned to NYC in '87 after living in L.A. for 9 years. I was an Angeleno but wife, a true Manhattanite, was just "visiting." I miss L.A., all of it, although we lived in the San Fernando Valley. I spent a lot of days in Santa Monica Beach and Venice Beach. I couldn't go just to Santa Monica Beach, I walked to Venice and back to Santa Monica. And while I didn't always find something, just that walk along the water's edge was sufficient. I'd like to visit especially since our best friend moved to L.A. but my wife is so paranoid about airline travel and earthquakes that I may have to visit by myself and I wouldn't bring my detector although I could borrow one or rent one. I just want to visit the old 'hoods.

Should I decide to go I'll let you know ahead of time and perhaps I could walk with you while YOU search. That'll satisfy me unless I see you find gold!

Edward

 

[boogeyman]

cmon Fox, you can't BS us! We all know you'd never be content walking the sand without a detector in your hand

I guess there's something to be said for White's, You brought up a bad memory turned good. I did the big NO NO & turned my back to the surf, got dumped a over teakettle soaked the machine. Took it home rinsed it out really good. Took it apart took the box to work & ran it through the vapor degreaser. Worked great! only problem was the volume pot started acting up later. Got a piece of sand in the wiper & it scratched the pot. Replaced it & back on the road again.
One thing I remember was a couple of friends & I going to Pierpoint to fish & a guy came up to us with flyers for a program called Groovy. It was like American Bandstand on the beach. We went three or four times since we had to bum a ride from Jefferson & Crenshaw. Boy, we thought we were cool being on TV! Didn't realize how lame our dancing was until we saw ourselves on TV If you make the trip out & N Long Beach isn't too far, I'll give you directions to a pond that was always good for some silver. They had a small beach tractor to clean the sand. My buddie used to take beach carts & sift the piles where they dumped the tractor. It was always a bonanza. One time an older gent came up to us and told us we needed to be over there. He explained that in the late 40s early 50s there was a concession stand there. Sure enough there was a foundation left in the sand & my buddy got his first silver half there followed by 4 more. Oh, the life guards even moved a trash bin closer to the piles to make our work easier. They were sure appreciative of us cleaning up the trash for them

 

[Silver Fox]

cmon Fox, you can't BS us! We all know you'd never be content walking the sand without a detector in your hand

I guess there's something to be said for White's, You brought up a bad memory turned good. I did the big NO NO & turned my back to the surf, got dumped a over teakettle soaked the machine. Took it home rinsed it out really good. Took it apart took the box to work & ran it through the vapor degreaser. Worked great! only problem was the volume pot started acting up later. Got a piece of sand in the wiper & it scratched the pot. Replaced it & back on the road again.
One thing I remember was a couple of friends & I going to Pierpoint to fish & a guy came up to us with flyers for a program called Groovy. It was like American Bandstand on the beach. We went three or four times since we had to bum a ride from Jefferson & Crenshaw. Boy, we thought we were cool being on TV! Didn't realize how lame our dancing was until we saw ourselves on TV If you make the trip out & N Long Beach isn't too far, I'll give you directions to a pond that was always good for some silver. They had a small beach tractor to clean the sand. My buddie used to take beach carts & sift the piles where they dumped the tractor. It was always a bonanza. One time an older gent came up to us and told us we needed to be over there. He explained that in the late 40s early 50s there was a concession stand there. Sure enough there was a foundation left in the sand & my buddy got his first silver half there followed by 4 more. Oh, the life guards even moved a trash bin closer to the piles to make our work easier. They were sure appreciative of us cleaning up the trash for them

Well, you could be right, if I'm going to do the sand walk I might as well swing. After all, I never looked at my detector as long as I could ogle and boy my eyeballs got tired before my arms! 8)

I survived taking the wave and was so thankful that I had bagged it good and it taught me never to wear long pants in the surf. That wave came out of nowhere! My trusty White's 6/DB always came through and it was a workhorse.

And the unbelievable cuts near the Santa Monica Pier in front of that old, green building. Whew!

I'm coming back!

