Back on Board Again

Down at the beach, they’re known as “weekend warriors.” “These are older guys--from 35 up into their 50s--who gave up surfing and are getting back into it,” explains 34-year-old surfer Brian Hilbers of Woodland Hills.

Most of the older surfers are also known as “longboarders,” because of their tendency to ski on the more stable, longer surfboards. “Three or four years ago, sales were 15% longboards and 85% shortboards. It’s getting closer to 50/50 now--especially in summertime. In the wintertime the older guys tend to go skiing more than surfing,” says Hilbers, manager of Val Surf & Sport in Woodland Hills. “But state-of-the-art surfing is done on shortboards.”

Why do most surfers abandon the sport around the age of 24? “They get married or they move,” says 29-year-old Randy Beck, owner of Safari Surf & Sport in Sepulveda.

Adds Hilbers, “They get more obligations as they get older. But if the surf is on, you’ve got to be there--and that doesn’t mix with a work schedule.”

Mark Richards, 42, co-owner of Val Surf & Sport, with three Valley locations, is one of the few who stayed with the sport as he grew older. “There are a lot more older guys getting back into it, but we’re definitely still in the minority down at the beach,” he said.

The return to surfboarding among older men is frequently attributed to the improved design of longboards. “They’re three-quarters of the weight they used to be when these guys were younger, and they’re also designed to be more responsive,” Beck says. “Basically, a lot of these guys started out with longboards and to this day, that’s what surfing is to them.”

‘New Age’ Comes of Age

“Our audience is not necessarily collecting crystals, and they won’t necessarily be buying the most far-out books in a spiritual bookstore,” says Barry Bortnick of Sherman Oaks.

As coordinator of special humanities programs for UCLA Extension, Bortnick has been developing courses that some people might be inclined to call “New Age.” Among the classes offered this winter are “Zen and the Art of Self-Transformation,” “Time-Pulse of the Universe,” “Human Imagination,” “The Mystic Quest,” “Celestial Mythology” and “Masks of the Spirit.”

In the last year and a half, Bortnick says, there have been an increased number of interdisciplinary courses that emphasize a search for personal meaning.

“This is not therapy or religion, and it’s not a non-questioning approach. We bring in philosophers, religious people, scientists, psychologists. We want to meet the interests of our audience in a way that’s academically sound and absolutely credible,” Bortnick explains.

One of the more popular courses to date--which attracted more than 100 students--was a class on myths and the human psyche offered last fall in Pasadena.

“We’re going to offer that in the Valley in the spring,” Bortnick says. “I think we’ll have a really good response to it.”

The Newest Mom-and-Pop

You’re not likely to hear a brogue inside Flanagan’s Liquor store in San Fernando. Like a growing number of mom-and-pop liquor or grocery stores in Southern California, Flanagan’s is owned by Koreans and is located in a Latino neighborhood.

“Koreans and Hispanics are both immigrants, so they have a kinship,” says Yumi Park, secretary general of the Korean-American Grocers Assn. of Southern California. Formed in 1982 by 150 liquor or grocery retailers, the association now has nearly 3,000 members.

Sunhae Kim said she and her husband, Yong, bought Flanagan’s 1 1/2 year ago with the hope that income from the store would help pay for their children’s educations.

“I have two college kids,” she says. “We have only one employee, so my husband and I work long hours every day. On Sunday we have a half-day off together to go to church.”

The Kims left Korea 12 years ago. “It was too crowded there, and I have to think about my children’s future,” Sunhae Kim says. “My husband was a civil engineer there, and we had a housekeeper and a driver. Here I clean my house, and I drive myself, and I clean the store! It’s a harder time for us here, but my kids are happy and I am happy.”

The Listbusters

Some people have the same reaction to her business as they do to microwave ovens or disposable diapers: They don’t know how they lived without it.

Cathleen Carlson runs a personal errand service--called Errands Unlimited--out of her Woodland Hills office. For $13.50 an hour, with a two-hour minimum, Carlson will tackle your To-Do list.

Her clients run from corporations to senior citizens (who get a discount).

“Usually people start by having us do their grocery shopping, and then they start to see how much else we can do for them,” Carlson says. “I waited in more lines at the post office over Christmas than I care to remember. And everyone wanted me to be sure to get the cute stamps!”

Recently a number of secretaries have hired her to do the work they don’t like to do for their bosses, such as personal shopping, picking up airline tickets, and so on. “They talk their bosses into paying for it,” Carlson says.

The downside of her job is that she still has to run her own errands.

Overheard

“Can somebody tell me why they always seem to add riboflavin to junk foods?”

--Woman in line at a convenience mart in Reseda