THE 3RD ANNUAL TAMO FOAMIE OLYMPICS

📅 Saturday, July 18
🕔 5:00 – 8:00 PM

Whether you're battling for glory in the lineup, heckling your friends from the beach, or just showing up for the laughs, expect a day packed with friendly competition, community, and absolutely unnecessary levels of foamie pride.

Come for the competition. Stay for the glory. Bring your foamie. Friends & family are welcome! Some bites will be provided!

🎟 Entry: $10 (50% of proceeds will be donated to a local charity)

Must use a foam board to compete

🏅 Events:

• Longest Ride

• Best Trick & Style

• Deepest Duck Dive

• Beach Cleanup Challenge

The world's most prestigious foam board competition returns to Bay St. Tower 20 in Santa Monica. Forget the WSL. Forget Pipe Masters. This is where core lore-legends are made. Gather with the finest foam board riders on Earth for a day of elite athleticism, questionable judging, and unwavering commitment to soft-top supremacy. Hard tops are strongly discouraged. This is a foamie-only sanctuary for true core lords and ladies who understand that performance is measured in stoke, not board price.

More than a surf contest, it's a celebration of surfing at its purest: fewer egos, more wipeouts, and a shared appreciation for the greatest surfcraft ever created. Come connect with old friends, make new ones, support local partners, and help us give back to the beach that gives us so much.If your board doesn't have enough foam to survive a direct hit from a shopping cart, you're probably overgunned.

For more info, Click Here

Find out about more upcoming local events, Click Here

On Sunday, a person drives his vehicle fown the pedestrain ramp on the Santa Monica Pier and gets trapped damaging his truck between the palm trees. Pier employees show up to help him navigate his way out before causing anymore damage to the trees.

The street comedian who is always at the entrance to the Santa Monica Pier got into another confratation this weekend. This time a drunk man allegedly approached the performer's wife and she pepper sprayed him, then he came back again and then the performer repeatedly sprayed him.

Firemen, whowere returning from a call up the street, pulled over as the say the drunk guy stumble and fall down on Ocean Ave. He was treated as police arrived to investigate the ordeal.

Here's another fun episode dissecting the craziness of surfing at the Malibu Pier from Brad Jacobson.

A man who was sleeping on grass gets picked up and slammed to the ground by an angry man. The sleeping man had at least one empty alcohol bottle next to him and that may be the reason the angry guy assaulted him. They appear to know each other as well. Prior to this, he was seen talking to the police on the beach about missing money.

It happens more than you'd think. Analyzing a few surfing clips from a good swell at Malibu.

A McLaren loses control and nearly hits a motorcycle police officer, then wrecks into 3 cars that are parked next to the cliff overlooking the ocean on Pacific Coast Highway in Pacific Palisades, California. This happen as vehicles were leaving a supercar show being held in the Gladstone's parking lot on Sunday morning.

From Santa Monica Close Up:

"In an unusual turn of events on Friday, December 8, 2023, a group of surfers at Venice Pier found themselves in a bind after accidentally locking their keys inside their car. Fortunately, Los Angeles Park Rangers, proficiently trained in handling such situations, came to their aid. Utilizing a slim jim, the rangers skillfully opened the car door, much to the surfers' relief. Overwhelmed with gratitude, the surfers offered to compensate the rangers for their help. However, in a heartwarming display of public service, the rangers declined any payment, stating that such assistance is part of their duty and comes at no cost. This act of kindness and professionalism highlights the diverse roles park rangers play in serving the community."

Santa Monica Close Up is a photo blog by Santa Monica based Photojournalist/Press photographer Fabian Lewkowicz. Fabian is the former staff photographer for the Santa Monica Daily Observer Press, Santa Monica Mirror, Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Corsair.

Support Santa Monica Closeup/Fabian Lewkowicz with Venmo or PayPal to help earn money to make these videos:

https://venmo.com/u/santamonicacloseup

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/fabianlewkowicz

"I’m just visiting and thought I’d take the metro out to Santa Monica and we hit (got hit by?) a car a few blocks from the station. Eventually someone popped a door open on my car and we all hopped down and out.

I had a great time walking to Venice and back still, and then on my train ride home some dude was smoking crack so I’d say it was a pretty solid outing overall."

Guy's leash snaps and his surfboard gets sent into the rocks, snapping it in half at Sunset Point Break in Pacific Palisades, CA.

A decent swell hits one of Los Angeles' most crowded surf spots, Sunset Point.

A skater takes a slam to his forehead, splitting it open, during a best trick contest in the pool at the Venice Skatepark. This was one of the many events at the Venice Beach Games.

Another crowded day of surfing madness at Sunset Point in Los Angeles.

Dude straps a soft top surfboard on his Corvette Z06 and flexes it at Venice Beach.

Guy in a Porsche raced out of the Santa Monica Pier, in his lame attempt to impress all the tourist with his Soccer Mom SUV, and drives into and down the sectioned off protected bike lanes until he reaches a plastic post.

Surfing with lots of people in the water at the Venice Pier, boarding breaking, people snaking, good times.

According to Big Blue Bus spokesperson Robert McCall, the crash happened at the intersection of Lincoln Boulevard and Michigan Avenue. While the bus driver was taken to the hospital, no passengers required hospitalization. Riders were transferred to another bus and taken to their destination.

According to a witness, the bus was going to fast and tried to aviod hitting cars by swerving towards the curb.

A #SantaMonica Big Blue Bus crashed into an auto repair shop today at Lincoln Blvd & Michigan Ave. The bus took out a tree, which subsequently landed on a truck and a red Corvette. Thankfully, no reports of any injuries. Lincoln Blvd has reopened as well. pic.twitter.com/ZSazQmtMzw

— John Schreiber (@johnschreiber) January 3, 2023

From Santa Monica Close Up:

"The Los Angeles County Lifeguard Headquarters Station at Santa Monica Beach was heavily tagged with graffiti over the weekend, Monday, October 17, 2022."

Santa Monica Close Up is a photo blog by Santa Monica based Photojournalist/Press photographer Fabian Lewkowicz. Fabian is the former staff photographer for the Santa Monica Daily Observer Press, Santa Monica Mirror, Santa Monica and the Santa Monica Corsair.

Support Santa Monica Closeup/Fabian Lewkowicz with Venmo or PayPal to help earn money to make these videos:

https://venmo.com/u/santamonicacloseup

https://www.paypal.com/paypalme/fabianlewkowicz

Surfer Stan removes an e-bike that was thrown off the Venice Pier into the ocean.