The hectic day of a Laguna local

JAMES PRIBRAM

It must be summer, or maybe it’s summer year-round now. Seems like

that’s the way Laguna goes, or traffic goes, or parking goes ...

anyway, here I go.

You ever find yourself driving on Coast Highway when suddenly

someone who has just parked his or her car flings open the door right

as you’re passing by? So you instinctively swerve into the lane next

to you and almost cause an accident. Now you’re angry at the person

who flung open the door to begin with, and now the person who is

driving next to you is angry at you. I love it. Happens to me every

day.

But I’m the worst at this one. I used to heckle people about their

cellphones, and now it’s almost as if it’s glued to my hand, which is

glued to my ear. The old saying that video has replaced the radio ...

well, now the cellphone has replaced everything.

What really gets me though is when I drive by Subway on South

Coast Highway around lunchtime and see a line around the place. I

can’t help but wonder if Jared is signing autographs or if the

sandwiches are really just that good?

I lied.

What really gets me is when you drive Downtown, and you need to

park for maybe five minutes, and there are no meters left, and

there’s no resident-only parking. It’s lame.

So you drive into one of the bank parking lots Downtown and ask if

it’s OK if you park there for five minutes, and they look at you as

if you’re crazy. So you politely ask them where they’re from and they

reply: Riverside.

Again, lame.

And again, maybe if we just had some reserved spots available for

residents who have a Laguna Beach parking permit, which for some lame

reason say “shopper” instead of “resident,” perhaps it would help

ease the parking woes, at least for residents.

Seems fair.

Just another day in the life of Laguna, and don’t get me wrong,

the hustle and stampedes are great for the businesses here. It’s just

a shame when you forget about the people who live here.

Peace.

* JAMES PRIBRAM is a Laguna Beach resident, professional surfer

and co-founder of “They Will Surf Again,” a nonprofit foundation

assisting people with spinal cord injuries. He was also a member of

the Water Quality Advisory Committee. He can be reached at

jamo@alohaschoolof

surfing.com. His website is alohaschoolofsurfing.com.