Over in Atwater Village, vandals hit the Chevy Chase Skatepark over the July 4 weekend, smearing some of the ramps with black, slightly sticky substance and putting huge cracks in the lips of the skatepark.


“We are saddened about the vandalism that occurred over the Fourth of July weekend,” said Rose Watson from the Department of Recreation and Parks. “We are investigating while we assess the conditions for repair.”

Info and photos from Eastsider Reader

SurfAid has just uploaded a video from their 2018 SurfAid Cup event in Malibu. Perfect timing, due to the Coronavirus closures, we haven't had any recent events to feature.

On September 8, the SurfAid Cup Malibu 2018 saw super-fun waves roll down first point, and competitors took full advantage. Over $74,000 was raised for SurfAid's Mother and Child Health Programs, which make a huge difference to the lives of people in communities connected to us through surfing. SurfAid

More Patagonia looters have been caught. First, one of surfboard looters got arrested, now the looters that stole the safe out of the store have been arrested.

According to the press release, on July 3rd, 2020 Santa Monica Police Department Detectives from the Special Investigations Unit and officers from the Crime Impact Team served multiple search and arrests warrants at different locations in Los Angeles County related to the damage and looting of Patagonia located at 1344 4th Street on May 31st. Several suspects were able to remove a safe from the business. Detectives identified six suspects involved in the looting and theft of the safe.

Four suspects were arrested and booked for burglary, conspiracy and looting during a riot:
Ulises Alcantara JUAREZ DOB: 07-23-94 Male, Hispanic
Alfredo Fernando BELLO DOB: 06-07-96 Male, Hispanic
Yesenia Enriquez TEJADA DOB: 02-04-95 Female, Hispanic
Debbie LUJAN DOB: 10-15-96 Female, Hispanic

Evidence related to the looting, including the safe, were recovered and booked into evidence.

These arrests still do not excuse the fact that the Santa Monica Police allowed this to happen in the first place, and the fact that the Santa Monica Police Chief and several city council members blatantly lied about what happened.

For more of our coverage of the protests and looting in our beach communities, CLICK HERE

The National Hurricane Center is issuing advisories on Tropical Storm Cristina, located several hundred miles south of Manzanillo, Mexico.

Tropical Cristina is a small tropical cyclone, although it is expected to expand in size later this week as it likely strengthens and should become our first hurricane of the season.

Based on Cristina’s current track from the National Hurricane Center, it should enter the SoCal swell window later this work week with some fun surf potential around the end of the weekend and possibly beyond. Cabo and Southernmost Baja could see significantly larger surf a couple of days before SoCal.

As we all know, the Santa Monica Police ignored all the warnings about the upcoming looting attack on the city, and their incompetence led to the looting of over 100 stores in the Downtown Santa Monica.

Now, two of the looters who hit REI and VANS have been arrested.

According to their press release, Detectives with the Santa Monica Police Department scoured hours of security video and social media posts. A suspect vehicle was identified by searching social media videos of the civil unrest. It showed a vehicle license plate with two suspects loading various items from REI. After reviewing REI security video, the two subjects were identified inside the store removing thousands of dollars of merchandise. During the investigation one of individuals was also identified as the suspect of an assault on a police officer.

The Manhattan Beach Police Department stopped the wanted vehicle and notified Santa Monica Police Department Detectives. The occupants of the vehicle were determined to be the two outstanding suspects and were subsequently arrested.

A search of the suspect vehicle pursuant to a search warrant led to the recovery of several stolen items from both the REI and the VANS store.

Suspect #1 is Sebastian Martinez (2/22/1996) of El Segundo, CA. Suspect #2 is Christopher Gutierrez (11/5/2000) of Los Angeles. Both now in SMPD custody.

These arrests still do not excuse the fact that the Santa Monica Police allowed this to happen in the first place, and the fact that the Santa Monica Police Chief and several city council members blatantly lied about what happened.

