In the 60s Scarborough Beach was a fun place for surfers to hang out. Back then you could see the beach from West Coast Highway and surf uncrowded waves on your Malibu surfboard.
From a tent on the beach, you could hire inflated black rubber ‘surf shooters’ for one shilling (ie one bob or 10 cents post 14 Feb 1966) for half an hour and/or get a personalised spray on Vita Tan for 1/6p. And there were lamp posts with lights on the beach, so nocturnal beach goers could enjoy the beach on hot summer nights.
Fun things to do on Scarborough Beach esplanade included, consuming hamburgers and milk shakes at Peters By The Sea, watching the action at the infamous Snake Pit dancing venue (opened 1953 & closed 1969). Enjoying an ale at the Scarborough Beach Hotel (built 1938 & demolished mid 1980’s) and hanging out at Luna Park Scarborough’s theme park (opened 1939 & demolished 1972).
This is the first of a three-part series on Scarborough Beach.
#1 beach images.
#2 locals’ images.
#3 surfing images
Series #1 is a collection of vintage Scarborough Beach beach images from various sources with comments by WA Surf Industry pioneer and former Scarborough surfer Tom Blaxell.
Tom Blaxell– I remember the setup down on the massive sand beach of those days, before they put in the artificial vegetated dunes, which were installed to control the seasonal sand drift, which used to clog up the carpark, and I think to help against beach erosion.
As a consequence it seems that the underlying reefs, like Threepenny Reef, and even Trigg Blue Hole don’t get exposed nearly as much as they used to, in winter in the old days. The Rocky bluff that stands at Trigg Point used to separate from the beach in winter, hence it used to be called Trigg Island (the SLSC Club is still called that), but which has now become known as Trigg Point.
I remember around 1980 the City of Stirling working out that the beach at Trigg Point was growing by about half a metre per year. As a result the point has become less of a point than it used to be.
Image: Scarborough Beach panorama early 60’s. Image source unknown.
No high rise, natural beach, lots of car parks-all full, millions of bods on the beach!
Image: Scarborough’s Luna Park 1939-1972. Image source Chronicle Scarborough.
Luna Park was an iconic feature of Scarborough in its time. A major theme park, before theme parks came about. A kind of permanent Sideshow Alley located where the big Rip Curl billboard is today on the corner of Scarborough Beach Road and West Coast Highway. The shopping centre there today is called Luna Shopping centre.
Image: 2019 Tom with 1950-60s Scarborough Beach memorabilia at The Sandbar café Scarborough Beach. Tom Blaxell pic.
This photo was taken recently at The Sandbar café Scarborough. I would guess the original pic was taken in the late 50’s or early 60’s, looking at the fashion. It turns out that another old Scarborough boy Gary Burke, is the son of the spray tan man in the pic, his father Ron Burke is now age 99!
Image: 1950-60s Guys hiring surf shooters from tent on Scarborough Beach. Image courtesy of The Sandbar café Scarborough Beach.
Image: 1960s busy Scarborough beach front. Bill Gibson pic.
You can see the spray tan tent on the left. The newest car I can see is a Holden EK, and it really tells how popular the beach was, when the population of Perth was probably a quarter of what it is today!
Image: 1966 Wishing well at Scarborough Beach. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1966 Greg Woodward’s Austin A40 sedan and Len Dibben surfboard at Scarborough Beach car park. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1967 Scarborough beach and car park. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1967 Looking north toward Trigg Point from Scarborough Beach. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1960s Scarborough Hotel. Image courtesy of The Sandbar Scarborough beach.
The two Coppers are more interested in the goings on at the Snake Pit across the road, than the larks in the back of the double parked ute to their left.
Image: 1960s Scarborough’s Snake Pit. Image courtesy of Oceans Bar.
In the 60s the Snake Pit was located on today’s Oceans Bar corner. Milkshakes, hamburgers and Rock & Roll – the crowd gathered for the free entertainment at Scarborough Beach. It was an open air amphitheater set up attached to a milk bar.
This daytime shot shows the popularity of the venue, even among the beach goers. Think James Dean, American Graffiti, The Fonz. The dance was the Jive and Scabs was alive! The Bodgies and Widgies were a 50’s counterculture nuanced by slick back hair styles, leather jackets, desert boots and billowing skirts for the girls. One night I watched as the head Bodgie rolled up. All the girls lined up for him to choose who he was going to dance with.
Click on this link to view Scarborough Snakepit history images.
Image: 1968 Aerial shot of Scarborough beach front. Jim Breadsell pic.
Some detail in this aerial pic-
The art deco Scarborough Hotel (now demolished) is centre left.
The Scarborough Guest House has the bright red roof centre right.
The Sandbar Café is in the same art deco curved building bottom right.
Peters By The Sea was and is still there in the same building, lower centre. They were the only land holders who held out to not sell to the developers of the high rise hotel then called Observation City (by Alan Bond). They still serve the same toasted bread burgers, that we used to get there in the 60’s.
