OCEAN BEACH – A repurposed chair in Ocean Beach that’s become an enduring symbol of neighborhood unity and surf culture has been severely damaged, and its caretakers are seeking to restore it.
The Cape May neighborhood’s unofficial lifeguard-style beach chair got its start 15 years or more ago when it was found poolside at a Pacific Beach construction job by an OB contractor. It was recovered and has since occupied Cape May oceanfront yards, where it sat for a few years before neighbors voluntarily refurbished it.
However, this chair — without compare to those in the neighborhood — just got vandalized yet again.
“This is a sad day for the Ocean Beach community,” said Cornelius Gregg Harris, one of several 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…”
Harris surmised that his postings about the chair on neighborhood-based social media site NextDoor may have led to its recent demise.
“I guess the guy who did it is active on NextDoor,” he said. “He saw that the chair had been saved (recently) from him dragging it into the ocean.”
Harris noted this isn’t the first time the chair’s been vandalized. “Someone stole the skateboard decks that formed the back, that was replaced with half a longboard, and people from the neighborhood fixed it up,” he said, adding that there have been probably 20 or more different people who have contributed to repairing and rescuing the chair over the years.
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 even been fought over by neighbors.
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 bought some cinder blocks and chains with the intent to attach them 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.
Of his most recent attempt to save the chair, he said, someone dragged it out at low tide in the middle of the night to let the high tide take it away. He pointed out that the chair was about to float away before he managed to retrieve it.
The chair has been a great spot to come out and have a cup of coffee while checking the surf out, said Harris. “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.
A GoFundMe page has been set up for the restoration of the beach chair.
