Oceanside Economy Shaken as Marines Flock to Mideast

While Marines rush off to the Middle East, back home in Oceanside the departure has plunged many merchants into an economic crisis of their own.

Inside a pizza place along Hill Street, the main drag where more than 100 Marines usually gather daily to eat, quaff cold beer and watch for girls, profits are down so much that employees’ hours are being cut.

“It’s killed us big time,” said Assistant Manager Valerie Church. “They’re (the owners) thinking about closing the doors four days a week.”

Elsewhere in this plain old downtown that largely lives or dies by nearby Camp Pendleton’s paychecks, barbers sit idly among their empty seats, gazing at television or pedestrians.

Billy Valli, a bearded, long-haired barber whose clientele is 99% Marines, hopes they return safely and soon.

“If the Marines weren’t here, I wouldn’t be here,” he said. “I’d be back in Encinitas, doing perms and colors.”

At dry cleaners, cinemas, banks, restaurants, malls and on buses, the unmistakable shaved heads of young Marines have become scarcer since the Middle East deployment began a week ago.

And, although downtown Oceanside, with its 48-year history with the Marines, has increasingly become tourist-oriented, this latest military deployment is a reminder that it is still a garrison town.

The 36,000 Marines normally stationed at Camp Pendleton, plus their dependents, are a potent economic force expected to account for 50% of the $8 million to $9 million in local sales tax projected for 1991.

“I don’t know what percentage (of base personnel) have been activated,” said Stebbins Dean, of the Oceanside Chamber of Commerce, “but with just 126,000 people in the city, we’re obviously going to lose a tremendous amount of buying potential.”

The Pentagon has indicated that 45,000 Marines nationwide may be destined for the Middle East, but the number shipping out from Camp Pendleton hasn’t been disclosed.

Whatever the amount, the Marines’ departure has brought sudden changes to Oceanside.

At the ABC Laundry & Surplus, Marines initially stormed in to pick up their clothing and buy such supplemental gear as desert camouflage and desert-colored scarfs, Manager Evelyn Renfroe said.

After that first onslaught, business went as quietly as a cease-fire.

“Without the Marines, they (the owners) might as well fold up,” said Renfroe, who started working at the store in 1968. “I could have probably stayed home today.”

Over at the Esquire Barber Shop, which has dispensed so-called “zero-to-three” haircuts (zero length around the sides and 3 inches maximum on top) for more than 40 years, Barber Tom Norris sat alone.

Slumped in a barber chair, he watched television, an unintended and undesired luxury. Marines, who get haircuts every week, have largely vanished.

“I do a lot of little kids now,” Norris said.

But that’s not cutting it financially, and Norris said he will probably have to move on to another job soon if the Marine deployment becomes a long-term campaign.

Barber Valli, who works at Cut-Rite, normally clips 40 military heads a day, but that’s declined by 15 so far--more than a third of his business.

“You don’t see as many Marines on the street anymore,” said Valli, a former sailor. “You don’t see as many hookers, either.”

For Church, across the street from Valli at Spanky’s Pizza, the Marines may be protecting American interests abroad, but that’s not doing business much good at home.

She said 98% of her trade is military, and the pizzeria normally takes in $250 in an afternoon and up to $1,000 a night. This week, those figures slid to between $80 and $150 during the day and $400 to $600 at night.

In their frenzied departure--or in anticipation of having to leave abruptly--many Marines have crowded local financial institutions to hurriedly finish personal business.

Craig Fortin, manager of First Interstate Bank’s busy branch office on Mission Avenue, has seen a stream of Marines completing power-of-attorney documents to let family or friends tend to their financial and legal affairs.

That rush has been “coupled with an increase in Marines bringing in spouses or girlfriends to convert their accounts to joint accounts,” Fortin said.

His bank staff also has been affected by the deployment. One employee who married a Marine in June “has had her husband shipped out. . . . She’s not handled it very well, and she’s out sick,” he said.

Another Marine wife at the bank “has decided to move back home,” he said. “She’s gone.”

The impact of Marines departing or sticking close to base to await orders has extended beyond downtown.

At a cinema complex along Interstate 78 a few miles inland, weekend patronage by Marines has declined, and a dozen servicemen who also work at the theater have been unable to come to their jobs.

“We had a lot of Marines working here, and they had to go,” said one theater employee.

And at Plaza Camino Real, a mall popular with Marines just south of Interstate 78 in Carlsbad, stores offering lower-cost goods have felt an economic jolt.

The manager of one economy shoe store reported his sales of men’s shoes off by nearly 80%. But clerks in some other stores where prices aren’t geared for low-paid Marines said the deployment has had a less severe effect.

Other sectors of the economy are still taking stock of what the military situation bodes.

Pete Aadland, transportation marketing spokesman for the North County Transit District, said “we sure are expecting we will have some routes severely affected by the decrease in riders.”

In 1985, 20% of the district’s ridership was Marines, although Aadland believes that figure is lower now.

Grocery and fresh produce suppliers who sell to the Navy and the Marines suspect they eventually will feel the effects of continuing deployment.

Linda Lee, owner of Vista-based Lee Foods, said she believes Camp Pendleton’s procurement officers are recalculating food needs because “their purchasing office has not issued any new purchase orders.”

“Normally, we’d be working on next month’s orders,” she said. “I don’t know what it means. Those boys have got to eat. They’ve got to get their food from somewhere.”

However, it’s still downtown Oceanside that traditionally has directly shared both the fortunes and tribulations of its proximity to Camp Pendleton, which was built in 1942.

Especially during the 1970s, with the Vietnam War in full swing, the downtown became a notorious zone for crime, prostitution and blight. The Marines were often victims, but the rowdy behavior of servicemen during that time caused a lasting stigma.

Over the years, strides have been made to improve the relationship between Marines and the community. The base has a liaison officer, and the business community has actively supported Camp Pendleton against potential Pentagon budget reductions.

Still, some businesses have little to do with the military and aren’t affected by the Marines’ deployment.

In one shop, the clerk said the deployment of Marines is of little consequence to the business because “we don’t take their checks. Marine checks usually bounce.”