As we reported last week, temporary "No Stopping" signs were put on PCH to prevent surfers from surfing this spot (Sunset). After a week of no enforcement, LAPD came in hot on Wednesday morning and started writing tickets for $93. Most got out the water and drove off without getting one, but a handful were not so lucky.

The video below is footage from our daily Instagram Stories. You can see the police did give a warning, via their siren, that they were coming.

Two police vehicles showed up, but only one officer was writing tickets, the other one just wanted to check out the dolphins that were jumping by the waves.



For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Malibu/Lost Hills Watch Commander James Braden reported a citation was given to someone near Topanga State Beach who allegedly tossed away some LA County Beaches and Harbors “No Parking” signs.

No info on how much the ticket was for. He didn't state if it was done by a surfer or not.

We did notice several of the No Parking signs were gone at a couple spots at Topanga. There were two of the barricades with signs tossed down into the brushes on the side of the creek.

The same has been happening at Sunset too, the "No Stopping" signs are being hidden, tossed in the trash, and some thrown down into the rocks.




For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

*This story will be constantly updated with new info & photos as we get them.*
*New updates will always appear at the bottom.*
*LAST UPDATE: Sunday 12:30PM, 4-19-2020*




On Thursday morning, the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks started pouring sand into the Venice Skate Park.

While out filming the morning surf for our daily Instagram Stories, our shooter noticed some bulldozers dumping sand on the skate park and started shooting it.



Several employees were shoveling sand into all areas of the park, while the bulldozer dumped sand along the skate park's rim walkway and into the street section. And of course, as seen in our Instagram Stories, they were getting all sorts of harassment from a handful of skaters and non-skaters.



This is temporary, the sand was put into the skate park to prevent people from skating it. The skate park has been closed for several weeks now due to the stay at home orders, but too many people have been skating it, and just plain hanging out in it. So the Department of Recreation and Parks decided to do more, since the caution tape and signs didn't work.

We asked Lance LeMond, someone who has been involved with the skate park since before it was built and now works for the Parks & Rec, about this and his reply was that they are just going to put enough sand in there that will keep people from skating it.

We saw that cardboard was placed over the all the park's drains with sandbags to hold them down. But the cardboard pieces were not taped down at the edges, so let's hope the method they chose works.



According to the Department of Recreation and Parks, the weight of the sand should not be an issue. They are not putting in an amount that will cause damage to the skate park.







We also noticed that the city is now taking notes on how people at the beaches are following the social distancing guidelines. They have been watching the numbers of people wearing face masks compared to those that do not. The news networks keep doing hit pieces on how people at Venice Beach are not following the guidelines, even though we keep catching all those same reporters and cameramen not following the orders themselves.





There is no info on how long the sand is going to be in place. Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti did announce that "large gatherings" including sporting events may not be approved until 2021. With the large crowds that this skate park gets, it might be till then.









UPDATE: Friday 10:20AM, 4-17-2020
More sand being added on Friday, and @WahineKaii snapped this photo (below) of the bulldozer inside of the skate park moving sand around the street section.


Photo by @WahineKaii

The Venice Skate Park is not the only the park having this done, the same thing already happened to the San Clemente Skate park


Photo by Ryan Mata

The San Clemente Times reports: "On Monday, the City of San Clemente poured 37 tons of sand onto the concrete surface of the Ralphs Skate Court off Avenida La Pata as part of an effort to deter skaters from visiting the park during the coronavirus pandemic."

It is probably a god bet to say the Venice Skate park will end up looking like that.

UPDATE: Friday 5:30PM, 4-17-2020

Photo by Stu Munde

There's an aerial photo (above) of the skate park on Friday.

UPDATE: Friday 5:45PM, 4-17-2020

The Patch reports:
"Residents have complained that groups of people still gathered in Venice, and weren't taking the stay-home order and social distancing preventative measures serious."

We saw it almost daily, group just hanging out at the park, not keeping the six foot distance from each other, challenging the police when told to leave, etc...



UPDATE: Saturday 12:30PM, 4-18-2020


Photo by HUNTER W E ! S S

Rose Watson, the Director of Public Information at City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation & Parks made some statements on the dumping of sand in the Venice Skate Park.

Watson said Department of Recreation & Parks has filled skate parks with sand in the past in order to keep people from using them before construction has been completed.

She said so far, just the skate park in Venice has been laden with sand, but Department of Recreation & Parks will fill other skateboard facilities if people are seen gathering during the Safer at Home orders.

"We're doing this for our safety, their safety and the safety of others," Watson said. "When this is all over, trust me, we will open them, but right now it's important for them to not use the skate parks."

Meanwhile, the big network news stations are scrambling to get photos of the park:



And for now, the word we were given is that they are done adding sand to the skate park, but if people keep skating it, more will be added.


