Meet NY Larry

People often ask how a kid from the Bronx ended up calling California's Central Coast home. Like most good stories, it wasn't exactly planned.

I grew up in a six-story apartment building in the Bronx, where the Bronx River Park was my backyard. Winters meant sledding down snowy hills, and summers were filled with stickball, handball, and neighborhood adventures.

When my dad retired, our family moved to the North Fork of Long Island—back when it was known as the "poor man's Hamptons." There were potato farms, commercial fishermen, and not many tourists. We had a boat in the backyard, and while Dad headed out fishing in the mornings, I was usually behind the boat waterskiing in the afternoons. Looking back, I realize just how lucky I was.

Life took another unexpected turn after a blind date in San Diego introduced me to Karen. Many red-eye flights between New York and California later—and after surviving the Blizzard of 1984—I decided it was time to trade snow shovels for sunshine.

In 1991, while working in Long Beach, a coworker invited us to Thanksgiving dinner at his sister's home in Grover City (before it became Grover Beach). During that visit, I discovered Los Osos, Baywood Park, and Morro Bay. I fell in love with the area almost immediately. By the spring of 1992, we had moved to Los Osos, and I've never looked back.

When Windows 95 launched, I started my own computer support company, helping real estate offices, mortgage brokers, hotels, and local businesses navigate the new world of computers and networking. I also had the honor of serving as President of Bay-Osos Kiwanis while helping raise my granddaughter—one of the most rewarding chapters of my life.

Today I'm happily retired, but my curiosity hasn't retired with me. If anything, I love this community more than ever.

For years I'd talked about starting a local blog. With encouragement from a dear friend, Baywood Tides finally became a reality.

People often ask where the name came from. Almost every morning you'll find me at the Nautical Bean on the Baywood Pier with a wonderful group of friends affectionately known as the "Baywood Navy." We drink coffee, solve the world's problems, swap stories, and watch the estuary come alive. No two mornings are ever the same. The tides are always changing, the light is always different, and each day offers a new perspective. That daily ritual inspired the name Baywood Tides.

This blog is my way of sharing the stories that make this place so special—the history, colorful characters, local businesses, live music, hidden gems, and the little moments that make Baywood Park and the Central Coast feel like home.

Whether you're a lifelong local, a new neighbor, or just passing through, I hope you'll find something here that makes you smile, learn something new, or inspires you to slow down and enjoy the view.

Thanks for stopping by. Pull up a chair, grab a cup of coffee, and welcome to Baywood Tides.

The Baywood Navy: The World's Shallowest Fleet

By Baywood Tides

If you wander down to the Baywood Pier just after sunrise, you'll notice something special. Before the paddleboarders glide across the estuary, before fishermen cast their first lines, and before the tourists discover one of California's hidden gems, a familiar crew has already assembled.

Coffee cups in hand. Binoculars nearby. Plenty of opinions. And enough stories to last until tomorrow morning.

Welcome to the Baywood Navy.

No admiral. No uniforms. No aircraft carriers. Maybe a submarine for the races LOL

Just a group of locals who have quietly become one of Baywood Park's most beloved traditions.

The World's Shallowest Fleet

Nobody seems to know exactly when the Baywood Navy began. There are no membership records, no founding charter, and no official history tucked away in a dusty archive.

Like most great small-town traditions, it simply evolved.

For decades, fishermen, sailors, kayakers, birdwatchers, artists, retirees, and early risers naturally gravitated to the Baywood waterfront. Morning after morning, friendships formed over coffee while watching the tides, wildlife, and weather. Eventually someone jokingly referred to the regulars as the Baywood Navy, and the name stuck.

Considering the shallow waters of the back bay, they adopted the perfect unofficial motto:

"We don't sail in water deeper than we can stand in."

It's a line that's been quoted in newspapers and travel stories for years because it perfectly captures Baywood's relaxed sense of humor.

Headquarters at the Nautical Bean

Every fleet needs a headquarters.

For the Baywood Navy, that's the Nautical Bean overlooking the pier.

Locals affectionately call it the morning briefing room.

Here, coffee is mandatory. Solving the world's problems is optional.

Topics range from tides and weather to fishing reports, local politics, bird sightings, who's playing music this weekend, and which whale someone swears they spotted yesterday.

No meeting agenda.

No minutes.

Just conversation.

If you sit long enough, chances are someone will pull up a chair and welcome you into the discussion.

More Than Coffee Drinkers

While the Baywood Navy enjoys plenty of laughter, they've also quietly become caretakers of the waterfront.

Over the years members have helped:

• Maintain and repaint the Baywood Pier

• Raise funds for improvements

• Organize community clean-up projects

• Watch over the estuary

• Fly the Baywood Navy burgee from the pier

• Support local events and waterfront activities

Many visitors never realize that much of what makes the pier feel so welcoming is the result of volunteers who simply love where they live.

Boatzart: Music on the Water

One of the Navy's proudest traditions has been Boatzart, the annual waterfront music festival held on and around the pier.

The event brings together local musicians, neighbors, visitors, and families for an afternoon where the bay becomes the stage and the backdrop.

Like everything else the Baywood Navy does, it's less about making money than bringing the community together.

A Sense of Humor Required

One reason people love the Baywood Navy is because they never take themselves too seriously.

Years ago, pelicans began claiming sections of the pier railings as their personal roosts, leaving behind... let's just call them "gifts."

The Navy's solution?

The experiment consisted of simple strings stretched along the railing to discourage birds from landing.

Only in Baywood could bird control become a community joke.

Even better, locals once joked that the official Baywood Navy Museum was located inside the restroom at the coffee shop.

Whether that was ever technically true hardly matters.

That's exactly the kind of humor Baywood is known for.

Why the Baywood Navy Matters

In today's world, where everyone seems to be staring at a phone, the Baywood Navy reminds us of something simpler.

Show up.

Have a cup of coffee.

Say hello to someone new.

Watch the tide come in.

Celebrate another beautiful Central Coast morning.

There are no membership cards.

No dues.

No initiation ceremony.

Just a willingness to appreciate one of California's most beautiful estuaries—and maybe tell a story or two while you're there.

My Connection

The Baywood Navy is also the inspiration behind Baywood Tides.

Almost every morning you'll find me sitting with this remarkable group at the Nautical Bean overlooking the pier. Every day the bay looks different. Sometimes the fog hangs low over the water. Sometimes the tide reveals mud that disappear by afternoon. Sometimes pelicans skim inches above the surface, and sometimes sea otters steal the show.

But it's never the same twice.

The tides change.

The light changes.

The conversations change.

That's why I called this blog Baywood Tides.

Just like the bay itself, every day brings a different story.

Every day - a Word of the day and a Trivia question, tests our knowledge.

So if you're ever in Baywood around sunrise, grab a cup of coffee, pull up a chair, and don't be surprised if someone introduces themselves and asks where you're from.

You may arrive as a visitor.

But before long, you just might find yourself serving in the world's friendliest—and unquestionably shallowest—navy.

Editor's Note

Much of the Baywood Navy's story has been passed down through longtime residents rather than preserved in official records. If you were part of the early Baywood Navy, remember how it got its name, have old photographs, or know stories that deserve to be preserved, we'd love to hear from you. After all, Baywood's history is best told by the people who lived it.

It all begins with an idea. Maybe you want to launch a business. Maybe you want to turn a hobby into something more. Or maybe you have a creative project to share with the world. Whatever it is, the way you tell your story online can make all the difference.

Not a real guy. But it looks like he could be. You’re going to be populating this section, Larry.