![]() The only notable changes Vacek made from the Bugbee era were new pool tables and an ATM. Food was served when you picked it up from Big Mike’s on Hermosa Avenue, or from wherever else you wanted to bring in take-out. Throughout the years, Bud remained the sole tap beer, wine was red or white. “He told us his goal in life was to own a home on The Strand and a bar on The Strand,” Voorhees said. “It was just a time when beer bars were not very popular.”Īfter five years, Voorhees and Woods sold the Poop Deck to Poop Deck regular “Uncle” Bill Vacek, a Southern Pacific Bank vice president who lived on The Strand. We had to run a lot of people out because they were high on something. “The saddest part during this period was that so many of the young people who would come in off the beach in the afternoon were taking drugs. “Steve and I liked drinking there, so I asked my accountant if it made sense and he said it did,” said Voorhees, who retired from the lifeguards as the Southern Section Captain in 1990 and lives in Manhattan Beach. In 1971, a Poop Deck bartender mentioned to beach lifeguards Steve Voorhees and Steve Wood that the bar might be for sale. Al looked around, then walked out and told the dog catcher Sooner must have slipped out the back door.” “We had a cop named Al Graham, who wasn’t very popular until one day the dog catcher saw Sooner run into the bar and sent Al in to get him. If he was sitting on a bar stool or the shuffleboard table and you tried to move him, you’d be in trouble. “The real owner was Sooner, a black mutt. He’ll shot put your head out the door and into the ocean.’” ![]() “One day a customer wanted to tangle with him. “Perry O’Brien, the shot putter, was a good friend,” Bugbee said. On summer days, when I was working the front door, it was quicker to walk around the block to the back bathroom than to try walking through the bar,” Bugbee said. “We never charged more than 25 cents a beer. A poop deck is the stern deck on a ship, but the pun was not an accident. Bugbee built the bar top from used diving boards and bought used bar stools from the Mermaid. Hermosa Beach surfer Howard Bugbee opened the Poop Deck on April 17, 1957, shortly after graduating from USC, where he majored in business and ran track.
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