Where in the World is Gumbo? #4.5, 12/6/13

The water seems pretty shallow pretty far from the beach and not a lot of surf. Is it along the coast of Florida somewhere? Those people look like snowbirds.

Does Florida have mountains?

Well, I kinda thought it looked Florida, too. I don't see any mountains in there, just sorta low hills, I guess. If they got any real mountains in Florida, Disney built em. But the clothes don't look wrong, unless you think it's summer. And they're not kids...kids don't know how to dress for the weather. So I think FlashFlyer might be right.

He coulda been on a boat, too.

You must be a boat person--your picture, anyway, so you gotta be right about Florida. So where do you think? I'm in Atlanta, so I don't know too much about beaches, but when we go to the Carolinas, there's more waves than that.

Are you guessing somewhere, or just shootin' at the lifeboats?

An interesting and lively discussion so far, but no winners yet.

Keep it going!

DrFumblefinger- I'm going to take a guess. The Belmont Veterans Memorial Pier in Long Beach.Shot taken on the pier where it make a t. I think I used to buy bait anchovies there as a kid. If it's not, I do think its a  Pier in California.

I don't think so...the railing looks wrong, and Belmont has light poles all along it...here's a pic of that...

If anyone's really interested in finding this pier it's the details that count.  Despite having the suggestion blown off earlier I still see mountains in the center distance, leading me to believe it's in Southern California.  The railing is distinctive, 2 boards together at the top then just 1 more below.  A few lights, all on one side.  Then the cross bracing below and an "L" or "T" at the end for the angle of the shot.  The closest I've seen so far are Ventura and Newport Beach but neither were a perfect match in the pictures I've seen.  Of the 2 I'd lean toward Ventura because of the landscape.  But I'm still looking.

Well, I'm kind of lost, because it's not any area I'm familiar with. I'm puzzled by the mountain business a bit, because they look low--I guess that's what Mrs. Briggs meant. You've picked out a lot of detail, but nothing as distinctive as the Paris bridge railing last week. Hmmm...are we wrong in being sure it's in U.S.? Dr. F--can you give us that much?

If you look closely at pictures of wooden piers, PH, you'll see that this railing is very distinctive too, rules out almost every one I've seen.  Look beyond the close hills on the right, in the center, mountains meeting the clouds.  I'm pretty sure I'm not imagining them.

Sharp eyes! If you hadn't pointed that out, I would have gone on thinking those faint shadows were part of the clouds.

Definitely a wooden pier; so much for all the concrete ones I'm finding. Not very wide either. I searched "wooden bridge railings" and you're right--there are almost none with that pattern. 

Any hints, Dr. F?

If you'd like to really drive yourself crazy, search "wooden piers southern california" then on the result page click on "images" at the top.  Not to say definitively it's so. CA but it's as good a place as any to start.

If we can judge by the pictures, I've been tricked before, I don't think it's either of those.  The Port Hueneme lights & bracing aren't the same and the railing is wrong on the Cayucos Pier.  That's IF the pictures are labelled right and assuming nothing has changed.  2 big if's.

The towns of Oxnard and Ventura are next to each other.  Using Streetview seems to eliminate Ventura Pier, not as many buildings as in DrF's photo.  I'm not finding anything called Oxnard Pier so I think maybe the pier closest to Oxnard is Port Hueneme Fishing Pier which has almost no buildings, park and parking lot, it would appear.

Well, we've got some really lively discussion going on here.  

The cookie has been nibbled all the way around, but no definitive clear answer yet.

Remember, it can't be a differential diagnosis.  We need one straightforward answer.

I can tell you that it is in the USA and that it is in California.  That's all for now.

Sure looks like Balboa Pier in Newport Beach.

WorkerBee -  Indeed, it does look like that.  Similar to pic below, if you ignore those buildings.  Does Newport Beach have a mountain ?  There must be a lot of contractors going up and down the coast of California, building and re-building similar piers.

Mountains? Of course!

Tall buildings similar to the ones behind the light standard in the center of the pic? Yes!

Palms that match the ones in the pic? Those too!

I think that's it!  The benches look the same, even the palm trees, a clump of 2 and another of 5 on the left and the bunch on the right.  And the piling out of line on the left.  That's got to be it.  Good job.

It must be to left, out of the picture.  I think you can see the edge.  There's a space on the left of the beach that matches in both that's to the right of the red-roof building in the original.

"Questions remain.  What happened to the red roofed building with the arches ?  What is Mr. Baseball Cap saying to Sweet Mildred of the Bench ?   What sort of fishing pier has only one lousy gull ?"

Look at the left side of your pic. Isn't that the edge of the red roofed building to the left of the last palm?

Mr. Baseball cap: "Why is it taking them so long to find us?"

The other gulls are camera shy.

Maybe they are just wondering why it's so hard for Boy Meets Gull...

<g, d and r>

I really hate to rain on everyone's parade, but while we're VERY VERY close, we still aren't exactly spot on in locating this pier.

Keep trying, gang!

Balboa Pier on Harbor Island.

Newport Pier, Oceanfront Blvd. & 21st Place, Newport Beach, CA.