Beach Style: OB vs. PB

One of the greatest aspects of San Diego, apart from the stellar weather, is how each of it's neighborhoods has a distinct style.

Take OB for instance, it is known as a mecca for free spirits, artists, punks and hippies. If you spend the day at Pocket Beach off of Santa Monica near Sunset cliffs, you'll run into just about every Ocean Beach stereotype there is.

Arrive before 11am, and you'll have the rocky beach to yourself, give or take a few homeless folks passed out on the sand. Get there a tad later and you'll see an assortment of interesting activities going on in the enclave that divides it's two beaches. I once witnessed two young men hauled off in handcuffs by paunchy policemen for dealing drugs.

You'll see toddlers splashing in the water, musicians, groups of inebriated teens, stoners, gutter punks, and dare devils jumping off various cliffs into the waves below. It makes for terrific people watching and the setting is stunning.

I found Alyxis Audley, looking very Obecian, playing music for a group of her friends on top of a cliff overlooking Pocket Beach

A few miles away in PB the majority of beachgoers make-up two groups--college kids and tourists. It's a more PG rated crowd during the daytime hours then you'll find in OB. On the beach you'll find a whole lot of itsy-bitsy bikinis, sun burnt tourists, and surfers in wet suits.

I found friends Dakota Long (in a Body Glove bikini), Jacky Vinson ( in a yellow Issa De'Mar suit), and Sarah Burks (in a target swim suit) soaking up some rays just north of Crystal Pier in PB. The three friends resembled a dozen other groups of PB 20-something, bikini-clad, sunbathers on the beach that day.