About 30 years ago, at the age of 20, I came to California with dreams of sun, blue surf, white sandy beaches and beautiful people. As a young man growing up in a miserable English climate, this was the California portrayed to me on the big screen by the latest Hollywood movies.
The new Josh Pomer film "The Westsiders," portrays a very different, darker view of life in California. It offers an eye-opening view of life growing up on Santa Cruz's Westside.
Pomer knows all the nooks and crannies of this life. He is a Santa Cruz native who graduated from Santa Cruz High before going on to make the popular "The Kill" series of surf flicks.
"The Westsiders" took Pomer three years to complete. It delves into lives of three surfing friends bonded through broken homes, their love for surfing and, eventually, the shared dream of becoming professional surfers by the time they were 24.
As young boys, Darryl "Flea" Virostko, Shawn "Barney" Barron, and Jason "Ratboy" Collins, quickly outgrew Cowell's as a surf spot. Before they could surf any wave at Steamer Lane, however, they had to join the Westsider surf gang run by Vince Collier, aka "The Godfather of the Westside."
