By mid-morning today, more than 30 woodies, together with the owners and their families, were gathered in our condo complex. Residents joined them for woodie viewing, as well as a large brunch and lots of chitchat. This is an annual gathering on the day before The Surf City classic, Woodies on the Wharf, … Northern California’s largest woodie show that features more than 200 stylish, pre-1952, wood-bodied cars* and started in 1993.

The oldest one I saw was built in 1938 (the yellow one in the picture above), with the preponderance dating from the late 40s and early 50s. All were meticulously cleaned, lovingly restored, and drivable. The social scene was vibrant as well, with old friends reconnecting from previous years, and kids at various levels of engagement roughly based on their ages. My next door neighbor’s father is a member; she grew up coming to this event and now brings her own family. The host lives most of the year in Hawaii, storing his car locally when he’s out-of-state.

Many of the cars sported vintage surfboards on racks, and almost all had a collection of window stickers, including many from previous Woodies-on-the-Wharf, especially the 15- and 20-year anniversary milestones. Also common were stickers of surfboards, ocean themes, and woody culture: Got Wood?

I was struck by this collection of people clearly immersed in a pastime of only passing interest to me. They were friendly, eccentric, knowledgeable, opinionated, welcoming, humorous, intelligent, mostly middle-aged-and-white people. Just like folk dancers!

Lately I have been exposed to the concept that most people think folk dancing is a bit odd. Not that it hadn’t occurred to me before, but I notice it more here. Possibly that is because the folk dancing community–especially the Morris dancing community–isn’t as large here as in New England. Because we have observed that size disparity at the California Morris Ale and while dancing in SF and Berkeley, I think it is not due to the smaller population of SC, but rather to the greater remove from Merrie Olde England.

In any case, it was novel, even enjoyable, to be on the other side of the odd divide.

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* Description courtesy of santacruzwoodies.com.