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Bob the Hermit Crab
Tennyson. Welcome to the San Diego area and thank you for visiting Ocean Beach. O.B. is a destination rather than a place that you go through on the way to somewhere else, making your dollars essential for the survival of our local merchants. This relative isolation in the midst of urbanity has also allowed for the preservation of a unique character in Ocean Beach- one that you have noticed and seem to appreciate. This character has come under assault- particularly in the last 8 years. I am asking you- no, I am begging you- not to spend you money in 'Wings' when you visit Ocean Beach, and to avoid the evil $tarbuck$ that began this avalanche on September 11, 2001, as well as the two Subways that have sprung up, and the Submarina and the Closet which have followed. I am sure there are others I could mention, but you get the idea... A few doors up from Wings the Shell Shop- a local business that provides a far more unique atmosphere and entertaining goods than the mass produced junk you find in Wings- struggles for survival. We have wonderful local coffee shops, sandwich places, and clothing stores. In these businesses you may actually taste something new and different, or find an article of clothing you can't find at the mall or in the closet of everyone you know. When you come all the way to Ocean Beach, come to try something new- not to enter the same chains you can enter elsewhere. I think the idea of using 'Bob' to nurture a long-distance relationship with your Granddaughter is wonderful. I'm asking that you think about where you might like to take her when she comes back to visit- do you want to show her something different? Or take her into the same restaurants and shops that she can visit on the East Coast? We too want a community with a business district that serves and represents our community just as you do. We want our small businesses to have a chance to survive. Please help us preserve Ocean Beach by supporting what makes it unique. And if you MUST enter these places when you come to Ocean Beach, please don't write about it in The Reader. It makes those of us who live here feel crappy. Seana in OB— May 4, 2009 2:02 p.m.