1943, Laguna Beach. Murray Zimmerman (we called him “The Lung” because he could hold his breath for three minutes) and I got these bugs, a couple hundred yards off where the Coast Inn is now at a hole we called the Judge’s Chamber. There were always two big 15-20 lb. bulls sitting in there. We’d get ’em and the following weekend there’d be two more. 

The old timers tell this story: “The local Game Warden had been after George for quite some time, but the local “coconut wire” always kept him a step ahead of the law. One day, on the cliffs above the Coast Inn, the Warden sees George enter the water ( and this story is where I think that bug hole maybe got its name) and sneaks down and hides behind the rocks. He nabs Peanuts as he exists w/ a monster bug, tosses both in his truck and drives straight over to town hall. He enters the courtroom with Peanuts clasped with one hand, and the big confused crustacean in the other and loudly announces ““I have finally caught the most notorious poacher in all of Orange County red handed”. The Judge looks down from his big lectern. “Mr. Larsen, we have laws against such things and they must be enforced. I am sorry but the fine is $50”. Peanut’s drops his head, $50 was a LOT of money back then. The Judge rules that the still twitching lobster must be left as evidence and the Warden exits proudly with a strut in his step. The judge then gets up, puts the lobster in a bag and passes a “still shell shocked over the amount of the fine” Peanuts a note. The note said: “ Don’t worry. I’ll pay the fine, but I want a lobster just like that one delivered to me each Christmas from here on out, ok”? *tis good to have friends in high places, eh?