The Pleasure Point Night Fighters, a.k.a. PPNF, is a community-oriented organization that comes together to preserve and protect the Pleasure Point area and originated Pack Your Trash.

Background

The Pleasure Point Night Fighters were the first to use the name Pleasure Point. This designation is used to define the surfing community on

Soquel Point Pleasure Point is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California. Pleasure Point sits at an elevation of . The 2020 United States census reported Pleasure Point's population was 5,821. Prior to the 2010 census, this CDP was cal ...

in the county of Santa Cruz. It is defined by Moran Lagoon, Portola Dr, 41st Ave and the Pacific Ocean. During the time of

Prohibition Prohibition is the act or practice of forbidding something by law; more particularly the term refers to the banning of the manufacture, storage (whether in barrels or in bottles), transportation, sale, possession, and consumption of alcoholic ...

(1919 to 1933), the

Pleasure Point, Santa Cruz, California Pleasure Point is a census-designated place (CDP) in Santa Cruz County, California. Pleasure Point sits at an elevation of . The 2020 United States census reported Pleasure Point's population was 5,821. Prior to the 2010 census, this CDP was cal ...

community was not served by the Santa Cruz City Fire Department after dark. In response to this lack of fire service in the night time, a group of volunteer's organized to fill this need. The Pleasure Point Night Fighters began as a volunteer fire fighters organization. They helped to fight many fires that were started by drunken revelers who came to this remote area between Santa Cruz and Capitola during Prohibition. PPNF was also renowned as a

vigilante Vigilantism () is the act of preventing, investigating and punishing perceived offenses and crimes without Right, legal authority. A vigilante (from Spanish, Italian and Portuguese “vigilante”, which means "sentinel" or "watcher") is a pers ...

organization that kept the peace in

unincorporated area An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

of Pleasure Point. The people who were at the mercy of those who came into the area turned to this local organization for protection. The rumors of the many valiant actions and the heroes of this time are still told among the older members of Pleasure Point surfing community. During World War II, many of the members joined the service to protect the USA from the greater world threat and their activities were suspended. The PPNF was revived in the 1950s when "Pleasure Point Night Fighters" became the call to arms and rebel yell for the locals. Jim Phillips, world-renowned for his

surf art Surf art is visual art about or related to the sport of surfing, waves, and the culture that surrounds beaches. There is a strong connection between art and surf culture, which reaches back 3,000 years to Peru, where some of the world's first his ...

and contributions to

surf culture Surf culture includes the people, language, fashion, and lifestyle surrounding the sport of surfing. The history of surfing began with the ancient Polynesians. That initial culture directly influenced modern surfing, which began to flourish ...

, designed the PPNF calling cards. He and Harry Conti, reincarnated the Night Fighters in the 1970s.

Community work

In the 1980s they planned and developed the Night Fighter Park at the corner of Pleasure Point Dr and East Cliff Dr. They ran Pack Your Trash, for many years. Pack Your Trash started a larger trend that has evolved to larger beach clean-up days. These larger clean-ups are supported by Save Our Shores, Surfrider, Coastal Conservancy and Save Our Seas Hawaii, among others. The PPNF is now a strong community-oriented organization that comes together to preserve and protect the Pleasure Point area. It is working together with the County to preserve the Pleasure Point roadhouse for a community center. PPNF is working to create guidelines for the Pleasure Point Community Plan, in response to neighborhood concerns about new large houses that overwhelm the traditional beach cottages.

Gallery

File:Pleasure Pt Park2.JPG, Pleasure Pt Park File:Pleasure Pt Park3.JPG, View from Pleasure Point Dr File:Pleasure Pt Park1.JPG, Ocean view

References

External links

* * * {{url, http://www.PackYourButts.com
Sentinel Newspaper links Archive for Pleasure Point Night Fighters 2001-2007
Clubs and societies in California Santa Cruz, California

Background

Community work

Gallery

Further reading

References

External links