THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Sunday, July 2, 1995 TAG: 9507020051
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B3 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ALEX MARSHALL, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: Medium: 57 lines
Bodies, oil, sun, sand and free time: the essential components of a classic beach day were there Saturday, even if dark clouds and occasional rain threatened the harmony of the elements.
Thousands took advantage of the day. Tourists filled beaches and hotels of the South End, while locals fled to the North End for the comfort of fewer bodies spread over a larger beach.
On 83rd Street at noon, Richard Spark and Shannon Askins lay on a blanket at the foot of the dune grass. Both live in Shadowlawn at the South End. Their bodies were a dark mahogany brown, a color seldom seen in these days of health concerns.
Askins said they planned to sun until 5 p.m.
Then she would go to a tanning bed.
``I'm a Scorpio and a rebel,'' Askins said. ``Shannon Askins will never wear sunscreen and Shannon Askins will never be fat or white.''
A block up the beach, Jay Ross, Lisa Clark and Ruland Gagne were spread out over blankets and beach chairs. They were abusing their skin in a perhaps less harmful way by plastering temporary tattoos on each other.
A blue and yellow lizard now crawled up Ross' forearm. A gaping-mouthed cobra with the words ``Back Off!'' was on Clark's left breast, while a bald eagle and ``USA'' was prominently displayed beside Gagne's bikini top.
The tattoos were an impulse buy after the trio stopped at a 7-Eleven on their way to the beach from Ghent, Gagne said. All had finished restaurant jobs Friday night and were due back in late Saturday afternoon. Ross and Clark worked at the Dumbwaiter and Gagne was a waitress at Bistro 210.
Around the trio, the usual North End beach life was in evidence. Children played paddle balls and shrieked, people covertly drank beer from padded can-holders, while surfers illegally plied the waves and kept an eye out for police.
Down at the South End, the scene was different. The skinnier beach was crammed with bodies and umbrellas, and the crowd continued out into the sea as if being pushed by those from behind. The crowd was of more various colors, ages and nationalities than at the North End.
Carlos Figueroa and his wife, Sandra, had just arrived at noon from Washington. Now encamped under an umbrella, their party of eight included their four children, ages 3 to 8, and two godparents.
``The kids can be kids here, without me spanking them,'' said Sandra, as a toddler wobbled beside her. ``They can play with the sand and have fun. And we can get away from the stress, the daily grind.''
A block to the south, Jim and Phyllis Steere sat quietly, Jim in the sand, Phyllis in a beach chair. This was their first visit to Virginia Beach in ``10 or 15 years'' and they were very impressed with the renovated resort.
They had traveled 10 hours from Utica, N.Y., and said they loved the evening Shakesperean plays at 24th Street Park, the new public art and the renovated boardwalk and Atlantic Avenue. by CNB