Beachcombing

Time flies when you are having fun. Truer words were never spoken in connection with this, our 24th anniversary of publishing the Beachcomber.

About this time in July 2000 we were preparing our first edition of the Los Altos Neighbor, acquired from John Patrick McNaughton, who accepted a job as field representative for Councilman Dennis Carroll. A month earlier I was handing John an ad for our client, Strickland Family Mortuaries, and John asked me if I’d be interested in buying his paper.

“Why not?” I thought, given my teenage experience with two east coast newspapers, followed by newscasting on two radio stations, then a few dozen newsletters that were produced for numerous clients by Beeler & Associates (B&A) in the subsequent two decades.

We had just completed working on the Census 2000 campaign for the City of Long Beach, wherein our job was to convince a few thousand Cambodians and Hispanics that being counted in Census 2000 did not mean the government was going to kick them out of the country. At stake was about $1,200 in federal funds for everybody who got counted in Long Beach – yielding a few extra million for the city to provide education, health care, transportation and social services to our growing population.

Cal State Fullerton intern Elizabeth Pose and B&A graphic designer Stacey Francis took on the titles of editor and executive editor, respectively. In short order we had John Tosdal handling the advertising sales and Steve Propes listening to his scanner to report on Long Beach Fire and Police Department activities.

McNaughton’s distribution was about 12,000 papers and we quickly tripled that to 36,000. On April 6, 2001 we introduced the Beachcomber banner to reflect on our wider Long Beach distribution.

Press-Telegram Editor Rich Archbold was quick to point out that the Beachcomber name was used by one of their former columnists. “Use it or lose it,” I say.

Actually I was pondering the name change a month earlier while drifting off to sleep. Something to do with the “beach” was the starting point when “comber” came to mind. I jumped out of bed and spent an hour or so researching the Beachcomber name online. Lots of bars and hair salons, but no newspapers. Subsquently we learned of Beachcomber newspapers in the northwest and on the east coast, but none in California.

At 86 years old, Archbold keeps pounding out columns for the Press-Telegram but at my age, 80, I’d like to play more. As mentioned in this column a few months ago I plan to drop the “editor” title and turn over those duties to someone in the next generation by the time July 2025 rolls around.

The idea is to avoid anything associated with the word “deadline.” Mentoring the interns, writing occasional columns, reading more books and enjoying the grandkids sounds perfect.

Part three of four parts: “Why it’s good to be a man” as shared with me by my brother in 2001.

• You can leave the motel bed unmade.
• You can kill your own food.
• You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
• If someone forgets to invite you to something, he or she can still be your friend.
• Your underwear is $8.95 for a three-pack.
• If you are 34 and single, nobody notices.
• Everything on your face stays its original color.
• You can quietly enjoy a car ride from the passenger’s seat.
• Three pairs of shoes are more than enough.
• You can quietly watch a game with your buddy for hours without ever thinking “He must be mad at me.”

Part four next time.

publisher@beachcomber.news