Memoir: Sand Dune Park
“I think there were 20 kids or so on the dune, along with the park attendant. We probably marked off a 100-foot course and the first guy down won. It was a real old school, informal thing.” – Matt Wachtfogel by Matt Wachtfogel In 1962, my parents moved our family into a home near the base of the sand dune in Manhattan Beach. I had just turned four years old. Coincidentally, that’s about the time a child’s memories begin to stick with them for a lifetime. That was almost 50 years ago. Back then, the sand dune was just that, a sand dune and not Sand Dune Park. The National Guard Armory bordered the dune on the north and Ladera Elementary School on the south. The dune consisted of beautiful beach sand with sparse native vegetation. Bell Avenue, from 29th St. to 33rd St., was a dirt road. There was no fence on the west side of Bell Avenue so vehicular access to the sand dune from the dirt road was uninhibited. My earliest memories of the dune were of the occasional dune buggy driving down our street and on to Bell Avenue. The buggy would survey the base of the dune, choose a route and attempt to climb to the top. Neighbors hearing the sound of the buggy would walk out to watch. When…
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