 

[boogeyman]

You know, I think you made a point If you could work the beaches in So. Cal. and maintain your concentration you were close to super human

When Newport started washing out & leaving 6 - 7 foot cuts before the groins were put in, took us awhile to figure out the goodies were hanging in a trough between the surf & the cuts. You could work a strip & it was like the goodie gods had raked everything into one narrow path. I wonder if it's still the same these days?

 

[Tom_in_CA]

Boogeyman, I've seen conditions on storm-ravaged beaches, just like you say: a "Goodie trough" It's almost as if mother nature makes the entire beach a giant riffle-board or sluice box. All the heavier metal objects get put into precise zones. I've seen those conditions so thick, that you get multiple coins in every scoop.

One time I was in a zone like that, every single scoop had multiple coins, sinker, nails, etc... After 30 minutes of this non-stop action, I remember bringing up a scoop with only a single coin, thinking "this sucks, to ONLY get one coin at a time"

Another time I remember scooping, and then, before shaking out my scoop, I wave over the hole to make sure I've got it. But I hear the beep still, so I continue to dig. This happened several more times till I had a hole a foot deep and foot wide, yet I still kept getting the signal. FINALLY, I wave my coil over my tailings pile, only to realize that there had simply been so many side-by-side coins and targets, that I was merely hearing other coins deeper and deeper in the hole!

Have you guys ever seen this phenomenom: The beach gets stratified by weight, so that like coins/weights end up in their own zones? For example: dimes and pennys will be up high. Then, walking a bit closer to the water will be the nickels, then closer to the water will be the quarters. Then all the way down at the waters edge will be the heaviest items like fishing sinkers, halves, gold rings, etc... That is extremely rare, but I've seen that happen before. Believe me, if you get into a zone of a predominance of fishing sinkers, and lack of penny/dimes, you want to slow down and hit that area HARD, because lead and gold have a similar density

Last nostaglia: I remember seeing grey disks on the sand, even before swinging the coil over them, and picking up silver dimes, quarters, etc...

 

[Silver Fox]

Boogeyman, I've seen conditions on storm-ravaged beaches, just like you say: a "Goodie trough" It's almost as if mother nature makes the entire beach a giant riffle-board or sluice box. All the heavier metal objects get put into precise zones. I've seen those conditions so thick, that you get multiple coins in every scoop.

One time I was in a zone like that, every single scoop had multiple coins, sinker, nails, etc... After 30 minutes of this non-stop action, I remember bringing up a scoop with only a single coin, thinking "this sucks, to ONLY get one coin at a time"

Another time I remember scooping, and then, before shaking out my scoop, I wave over the hole to make sure I've got it. But I hear the beep still, so I continue to dig. This happened several more times till I had a hole a foot deep and foot wide, yet I still kept getting the signal. FINALLY, I wave my coil over my tailings pile, only to realize that there had simply been so many side-by-side coins and targets, that I was merely hearing other coins deeper and deeper in the hole!

Have you guys ever seen this phenomenom: The beach gets stratified by weight, so that like coins/weights end up in their own zones? For example: dimes and pennys will be up high. Then, walking a bit closer to the water will be the nickels, then closer to the water will be the quarters. Then all the way down at the waters edge will be the heaviest items like fishing sinkers, halves, gold rings, etc... That is extremely rare, but I've seen that happen before. Believe me, if you get into a zone of a predominance of fishing sinkers, and lack of penny/dimes, you want to slow down and hit that area HARD, because lead and gold have a similar density

Last nostaglia: I remember seeing grey disks on the sand, even before swinging the coil over them, and picking up silver dimes, quarters, etc...

You can't relive the past, although having our priceless memories is more than sufficient, but if I hear that another El Nino might strike the West Coast and I have enough time to fly to L.A. before THE event, I'm going to add not only riches but more great memories. I'm also waiting for hurricane season to start in Florida 'cause I'm heading to Sebastian Bay and hopefully come home with more great memories and some doubloons and who knows what else. C'mon, Mother Nature.

 

[boogeyman]

Hey Fox, if there's another set of storms like 83 I'll be sitting in the aisle seat next to you! Those were the best days & it'd be great to do it again, even though my knees can only take a couple hours at a time now I think that's the only thing I really miss about California The Beach!