OCEAN BEACH – A repurposed chair in Ocean Beach that’s become an enduring symbol of neighborhood unity and surf culture was chopped “to bits” Monday night, the latest in a series of mishaps to befall what has become a popular gathering spot.
Its caretakers, though, remain undeterred, and are planning to restore it, even though they’ve done so several times already – and that was before they had to fish it out of the ocean when someone tried to send it out with the tide.
The Cape May neighborhood’s unofficial lifeguard-style beach chair was found poolside at a Pacific Beach construction job by an OB contractor at least 15 years ago. It was snapped up and has since occupied Cape May oceanfront yards, where the seat was passed around for a few years before neighbors voluntarily refurbished it.
However, the chair — without compare to those in the neighborhood — now is damaged again. And badly this time.
“This is a sad day for the Ocean Beach community,” said Cornelius Gregg Harris, one of the many caretakers who have “adopted” the chair and assumed responsibility for it.
“My neighbor said that at approximately 9:30 p.m. on April 13, a man drove to the end of the block and got out of his car carrying a hatchet. He then proceeded to chop [the chair] to bits…”
A GoFundMe page has been set up to help the community once again rescue the beach chair.
“Someone stole the skateboard decks that formed the back – that was replaced with half a longboard – and people from the neighborhood fixed it up,” Harris said of one of the previous incidents. He added that there have been probably 20 or more different people who have contributed to repairing the chair over the years.
Harris surmised that posts about the chair on neighborhood-based social media site NextDoor may be related to what happened Monday. He wonders if the person responsible is active on the site and knew about its most recent rescue.
That’s when it was almost sent out to sea. Harris said someone dragged the chair out at low tide in the middle of the night. As the tide rose, it almost floated away, but he managed to grab it.
Clearly, Cape May’s chair has become a lot more than a scenic seat to locals.
“It’s something special,” Harris said. “It’s a symbol of this community, this neighborhood. This little neighborhood is unlike any beach neighborhood I’ve lived in, and I’ve lived in beach towns all over. Everybody really knows each other — and steps up and helps out when they need you.”
The chair has become so popular that it’s not only been fought over by neighbors, but also has been a repeated target of eccentrics, thieves and pranksters.
The Cape May beach chair was recovered this past weekend after being left to wash out to sea. (Photo courtesy of Cornelius Gregg Harris)
“A couple of years ago, a guy from Maryland moved to OB and took it upon himself to be the chair’s ‘custodian,’ forbidding anyone from working on it or touching up the paint,” said Harris. “He then started telling everyone that he had built the chair and that he was going to take it to his house so he could ‘keep it safe.’
“Obviously, the neighborhood wasn’t happy about that and let him know that the chair was not his and not to take it.”
Harris pointed out that he’s stopped people from dragging the chair away three times. Recently, residents prepared to take drastic action, buying cinder blocks and chains to attach to the chair, firmly securing it to the beach by anchoring it in four- to six-foot deep holes.
“That would be the only way to keep people from stealing it,” Harris said.
Some days, people just chill out in the chair, sipping from a cup of coffee while watching the surf, Harris said. “It’s also an Instagram thing. It’s cool.”
Of the new effort to rebuild the chair now that it’s been hacked up, Harris is confident it will happen. Why?
“It’s a neighborhood team-effort thing,” he said.
Updated 9:50 p.m. April 14, 2025
