Before Ray Comfort preached at the Huntington Beach pier in the open air, there was the Long Beach “Spit and Argue Club.”

The story goes that in the 1880s, a woman spotted some tobacco-chewing debaters on the veranda of the Long Beach Hotel and complained to a friend: “All they do is spit and argue.”

And so the Spit ‘n’ Argue Club became the name of the informal group of mostly retired characters who met daily in Long Beach to chew and whittle while tackling such issues as God, world peace and the proper methods of plowing a wheat field.

Profanity and alcoholic beverages were banned, as well as bathing suits. It seemed almost blasphemous to debate the existence of God while wearing swimwear. You gotta read the rest of the L.A. Times story by clicking here.