UPDATE: Sunday 12:30PM, 4-19-2020

More updates will be added as we get them. Working on saving all the Instagram Stories clips and creating one video for them all too.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Cal-trans put No Stopping Anytime signs at Sunset on Thursday night. Both sides of PCH have the No Stopping Anytime signs, from the Bel Air Bay Club to the other side of Gladstones. No vehicles were ticketed, towed, or told to leave on Friday, but with the upcoming holiday weekend, that may change.






For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

This is from CBS LA:

"Tempting waves called to surfers in Malibu Wednesday night, leading to a shoreline standoff of sorts with sheriff’s deputies and lifeguards."

"More than a dozen surfers were spotted in the water off Malibu just before sunset Wednesday. Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies and lifeguards tried to coax them in, but the surfers refused to get out of the water until law enforcement boats forced them to shore."

"Twenty people were ultimately let go with a warning."

Two patrol boats and about eight squad cars were sent out to Surfrider Beach around sundown when a dozen surfers were out on the water taking advantage of some high surf.

The sheriff's department said deputies asked the surfers to disperse and did not issue any citations or make any arrests.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

To help slow down the spread of COVID-19, Jacks Surfboards' doors are temporarily closed, but you can set up an appointment to shop while social distancing at any of their retail locations, which includes the Santa Monica store! Just email jacksmarketing57@gmail.com for more info.





For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Photo above was posted by The Local Malibu to their twitter account to show how there was "ZERO ENFORCEMENT" of the Stay At Home Order by the Ventura Sheriffs at County Line. "Locals" were sending in photos from the cams to them to report the surfing going on.

Which made Senator Henry Stern state this via his twitter:

"To my fellow surfers/beachlovers at County Line today who can’t seem to understand our Safer At Home orders: the beaches are CLOSED.

Please don’t force us to further divert precious resources to have law enforcement deal w/ your seemingly harmless but incredibly reckless behavior."

So on Saturday night, no parking barriers and signs were put up.

Instagram footage from Sergio Lira



For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Here's the full enhanced video by the oBROTHERS MARSHALL Intagram Story of the paddle boarder that was arrested at First point Malibu for ignoring orders from local lifeguards to exit the water after Los Angeles county had closed beaches in response to the Corona Virus pandemic.



For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

If you happen to have your own stockpile of dead stock neoprene, you can use a template from 7TILL8 Wetsuits to make your own.

Neoprene Face Mask (Non-Medical): Template

Download here.

For further instruction, watch 7TILL8 Wetsuits Video on Instagram.

For those interested in making non-medical face masks out of jersey fabric, please find instructions here.



For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

On April 2, 2020, Lost Hills Sheriff’s station deputies were flagged down by lifeguards regarding a male adult in the water, disobeying lifeguard orders to exit the water.

The suspect remained in the water paddle boarding for approximately 30-40 minutes. LASD boat was brought in from Marina Del Rey Station, once the Sheriff’s boat arrived on scene, the suspect complied and swam to shore.

The suspect was arrested for Disobeying a Lifeguard 17.12.115 LACC and Violation of Government Code 8665. The suspect was transported to Lost Hills Sheriff’s Station where he was booked and released on a promise to appear.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Here's a follow up to The Standup Paddleboarder Gives Chase, Gets Arrested story.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Some standup paddleboarder had a Lifegaurd and police boat chasing him around Surfrider today.

He was cuffed and taken away.

It was all strammed live on the BROTHERS MARSHALL Intagram Story

View this post on Instagram

First Ever high speed Police S.U.P. PURSUIT??? MALIBU WE LOVE YOU!!!

A post shared by BROTHERS MARSHALL (@brothers_marshall) on Apr 2, 2020 at 4:44pm PDT

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Update from Project Save Our Surf Beach regarding their April 11th beach clean up:

Our March cleanup is cancelled due to Coronavirus concerns. Please plan for our April cleanup pending further developments. Thank you for supporting and hope to see you on the beach soon!

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

The dude from the movie Superbad and one of Will Smith's kids (pictured above) are each making headlines internationally on all the main-stream media sites (MSN, Daily Mail, etc...) for surfing "Malibu" during the Stay At Home Order. They're becoming the "faces of surfer rebellion in the time of Coronavirus!", according to Beach Grit.

Not that any of us care, but it's a local surf story (kind of), so why not post about it.

The Superbad dude was actually at Sunset, but to those reporters, any place north of Will Rogers has to be called Malibu.

Other than that, if you're also a skater, Superbad dude made a cool movie about being a skater in the 1990's. It's called Mid90s and it's free to watch on Amazon if you have Amazon Prime .

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

Day One of the Los Angeles County Beach Closure and it looks like someone already got a ticket for surfing, but updated info shows the $1,000 ticket have been given for a different reason. Read On...

That footage from Ashley SaveLA shows the police, followed by Lifeguards, telling surfers to get out of the water and that they can be arrested for not doing so. Awhile later, one surfer ends up getting a ticket.