The image shows the vast white sand beach prior to the artificial vegetated dunes installed about 15 years later.
Image: 1963 Brighton Beach looking north to Scarborough Beach (June 1963). Murray D’Arcy pic.
That’s the Brighton drain outlet in the foreground. Sometimes that turned into a river like at Smiths Beach Yalls.
Image: 1969 Lamp posts and night lights on an empty Scarborough Beach. Jim Breadsell pic.
Image: 1969-70 Beach goers and lamp posts on Scarborough Beach (looking south towards City Beach/Cottesloe). Jim Breadsell pic. ***image updated 25 Jul 2019***
BONUS PICS – HMAS SYDNEY II
Re the spray tan pic; Out of the blue, I was contacted by old Scarborough boy Gary Baverstock. I went to Scarborough primary School with Gary and his brother Sydney. Sydney, who sadly passed away a couple of years ago was named after the World War II cruiser HMAS Sydney. This was because their uncle Ernest George Baverstockwas the commander of “X” gun turret on the Sydney, when it went down with all 645 hands off Dirk Hartog island, after being attacked by surprise, by a German raider ship, the Kormoran (in disguise as a Dutch trader) in 1941.
Gary ended up becoming the chief crew family representative, in the drive to find the wreck, which was a long and expensive struggle, that ended up being finally successful, in 2008.
It has been determined that X turret was responsible for making the fatal strike on the Kormoran, which unlike the Sydney that went down quickly, took hours to go down, and allowed most of the German crew to survive. It is rumoured that a lifeboat load of them ended up at Red Bluff and stayed in the cave.
Image: Pre 1941 HMAS Sydney II Circular Quay; X turret is at the stern of the ship, I think the upper one, a 6” double barrel. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: Pre 1941 HMAS Sydney II crew; All 645 hands were lost in the surprise action RIP. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: July 1940 HMAS Sydney II Guns; this pic is of maintenance on a forward 6” turret. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: 1941 HMAS Sydney II Memo; this is the first official acknowledgement of the loss of the Sydney from the Secretary to the War Cabinet to the West Aussie PM John Curtin. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: 2019 HMAS Sydney II Memorial; The Dome of Souls at Geraldton, where it seems the Sydney was heading for, when it went down, features 645 seagulls, each representing a lost crew member. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Many thanks to Tom and the other contributors for sharing their vintage images.
In the 60s Scarborough Beach was a fun place for surfers to hang out. Back then you could see the beach from West Coast Highway and surf uncrowded waves on your Malibu surfboard.
From a tent on the beach, you could hire inflated black rubber ‘surf shooters’ for one shilling (ie one bob or 10 cents post 14 Feb 1966) for half an hour and/or get a personalised spray on Vita Tan for 1/6p. And there were lamp posts with lights on the beach, so nocturnal beach goers could enjoy the beach on hot summer nights.
Fun things to do on Scarborough Beach esplanade included, consuming hamburgers and milk shakes at Peters By The Sea, watching the action at the infamous Snake Pit dancing venue (opened 1953 & closed 1969). Enjoying an ale at the Scarborough Beach Hotel (built 1938 & demolished mid 1980’s) and hanging out at Luna Park Scarborough’s theme park (opened 1939 & demolished 1972).
This is the first of a three-part series on Scarborough Beach.
#1 beach images.
#2 locals’ images.
#3 surfing images
Series #1 is a collection of vintage Scarborough Beach beach images from various sources with comments by WA Surf Industry pioneer and former Scarborough surfer Tom Blaxell.
Tom Blaxell – I remember the setup down on the massive sand beach of those days, before they put in the artificial vegetated dunes, which were installed to control the seasonal sand drift, which used to clog up the carpark, and I think to help against beach erosion.
As a consequence it seems that the underlying reefs, like Threepenny Reef, and even Trigg Blue Hole don’t get exposed nearly as much as they used to, in winter in the old days. The Rocky bluff that stands at Trigg Point used to separate from the beach in winter, hence it used to be called Trigg Island (the SLSC Club is still called that), but which has now become known as Trigg Point.
I remember around 1980 the City of Stirling working out that the beach at Trigg Point was growing by about half a metre per year. As a result the point has become less of a point than it used to be.
Image: Scarborough Beach panorama early 60’s. Image source unknown.
No high rise, natural beach, lots of car parks-all full, millions of bods on the beach!
Image: Scarborough’s Luna Park 1939-1972. Image source Chronicle Scarborough.
Luna Park was an iconic feature of Scarborough in its time. A major theme park, before theme parks came about. A kind of permanent Sideshow Alley located where the big Rip Curl billboard is today on the corner of Scarborough Beach Road and West Coast Highway. The shopping centre there today is called Luna Shopping centre.
Image: 2019 Tom with 1950-60s Scarborough Beach memorabilia at The Sandbar café Scarborough Beach. Tom Blaxell pic.
