Timbers and a Vendetta

A journey unraveling an historical event so bizarre it seems fictional, began yesterday with a turkey and swiss sandwich at the Sandpiper Grill in Goleta.  My travel buddy and I aren't golfers, but the restaurant at the Sandpiper Golf Course has a killer view of the ocean and it was a clear sunny day.  As we were having lunch we noticed a bronze plaque attached to a rock.

 On February 23, 1942, a Japanese submarine fired at an oil production facility which was next to the present day golf course.  The former oil field is now part of the Ellwood-Devereux area, the Bacara Resort, the Sandpiper Golf Course and the new Goleta Bluffs housing development.  Supposedly, remnants of the pump-jacks, derricks and oil storage tanks can still be found on the beach below so off we went to find them.

Well, it turns out that the commander of the Japanese submarine, Kozo Nishino, had been to this very same spot before the war when he was captain of a merchant ship.  He refueled at the Ellwood Oil Field facility before heading back to Japan.  When he disembarked at the site, however,  he tripped and fell on some prickly pear cactus.  The story floating around is that he had to pull spines from his buttocks and you can imagine how funny this must have been!  A group of oil workers started to laugh, not knowing that losing face to a proud Japanese skipper was so shameful and so humiliating that he returned to seek his revenge as soon as he got a chance!

Fortunately, his gunners were lousy shots.  They took aim at the fuel tanks near where he fell on the cactus hoping to cause huge explosions, but only managed to hit the pier, damaging the timbers.  There was no loss of life.  Oil workers, of course, reported the incident and black-outs up and down the coast were the result, as well as a mass hysteria that the Japanese were going to continue attacks on the mainland.  Internment of Japanese-American civilians went into full effect.  Santa Barbara had an active Japan Town across the street from the Presidio.  They were all rounded up and  the only evidence of this abandoned community are little pieces of pottery uncovered by archeology students, which are now displayed at the Presidio museum.

Venoco Pier

  So what happened to the damaged pier?  Well, it was dismantled and the timbers were used in building the Timbers Restaurant in Goleta.  I've eaten there a few times, but the place is now closed and up for sale.  Anyone want to buy a fascinating piece of history?

So the moral of this story?  Well, there are many, but for a traveler like me, always always read those little bronze plaques.  You never know where they will take you.