For more of our coverage of the protests and looting in our beach communities, CLICK HERE

According to Surfline, "SSW swell is down slightly Tue then levels off midweek."



Tuesday, July 6th: 2-3’+ summer breaks. NW windswell in the mix. SE/S eddy winds.
SSW swell (205-190) continues to fall off, mixing with ongoing NW windswell. Look for waist-stomach high surf at most breaks with decent exposure, while good breaks in North LA are still chest high. Light+ S/SW flow develops through the morning for most exposures, holding there through the afternoon.

Wednesday, July 7th: 2-3’+ summer breaks. Smaller NW swell in the mix. S eddy winds. Modest, reinforcing SSW swell (205-190) levels size off, mixing with lingering NW windswell. Look for waist-stomach high surf at most breaks with decent exposure, while good breaks in North LA. Light+ S/SW flow develops through the morning for most exposures, holding there through the afternoon. Long-Term Forecast Analysis (Thursday, July 9th and beyond)

Surfline Surf Forecasts

Surfline Surf Forecasts

Photographer, Timothy White, takes you behind the lens on his shoot with N.W.A. following the release of their break album, Straight Outta Compton. Timothy recounts his experience riding in Dr. Dre's Mercedes, the moment the surfer walked into the frame that Timothy just barely captured as Dre was making a phone call. An incredible set of photos of an iconic group by a young photographer that would go on to make a name for himself in the world of celebrity photography.

Originally posted by Ross Furukawa on the Santa Monica Daily Press

Local entrepreneur, extreme sportsman and original Dogtown local Mike Vaughan passed away suddenly on June 18th. He was 48 years old.

A third generation Santa Monican, Mike attended Grant Elementary, John Adams Middle School and Santa Monica High School. Many locals knew the Vaughan family, they owned DSJ Printers on Pico Blvd for many years.



Mike started his printing career at DSJ, then launched his own printing company, Positive Existence Printing. Mike built Positive Existence to become an industry leader, printing movie posters, point of purchase displays and many of the billboards you see throughout Los Angeles.

Mike served on the boards of the Boys and Girls Clubs council and the Santa Monica YMCA.

In 2005, Mike started Pro Sup Shop with his then-partner Nikki Von Reisen, Ross Furukawa and his father, Mike Vaughan Sr. Through insight, hard work and a long term vision, Pro Sup Shop became the largest Santa Up Paddle board business in LA County, operating at Mother’s Beach in Marina Del Rey.

Mike touched the lives of many through Pro Sup Shop. He introduced thousands of people to his love of the ocean through this accessible water sport, and was always generous with his time, resources and skills with anyone who showed interest.

He was instrumental in facilitating and building Stand Up Paddleboarding as a team building, social activity, and found it a great way to network with everyone on the water.



Mike played a huge role in starting the Santa Monica Pier Paddle and Ocean Festival, one of the largest water sports events on the West Coast.

A true waterman, Mike competed on a national level in Stand Up Paddleboard racing, eventually cracking the top 5 in his class. He would jump off his board to try to catch sharks with his bare hands. He paddled from San Pedro to Catalina, ran a marathon, then paddled back. He competed in the San Diego Bay to Bay 20 mile race in 10 ft swells during a winter storm. He never quit.

Mike was always the first to go out and the last to come in. He was always the guy who caught the biggest wave, surfed closest to the rock, and got stuffed in the deepest tube.



Most of all, he had a passion for sharing his love of sports and this infected everyone around him.

Mike Vaughan is survived by his wife Jennifer, son Cole, father Mike Vaughn Sr, mother Linda, brother Matt and sisters Diana, Christine and many nieces and nephews.

Here are a couple surf photos from Monday, July 6th at Zero's. These were shot by RJP Surfing Photography. These are just some of the photos. If you were out there, you probably got some surfing shots in the complete photo gallery, check them out, the link is down below.



You can find a lot more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in this photo gallery:

Surfing Zero's, 07/6/2020 Photo Gallery

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.