“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

Here's an update to the Santa Monica Can Fine You $100 for NOT Social Distancing report that was posted a few days ago:

The Santa Monica Police made this statement, "We have received a few calls asking if SMPD personnel are ticketing for exercising outside or violating the Safer At Home orders. This is FALSE. Officers continue their regular patrols & encourage everyone to take social distancing and Stay At Home requirements seriously."

"SMPD officers, while legally authorized to issues citations, they are not doing so."

@LAPDHQ made this statement via their twitter: "We’ve heard the rumors, so let’s put an end to them. No, the LAPD is not stopping or ticketing people for exercising outdoors. Spreading false rumors during this time does no good."



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

Noah Hill decided to make a video about how to improve your surfing from home.

A statement from Los Angeles mayor Eric Garcetti on the closure of the Venice Pier:



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

ZJ Boarding House will now offer private shopping:

OPEN BY APPOINTMENT ONLY
STARTING TOMORROW 3/26 from 10am - 3pm
Email TR to set up appointment tr@zjbh.com

While still following the rules and guidelines by the CDC to keep us safe, we will be setting up private shopping appointments. We will be practicing social distancing and encourage contactless payment only • $100 minimum purchase • 1 person per appointment only unless prior authorization is given • Shoot us a DM with any questions. •

ZJ Boarding House
2619 Main St. Santa Monica, CA
(310) • 392 • 5646
Store Hours:
BY APPOINTMENT ONLY

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

It's Wednesday, so here's some recent wipeout photos from our local spots.

This set of wipeout photos was shot by Six12 Media and is brought to you by Hulu.



















Click: Wednesday Wipeouts to check out the previous Wipeout Wednesday photo sets.

And don't forgot to check out Hulu if you don't have it yet. A lot of good stuff on there, and we all need good stuff to watch during this quarantine time.

Malibu City Website just released this update:

The #Malibu Pier, including shops and restaurants on it, and the parking lot, will be closed to the public effective Wednesday, March 25, 2020 in order to prevent crowding amidst the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic to help slow the spread of the virus and protect vulnerable groups. “Crowding on beaches and trails or anywhere right now is not acceptable, it does not help us to slow the spread of coronavirus and it puts seniors and vulnerable groups at risk,” Mayor Karen Farrer. “I know how difficult it is have to stay home, and getting outdoors, getting exercise and enjoying nature are an important part of physical and mental wellness. But we all must come together and practice social distancing at all times to overcome this challenge.” Malibu City Manager Reva Feldman coordinated with California State Parks to have the Malibu Pier, which is a State Parks facility, closed until further notice after the Pier and Malibu area beaches and trails were crowded with visitors during the weekend of March 21.

The Governor's stay at home order requires all people statewide to stay home except for essential business, and to practice social distancing while outdoors or in essential stores or businesses that remain open. Seniors and those with underlying health conditions must stay home.

The City Manager also coordinated with State and County elected officials to close Malibu area beach parking lots. On March 24, state official responded to crowding on beaches and trails and on March 24, California State Parks closed most of its park parking lots, although many parks and trails remain open, as long as people practice social distancing. The Mountains Recreation and Conservation Authority (MRCA) closed all of its trails and parks on March 24.

For more information about the City of Malibu’s coronavirus response, visit www.MalibuCity.org/coronavirus .

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

While getting surf clips for our Instagram Story, the city decided to close the Venice Pier.

More about the closure 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

Here's some of the surf photos from a pre-beach closure Tuesday at Topanga.

This set of surf photos was shot by Six12 Media and brought to you by Hydroflask, who is offering 25% off + Free Upgraded Shipping on Select Items! Use offer code RAPIDSHIP20 in cart. Offer valid while supplies last!

We know you're most likely at home. Whether you're taking long walks around the neighborhood, drinking wine on a group chat, sipping coffee watching those rebellious surfers on cams, or filling your growler with take home beer from your favorite brewery, bring the adventure home with your favorite Hydroflask.

There are a lot of shots from this session, about 480 photos. This is just a handful of them that we picked out to post here. If you were out there, you probably got some surfing shots, probably multiple photos, they all will be in the complete photo galleries for this day, check them out, the link to the complete galleries are down below.



















You can find over 400 more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in these 5 photo galleries:

Topanga - Tuesday 3-24-2020 Photo Gallery #1
Topanga - Tuesday 3-24-2020 Photo Gallery #2
Topanga - Tuesday 3-24-2020 Photo Gallery #3
Topanga - Tuesday 3-24-2020 Photo Gallery #4
Topanga - Tuesday 3-24-2020 Photo Gallery #5


If you were out there, we probably got some cool surfing shots of you, go check them out!

Wanna see photos from previous days at this and other local surf spots?
Click Surf Spot Galleries and look for the spot and then the date.