Windansea Beach, La Jolla

Name: Larry Davis

Vehicle: 1995 Toyota pickup

Lives: University City

Surfing: Windansea Beach, La Jolla

"Not born here, but raised here," Larry Davis said. "Moved here from Memphis, Tennessee, when I was two or three. This is all I've ever known." Larry's been surfing Southern California and Baja Mexico for 35 years. "I started surfing the La Jolla Shores, then eventually graduated to the reef out here that runs from the La Jolla Cove to PB Point," Larry told me. "Everyday I'm not working, I'm here at Windansea. This is my beach." He remembers the short time that the Hot Curl statue stood on the beach. Hot Curl is a cartoon strip, drawn by San Diegans Mike Dormer and Lee Teacher. Its main character is a knock-kneed, mop-haired surfer. In 1963, a 6-foot, 400-pound concrete statue of the stereotypical surfer appeared outside the thatch palapa at Windansea Beach. "It was here a few weeks," Larry said. "Then vandals got ahold of it, tore it down."

Larry's 9' Hank Warner board sticks out the back of his camper shell. He prefers to surf with a vest on, "to keep the wind off of you when you're up. Until it warms up a little more, then I'll surf without it." Other than that he doesn't carry much else for surf days. "I've got a cooler and a board bag. That's about it."

In his 35 years of coming to Windansea, Larry said, "Craziest thing I've seen out here was one time I came down this street and looked over... A plane had run out of fuel and was floating out a little ways past Big Rock. Surfers were already out there and helping whoever was inside. I don't think anybody was hurt; it didn't crash, it just glided down and was floating out there."