WE SACRIFICED THE BEST WAVE IN SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA TO SAVE DEMOCRACY: THE RISE AND FALL OF LONG BEACH FLOOD CONTROL

As far as surf breaks go, the spot known as Flood Control, whose outermost takeoff spot is buried just aft of the Queen Mary's massive black Art Deco stern in the Port of Long Beach, had a very short life. Twenty-three years, start to finish, is a good guess. But it is just a guess because everything about Long Beach is a scaled-up convoluted mess, with layer upon manmade layer—oil derricks, milit...