Flippo’s owner, Larry Guesno, 75, smacks a pitch in one of Flippo’s batting cages.
Photos by Neil Farrell
For over half a century, it’s been the place where Morro Bay has gone to play, and now Flippo’s is open again with new management and even more fun for the whole family.
For most of its lifetime, it was Flippo’s Skate Harbor a skating rink that served a couple of generations of Estero Bay residents. Don and MaryJane Puett raised their family at Flippo’s becoming an intimate and beloved part of the community. From hosting birthdays, teens and skate nights, the Puetts eventually sold the place and moved on, their boys grown and starting families of their own.
After a short time being used for basically a storage unit, it was sold once again along with a pair of RV parks to Larry and Carol Guesno, who hail from Long Beach.
It was remodeled from a skating rink into a family fun center, with batting cages and arcade games, plus a food court. But that iteration struggled and after a couple of years, closed down.
Now the Guesnos have taken over management and rebirthed Flippo’s. It’s still got several batting cages, including one that pitches softballs, but the new arcade games are a treat to the eyes, with modern games and a new way to play.
Instead of having to bring pockets filled with quarters, there’s a kiosk that dispenses cards with game credits on them. Many of the games give out tickets that can be redeemed for prizes, and there are still a handful of traditional video games, as well as ice hockey, Foosball, a mini shuffleboard, and a couple of pool tables.
The food is “concession-style” with offerings that one might get if they went to a ballgame, including pizza, hot dogs, ice cream, chips, soft drinks, and beers for adults.
Larry Guesno explained that he comes from a family of baseball players, himself a former Player of the Year in Long Beach famous for hitting the ball out of the park.
When he played at St. Anthony’s in Long Beach, there were guys like Orioles and Angels legend Bobby Grich playing against him.
Larry says he played at Long Beach State for two years, hitting .333 his freshman year and .424 his sophomore year, mainly as a pinch hitter.
“Pinch hitting is the toughest position you have,” he says. He laughs recalling that he once played for two weeks in 1979 for the San Luis Obispo Blues, a semi-pro team, when he was 29-years old.
He used to catch batting practice for the Santa Maria Indians, another semi-pro team, and knew players for visiting teams, so he started playing for the visitors against the Indians.
Eventually he caught the eye of the Blues’ coach who asked him how old he was?
“I told him I was 22,” he laughs, “not 29.” That worked out until the coach found out how old he really was.
He got into real estate and bought a dozen homes in an Arroyo Grande neighborhood and real estate has been his profession.
He spent several years playing in the Men’s 35-over Baseball League in Santa Barbara. There most of the players were ex-pros.
“Ninety-nine percent of the players were ex-professional ball players,” he says. “And the other 1%, that was me.”
The last game he played in he faced former San Francisco Giants pitcher, Jim Barr, who was pitching for a team from Fresno.
You could say baseball has been his life, and frankly, even though he’s pushing 76, still could be. He takes a reporter over to the cages, grabbing a bat on the way out of a rack that says, “Swing for the Fences.”
Inside the batting cage he slams one pitch after another talking about hitting like he’s coaching a team.
“I like to teach hitting,” he says.
He hopes the local baseball players will make use of the batting cages, and the pointers he’s happy to give about hitting, especially for power.
His whole family — brothers and sister — have been champion athletes, including his children. The baseball field at St. Anthony’s is named after his father, he says.
As for the arcade games, they chose mostly games that you won’t see on your phone and ones that give back something. Included are traditional arcade games like Skee-Ball, and Hoops but with flashy neon lighting.
There’s also a Hyper Pitch game to hone skills on the mound. It’s really a 12,000 square foot building filled with fun.
But it’s been tough, especially after the place flooded in the big storm and king tide disaster from a couple of years ago, when he says half a foot of water invaded Flippo’s. “We had a fight and the ocean won,” he laughs.
His RV park across the street also flooded and he had to install a pump to solve that issue.
He’s had to replace the roof on Flippo’s and large sections of the original wooden floor had buckled. The wooden floor is still there but painted over.
He hopes the new Flippo’s will again become the place where families go for some fun.
“When we get to the point of making a profit,” he says, “I will donate to local teens.” He wants to find organizations separate from official school and government, as he feels once you make a donation, the first thing the government does is cut the funding.
Meanwhile, “I can set up discounts for using the cages,” he says, “that kind of stuff.”
In the future, he’s looking to add some outdoor slow-pitch softball batting cages in a 100-foot by 15-foot unused piece of his property behind the main building.
“I can put in two slow pitch machines,” he explains, “but I need a really high net.”
Flippo’s is located at 220 Atascadero Rd., across the street from Morro Bay High School. open daily from about noon to “6, 7, 8,” he smiles, “it depends if people are coming in.”
They will also be available for birthday parties and other special occasions. Call 805-225-1099 for information. Also, see the website at: mbflippos.com.
