James Laird - Adventures at the Lark Ellen Home - Page 3

Sometimes we would go up to the Castle Rock area near Malibu. You had to pick your body surfing spot carefully there so you did not hit any rocks. Other times we would go by the pier in front of the Dovile Club. With a brake water to protect the moored boats the waves were very small. They rented kayaks to paddle around in the calm water, but we never had enough money to rent one so we would bring our fishing lines and go fishing after swimming. Catching perch which hung out next to the piling on the pier was pretty easy. If we cleaned them properly the cook would fix them for us when we got home. We soon learned to just keep the bigger ones as they had more meat for the same amount of bones.

When the State took over the gambling ship "Rex" which was anchored just off Santa Monica it was used as a fishing barge for a while. The local police station took a bunch of us boys out fishing overnight on it. I don't remember catching any fish, but it was the most luxurious fishing boat I was ever on in my life. All the beautiful furniture and carpet was still in place in the lounge. When we got tired dangling a line over the side we would go inside and curl up in a big chair and sleep for a while. We enjoyed the water taxi ride to and from the ship more than we did the deluxe fishing accommodations.

Jim Laird