VENTURA : Lifeguards Look Forward to New Station

It doesn’t look like much: a concrete slab foundation a little bigger than a mobile home. A few pipes installed where the bathrooms will be. Three-foot-high steel rods, topped with yellow plastic caps, sprouting from the cement like metal weeds.

But to Steve White, the new lifeguard station under construction next to the present one at Harbor Boulevard and Vista del Mar Drive will be a real improvement.

The old station, built in 1962, was designed for 10 to 15 lifeguards--not the 48 who use it during the summer season.

“Our current building has one toilet, and it’s in my office,” said White, supervisor for the state beach lifeguards at the station. “The building is inadequate.”

Work on the new, three-story station began around the start of the year and will continue until at least September, said Michael Dykes of Dykes Construction. Dykes hoped to begin laying blocks for the walls this week.

The building won’t be huge, but it will give the lifeguards more space than they now have. The ground floor, about 87 feet by 24 feet, will feature a two-car garage, locker rooms and a first aid station. A central tower, 30 feet high, will hold an office on the second floor and an observation platform and communications center on the third.

In the old station, the locker room is a former storage area carved out of a one-car garage packed with files and rescue boards. Tables in the ground-floor office are covered with architectural plans, computer equipment and more files.

“Every year, it seems we’re getting bigger and bigger, more people and more equipment,” said Mark Thompson, a lifeguard and seasonal supervisor at the station. “We just kind of pile it on top of each other the best we can.”

In addition to the increased floor space, the new station will have one other major improvement over the old: both male and female locker rooms. When the present station was built, most lifeguards were men, said Steve Treanor, superintendent for the Channel Coast District of the California Department of Parks and Recreation.

“The applicants that we get are much different than they got in ‘63,” he said. “We have a lot more women guards, and we need to adjust our facilities to the changes.”

White said about one-third of his summer lifeguards are women.

White has pushed for a new building since 1981. He’s pleased the department finally approved the project, which is expected to cost about $350,000.

As he stared at the Pacific from the observation tower last week, White said he is happy to trade his office, which has high windows near the ceiling, for one with a better view.

“My office is going to have windows,” he said. “Imagine that, a lifeguard who can see outside.”