The Dirty Sole Society's Winter Barefoot Gathering '97 Information Filed by: Paul J. Lucas & Ken Saxton Location: Huntington Beach, California, USA Dates : February 15-17, 1997. SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 15 ===================== Leo and I flew down to John Wayne airport in Orange County California. Leo boarded barefoot; I boarded in my Bare Bottoms. Both of us held our bags in front of us to hide our feet. We boarded without difficulty. We arrived at the gate and met Ken Saxton, our host. I was surprised to see him wearing sandals. He explained that the shoe police caught him. This is the first airport I had heard of that cares about bare feet; but, then again, it is conservative Orange county. We were also introduced to Cathy Lee, Ken's wife. The timing was perfect since she had just finished a flying lesson at the same airport. We all headed to Huntington Beach up the Pacific Coast Highway for Leo and me to check into our motel, only a few blocks from Juice For You, our first "Bare Feet OK!" campaign participating business. [http://www.barefooters.org/bare-feet-ok/] We went to Ken and Cathy's place to load the Jeep up with scrap wood to be used for the beach bonfire later that evening. Ken, Leo, and I walked to Juice For You and Cathy would meet us there later with the Jeep. While ordering lunch at Juice For You (with a 15% discount), more DSS members showed up. First was Barefoot John (Errett) who drove up from San Diego; then both Marrq Anthony and Rachel Sloan arrived together. Marrq had his toenails painted metallic white and green; the green matches the color of one of his eyes. (He usually has his toenails painted blue and green to match both eyes, but wanted to try out metallic white.) We were also joined by Roger, a non-DSS member, who found the itinerary of our get-together on the web and decided to join us. After lunch, we assembled everyone outside, including the entire on-duty staff of Juice For You, to take a group photo wherein I presented Dan, one of the owners, with an official "Bare Feet OK!" sticker. Dan then affixed the sticker at about eye-level to their window. It looks so cool! Ken, Cathy, Rachel, Marrq, John, Leo, and I then proceeded across the street to hike through the Bolsa Chica wetlands. (Roger wasn't up to a hike, but it was still nice that he joined us for breakfast.) The terrain was soil with occasional spots of pea-sized gravel. Ken dazzled us with his amazing knowledge of the local flora and fauna with statements like, "See those birds over there? Those are 'little birds.' See that green stuff? That's green stuff." Ken Saxton adds: > I joked about the green stuff being the same stuff that Juice for You put in > my smoothie (spirulina). But, there really was a variety of birds. In > addition to the "little birds," there were some that were "bigger birds" and > others that were not as big as the bigger birds but not as small as the > little birds. Personally I think my classification system works just as well > as Charles Darwin's. We eventually crossed Pacific Coast Highway to walk back along the beach. Marrq decided it would be fun to get wet in the ocean, not bothering to roll up his jeans in the surf. The water was chilly, but tollerable...in small doses. I jokingly told everyone that I was trying to master the Zen-like art of walking across wet sand without leaving any footprints. Actually, I can leave very minimal footprints, but I have to walk very slowly to do it. Ken Saxton adds: > On the beach were some small long-legged birds and some slightly larger, but > still small, other birds also with long legs. These birds had long thin > beaks which they used to pull their dinner from the sand as the water washed > over the sand. We got back to where Cathy had parked the Jeep and proceeded to make a bonfire. The "Barefooters Flag" Ken made for the weekend event was red with black footprints on it, except for the toes which were holes cut out. (Having the toes as holes was easier than sewing 10 small pieces of fabric.) We all sat around and munched on chips and chatted while the sun set. Marrq's jeans were giving off steam from the heat of the fire. Ken and Cathy turned in early. Marrq and Rachel left next; regrettably, they had other commitments for the remainder of the weekend and would not be able to join us for the rest of the planned activities. Still it was good to meet the faces behind the e-mail. John said he would stay with friends and that we'd probably see him again before the weekend was through. Leo and I headed back to the motel. SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 16 =================== We all met for breakfast at Juice For You at 9am. I still couldn't get over how great the "Bare Feet OK!" sticker looked. Roger joined us again for breakfast as did Joseph, a student where Ken works. Most of us had a Breakfast Burrito; I thought it was quite good. While eating outside, a blonde, curly-haired guy drives up with his surfboard mounted atop his car and parks in front of Juice For You. He got out, barefoot, and proceeded in. he then comes back out and read the "Bare Feet OK!" sign. He looks at all of us and asks, in a kidding manner, "Is it OK to go barefoot in here?" "Yep!" After getting his order, he comes back out. I motion to him to come over. I handed him a Dirty Sole Society business card and we all explain about our group and our present get-together. He also asked us about driving barefoot and we assured him that it was legal everywhere in the USA, Canada, and England. Ken leaves copies of The Barefoot Hiker in the reading rack inside Juice For You for people to read or take with them if they choose; this guy was holding a copy. He eventually went on his way. After breakfast, Ken, Leo, and I set out on a 5-mile hike along the beach to the Huntington Beach Pier and downtown Huntington Beach. It was a bit foggy, but the fog was burning off as the morning progressed. We eventually made it to the pier and downtown. We crossed Pacific Coast Highway again