"This happened after the water had been cleared an hour earlier by the police. I watched a lifeguard personally approach him while he was stretching on the sand & told him the beach was closed and he needed to leave. Instead he paddled out & the cops showed up"

And below is one of the surf cam's angle of it:

UPDATED INFO! #1 -Thanks to Reno Jack Aguinaldo for the news tip)

The ticket wasn't so much for surfing as it was for...well... just read what happened according to eyewitness Derek Levy:

"The lifeguard gently told the surfer that the beach/ocean was closed. The surfer said 'Fuck you, waddaya gonna do?' The cop stepped in and gave the surfer a $1000 ticket."



UPDATED INFO! #2

Everyone has been very cooperative, it was just that one guy,” said Manhattan Beach police Sgt. Mike Sistoni, who said lifeguards contacted police to issue the surfer a citation when the guy refused to leave the beach. “Everyone else has been pretty cool… I don’t know if he was having a bad day or what.”

Manhattan Beach Police Sergeant Steve Kitsios said Saturday afternoon that no other beach closure violators have been cited and that his department is relying on voluntary compliance.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

In Addition to the closure of all beach parking lots, the City Of Malibu is going to pu parking rsstrictions on PCH and other streets in Malibu. Here is the official statement:

The City of Malibu, in cooperation with Caltrans, will post 'No Parking' signs along sections of Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) and on certain City streets to support restrictions on beach and trail access, and to prevent violation of the Los Angeles County Public Health Officer’s order that closed all beaches from Malibu through the South Bay effective March 27 to April 19.

The areas where parking will be prohibited are:
• Malibu Bluffs Park parking lot
• Las Flores Creek Park and parking lots on Las Flores Cyn Rd and Rambla Pacifico
• Trancas Cyn Park parking lot
• South side of PCH along Zuma Beach
• South side of PCH near Corral Cyn Rd (end of Malibu Rd to Corral Cyn Rd)
• South side of PCH at Las Tunas Beach
• South side of PCH at Paradise Cove (Sea Lane Dr to Paradise Cove Rd)
• North side of PCH near Winding Way (between East Winding Way and West Winding Way)
• South side of PCH between Dan Blocker Beach parking lot and Latigo Shore Dr
• South side of Westward Beach Rd
• Cliffiside Dr near the Nature Preserve Trail



For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

UPDATED - LA Beaches & Harbors made this statement:

What does it mean when beaches are closed?

NO swimming
NO surfing
NO running
NO picnics
NO bicycling
NO volleyball


The LACoFD Lifeguard Division made this statement:

"Effective immediately, all Los Angeles County Beaches will be closed until at least April, 19th by the Order of the Public Health Officer.

The Los Angeles County Fire Departmental Lifeguard Division will continue to patrol the beaches to advise unknowing patrons of this new closure. All public piers, public beach parking lots, beach bike paths, and beach access points will be closed to reduce beach and bike path crowding and increase social distancing. We urge the public to #stayhome and practice #socialdistancing when conducting essential activities. Do your part to slow the spread of COVID-19. We’re all in this together. Stay home to save lives."

When asked if surfing was still allowed, they say to read their comment about clarification on the term beach, which is:

17.12.030 - Beach.
"Beach" means a public beach or shoreline area, inclusive of all appurtenant areas such as, by way of illustration and not by limitation, beach facilities, bicycle paths, promenades, service and emergency roads, parking lots, pedestrian stairways and access-ways, landscaping, slopes, jetties, creek beds, revetments, drains, and all navigable waters within one thousand feet from the public beach or shoreline area, bordering the Pacific Ocean owned, controlled, or managed by the County, in incorporated or unincorporated territory.
(Ord. 2012-0005 § 15, 2012: Ord. 9767

So it appears they are stating, without directly stating it, is that you are not allowed to surf in LA County till at least April 15th.

We will keep up on this as it develops.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE

“The crowds we saw at our beaches last weekend were unacceptable,” Supervisor Janice Hahn said in a written statement. “In order to save lives, beaches in LA County will be temporarily closed.”

The order goes into effect “immediately” and runs through April 19, 2020, according to the L.A. County Department of public health.

Officials said beaches will reopen when public health officials deem it safe.

“We cannot risk another sunny weekend with crowds at the beach spreading this virus,” Hahn said.

In less than a week, confirmed COVID-19 cases in L.A. County have more than tripled, climbing from 409 to 1,465 as of Friday, according to Barbara Ferrer, the director the L.A. County Department of Public Health.

“I ask that you help us by not going to out beaches and not going on our hiking trails at least for the next few weeks while we, again, try desperately to slow the spread of COVID-19,” Ferrer told residents in a news conference Thursday.

The public health order also applies to piers, promenades and beach bike paths and bathrooms across the county, officials said.

LACoFD Lifeguard Division add:
The Los Angeles County Lifeguards will continue to patrol the beaches to advise unknowing patrons of this new closure. All public piers, public beach parking lots, beach bike paths, and beach access points will also be closed to reduce beach and bike path crowding. We urge the public to stay home and practice social distancing when conducting essential activities. Do your part to slow the spread of COVID-19. We’re all in this together.

For more of our coverage of the Coronavirus lockdown, closures, and how our local surf community and businesses are doing, CLICK HERE