A charming sort of life in Huntington

Jack Weide was in primary school when the 1933 earthquake hit.

He stood and watched the school’s facade fall from across the street during the temblor’s many aftershocks. Weide also recalls devastating floods that destroyed local farmlands — and has seen snow fall on the beach.

But it’s his community that has made the biggest impact on his life.

Weide, 82, moved to Huntington Beach with his family when he was 4, during the height of the Great Depression.

Weide built nearly every piece of property he owns, including his own house. The residence is a mishmash of Surf City history. His stairs and second-story maple flooring came from the Pier Cafe; across his triple-wide lot is a cottage made from three Huntington Inn beach changing rooms. Weide bought the cottage when it became available.

Weide’s earliest days here were spent in Silver Acres, a farming area that produced sweet potatoes, but he went to school in Huntington Beach. His family later built their own home in the downtown area.

Weide remembers taking a date on his handlebars to the Surf Theatre, where he took a quarter out of his overalls to pay for two movie admissions and two “all-day suckers.” He also recalls going to the Saltwater Plunge, jumping off the pier to bellyboard with his friends, and riding his horse named Dolly bareback down a vacant 14th Street.

But he would meet the love of his life after serving with his brother in World War II. His wife, Billie Dawn Landers Weide, was a poet and a schoolteacher; they were married for 59 years before she died in her sleep in 2005. They have two sons.

Billie and Jack met at Boogie Woogie’s hamburger restaurant in 1945, after he had returned from active duty in the Merchant Marines in the Pacific.

It was love at first sight for the two, who went grunion hunting for their first date and married a year later.

He was unable to talk her into taking out a mortgage to purchase an acre on Delaware Street for $5,000, but her parents ended up purchasing the land — and selling it a year later for $25,000, Weide said.

Weide’s first job at the city paid $1 per hour; he started on the city weed crew, then moved his way up to being a firefighter.

The newlywed paid $20 per month in rent for a home on Sixth Street, and paid 10 cents for a loaf of bread.

“The good old days,” Weide said, laughing.

When his friends opened the Sugar Shack restaurant, Weide reckons that he was their first customer. He and his wife square danced at the Pavalon whenever they had the chance.

He is currently working to publish a book of his wife’s poems.

“When I look back at everything, it seems we had a charmed life,” Weide said. “I can’t imagine why I was so fortunate. But I look back on it and I wouldn’t change any of it.”

REPORTER CANDICE BAKER can be reached at (714) 966-4631 or at [email protected].