to walk along Main Street. Ken pointed out, to our dismay, that nearly everyone was shod -- across the street from the beach! There were only a few pairs of bare feet other than ours to be seen and there were many pairs of feet there that day. Sad. At least no places that we noticed had "No Bare Feet" signs on them. There isn't much to downtown Huntington Beach...it's maybe a third or less of the size of downtown Santa Cruz. We did stop at the Sunset Grill and Cafe for some juice. We were given no hassle about being barefoot. We then went in search of the famous (infamous?) "naked surfer" statue that conservatives tried to have either removed or make "decent." (The surfer's back is to the street and you really have to contort yourself to "see anything.") We then walked the length of the pier. There's nothing on it except tourists; at the end of the pier is Ruby's, a restaurant. They have a "Shirt and Shoes Required" sign. They apparently cater to the tourist clientele. They do have a window from which one can order and pick up food from the outside, but Ken reminded me of something I had said earlier whereby we should not support such discriminatory businesses. We were getting hungry and, since we were given no hassle about being barefoot earlier in the Sunset Grill and Cafe, we returned there for lunch. We were thinking to sign them up for the "Bare Feet OK!" campaign, but I didn't lug the binder with me during the 5-mile hike. We decided that we would stop by the next day on the way to the airport. After lunch, we decided to take the bus back rather than walk. While waiting for the bus, we got into a conversation with a couple of (shod) women who questioned my "Go Barefoot!" T-shirt. As is often the case, one of the women started to tell us about how she always used to go barefoot when she was a child. Leo also made friends with their dog. The buses here don't have any problem with barefooted riders. After making it back to Ken and Cathy's place, we hung out and eventually ended up watching Forest Gump, which I had never seen. There's a line in the movie where Forest says, "You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of shoes that they wear" -- Ken held up his bare feet and smiled. After the movie, Ken dropped Leo and me back off at our motel. It was late on a Sunday and we hadn't had dinner yet. We wandered down the road to a seafood restaurant and decided to give it a try barefoot. We walked in and I asked, "Are you still seating for dinner?" "We sure are. Two?" the hostess responsed. "Yes." Just then a young guy (a waiter?) who was standing near by looked down at our feet and asked "Do you have any shoes?" "No." "I'm sorry, but you need shoes...there's a Health Department regulation." "No, there isn't, and I can prove it." "I can understand...I go barefoot all the time myself, but I'll lose my job if I let you in here." "Would you like a $10 tip?" "I can't." "$20?" We didn't get in. Had we been let in, I would have given him the $20 since I was curious to see if money would talk in this situation. It's just as well we didn't get in since we wouldn't want to support a discriminatory business. Leo and I instead grabbed a couple of sandwiches from a 7-Eleven we had passed on the way to the restaurant. MONDAY, FEBRUARY 17 =================== We all again met at Juice For You for breakfast. We were rejoined by both Roger and John. After breakfast, I personally thanked the owners of Juice For You for supporting us and being our host business. John went his own way, and Roger followed the rest of us to Ken and Cathy's place just to relax and have a barbecue. Although it was sunny and warm, it was quite windy. The barefoot flag blew over a couple of times. Ken and Cathy prepared veggie kabobs -- enough for an army! They had also invited some of their neighbors to our barefoot-only event. Ken Saxton adds: > While sitting in the jacuzzi, we talked about our hike the day before. Bela, > my neighbor, said that he and his two young daughters had been kicked out of > the Ruby's restaurant in Seal Beach because of their bare feet. After cleaning up, we hung out until it was time to leave for the airport. We left for the airport via Pacific Coast Highway. We stopped in downtown Huntington Beach to return to the Sunset Grill and Cafe (where we had lunch the day before) to see if they would be interested in being a "Bare Feet OK!" participant. We walk in and ask to speak with the owner. He comes out and meets with us. "Hi. We were in here yesterday for lunch and enjoyed the food. We were wondering if you wold be interested in receiving free advertizing for life." The owner nodded. "All you have to do is promise not to discriminate against people only because they are barefoot." "Of course! This is the beach." He motioned for us to be seated with him at a table. I took out an application form and helped him construct an ad. He even offered to serve us something, apparently for free. We might have accepted, but were on our way to the airport. I also mentioned the "Bare Feet OK!" sticker. Upon seeing it, he took it from me, peeled off the backing, and stuck it on the door himself. (To me, this constitutes proof that having the signs be self-adhesive is a good idea.) We thanked him for his participation and we continued on our way to the airport. Ken dropped us off at the airport and we said goodbye. Leo and I were also caught by the shoe police when we attempted to pass through the metal detectors. Leo started to ask for proof of the "rule." "It's a rule...would you like us to call the police?" was the response. We both put on footwear until we were on board the plane. I reminded Leo that you can't argue with such people who hold trivial, but absolute power. Perhaps somebody could go in there when they do *not* either have to catch a plane or meet somebody just to stand there and demand to see a written rule. Orange county airport aside, we all had a great time barefootin'! - Paul Ken Saxton adds: > And Cathy and I ate kebobs for the next few days.