This photo was taken recently at The Sandbar café Scarborough. I would guess the original pic was taken in the late 50’s or early 60’s, looking at the fashion. It turns out that another old Scarborough boy Gary Burke, is the son of the spray tan man in the pic, his father Ron Burke is now age 99!
Image: 1950-60s Guys hiring surf shooters from tent on Scarborough Beach. Image courtesy of The Sandbar café Scarborough Beach.
Image: 1960s busy Scarborough beach front. Bill Gibson pic.
You can see the spray tan tent on the left. The newest car I can see is a Holden EK, and it really tells how popular the beach was, when the population of Perth was probably a quarter of what it is today!
Image: 1966 Wishing well at Scarborough Beach. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1966 Greg Woodward’s Austin A40 sedan and Len Dibben surfboard at Scarborough Beach car park. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1967 Scarborough beach and car park. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1967 Looking north toward Trigg Point from Scarborough Beach. Greg Woodward pic.
Image: 1960s Scarborough Hotel. Image courtesy of The Sandbar Scarborough beach.
The two Coppers are more interested in the goings on at the Snake Pit across the road, than the larks in the back of the double parked ute to their left.
Image: 1960s Scarborough’s Snake Pit. Image courtesy of Oceans Bar.
In the 60s the Snake Pit was located on today’s Oceans Bar corner. Milkshakes, hamburgers and Rock & Roll – the crowd gathered for the free entertainment at Scarborough Beach. It was an open air amphitheater set up attached to a milk bar.
This daytime shot shows the popularity of the venue, even among the beach goers. Think James Dean, American Graffiti, The Fonz. The dance was the Jive and Scabs was alive! The Bodgies and Widgies were a 50’s counterculture nuanced by slick back hair styles, leather jackets, desert boots and billowing skirts for the girls. One night I watched as the head Bodgie rolled up. All the girls lined up for him to choose who he was going to dance with.
Click on this link to view Scarborough Snakepit history images.
Image: 1968 Aerial shot of Scarborough beach front. Jim Breadsell pic.
Some detail in this aerial pic-
The art deco Scarborough Hotel (now demolished) is centre left.
The Scarborough Guest House has the bright red roof centre right.
The Sandbar Café is in the same art deco curved building bottom right.
Peters By The Sea was and is still there in the same building, lower centre. They were the only land holders who held out to not sell to the developers of the high rise hotel then called Observation City (by Alan Bond). They still serve the same toasted bread burgers, that we used to get there in the 60’s.
The image shows the vast white sand beach prior to the artificial vegetated dunes installed about 15 years later.
Image: 1963 Brighton Beach looking north to Scarborough Beach (June 1963). Murray D’Arcy pic.
That’s the Brighton drain outlet in the foreground. Sometimes that turned into a river like at Smiths Beach Yalls.
Image: 1969 Lamp posts and night lights on an empty Scarborough Beach. Jim Breadsell pic.
Image: 1969-70 Beach goers and lamp posts on Scarborough Beach (looking south towards City Beach/Cottesloe). Jim Breadsell pic. ***image updated 25 Jul 2019***
BONUS PICS – HMAS SYDNEY II
Re the spray tan pic; Out of the blue, I was contacted by old Scarborough boy Gary Baverstock. I went to Scarborough primary School with Gary and his brother Sydney. Sydney, who sadly passed away a couple of years ago was named after the World War II cruiser HMAS Sydney. This was because their uncle Ernest George Baverstock was the commander of “X” gun turret on the Sydney, when it went down with all 645 hands off Dirk Hartog island, after being attacked by surprise, by a German raider ship, the Kormoran (in disguise as a Dutch trader) in 1941.
Gary ended up becoming the chief crew family representative, in the drive to find the wreck, which was a long and expensive struggle, that ended up being finally successful, in 2008.
It has been determined that X turret was responsible for making the fatal strike on the Kormoran, which unlike the Sydney that went down quickly, took hours to go down, and allowed most of the German crew to survive. It is rumoured that a lifeboat load of them ended up at Red Bluff and stayed in the cave.
Image: Pre 1941 HMAS Sydney II Circular Quay; X turret is at the stern of the ship, I think the upper one, a 6” double barrel. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: Pre 1941 HMAS Sydney II crew; All 645 hands were lost in the surprise action RIP. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: July 1940 HMAS Sydney II Guns; this pic is of maintenance on a forward 6” turret. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: 1941 HMAS Sydney II Memo; this is the first official acknowledgement of the loss of the Sydney from the Secretary to the War Cabinet to the West Aussie PM John Curtin. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Image: 2019 HMAS Sydney II Memorial; The Dome of Souls at Geraldton, where it seems the Sydney was heading for, when it went down, features 645 seagulls, each representing a lost crew member. Photo credit Wikipedia.
Many thanks to Tom and the other contributors for sharing their vintage images.
Coming soon Scarborough Beach #2 locals’ images.
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