Imperial Beach Pier
Imperial Beach Pier is the southernmost pier in the country. Although it's only about an hour drive for me, it's always felt very far. That day, far was good because I needed a drive to clear my head. Once again I visited a pier in the middle of the week to continue my Into The Ocean project and to see if I could clear some of the demons out of my mind.
Imperial Beach Pier is in a very residential area and during the week it was an easy drive. You can see on the map how close it is to the border. How close is it? It's so close that there are helicopters constantly hovering the area. I found the sound to be unsettling but I imagine the people that live there don't even hear it anymore.
Although it's technically a local pier for me, I rarely head that far south and this was a first visit. This pier has a really cool sign at the entrance something a few piers have (Santa Monica comes to mind). It also has several food/souvenir places at the beginning of it.
Given the "winter" weather and time of day, the pier was not very populated. There is a restaurant at the end called Tin Fish which was closed at the time. I plan to return at a different time to see what the pier and area are like when it's busy but the lack of people suited me just fine that day. I needed the space and relative peacefulness to be able to unwind.
It's not my best work, certainly a location I need to explore more in depth, but Imperial Beach Pier gave me what I needed that day: an interesting subject that could take my mind off things.