Latest News


The Army Reserve does disaster training at the Santa Monica Pier, where they practice purifying the ocean water into drinking water.


Style Master Devon Howard test pilots a new, 9.9 Channel Islands Log on southern lines at the Malibu Pier's, Surfrider Beach.


Here's some surfing photos from Sunday, November 12th at Ocean Park.

This set of surf photos was shot by Six12 Media and brought to you by Ocean Park 26.

These are just a few of the 150+ photos from this session. If you were out there, you probably got some surfing shots, probably multiple photos, they will be in the complete photo gallery for this day, check them out, the link to the complete gallery is down below.














You can find over 100 more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in this photo gallery:

Ocean Park - Sunday 11-12-2023 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 from this photographer?
Click Surf Spot Galleries and look for the spot and then the date.

And be sure to check out all the hats, tees, and more from Ocean Park 26.


Registrstion for the 30th Annual Venice Surf-A-Thon is open. The contest will be held on Saturday, December 9th at the Venice Pier.

To register, contact Ger-I via the Venice Surf-A-Thon Facebook Page

For more info, Click Here

Find out about more upcoming local events, Click Here for the Event Calendar.


From Santa Monica Close Up:

"The City of Santa Monica partnered with the U.S. Army to host a grand Veterans Day ceremony on Friday, Nov. 10, 2023, which took place on the western half of the Santa Monica Pier parking deck. Marking its fourth year, the event was the largest yet, featuring a series of exciting performances, flyovers, and speeches from military and local elected officials. Open to the public, the ceremony drew a significant crowd, all gathered to honor veterans."

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


Taro Watanabe surfing Los Angeles, Africa and Indo.
Film/Edit: Quinn Graham
Nonfiction Creatives


On Wednesday, November 8, 2023, at 3:27 am, Santa Monica Police Department officers responded to a call of a Prowler Now in the 200 block of 24th Street. The reporting party for the incident was one of two off-duty outside agency law enforcement officers providing private security services for the homeowner. They observed the subject of the call in the backyard of the home trying to gain entry. When SMPD officers arrived they found the subject being detained by security in the driveway of the residence.

The subject was identified as Charles Marcell Newman, DOB: 04/27/1977, currently experiencing homelessness. He is a parolee at large and an out-of-compliance sex registrant. Newman is also under investigation for burglary and trespassing in Los Angeles.

Newman was the subject of several prowling calls at the same Santa Monica residence in September and October. He was captured on surveillance video trying doors and windows around the perimeter of the home as well as trying car door handles. During an incident on October 31st of this year Newman was seen on camera in the backyard trying to open windows. Detectives were able to identify him from the video and place a WANT in the system for his detention and questioning.

Newman has been arrested by the SMPD for similar crimes (burglary, resisting arrest, violation of parole and probation) in 2012 and again in 2019. Newman was convicted in both prior incidents and served prison time.

Newman's criminal history in Santa Monica includes: - On January 14, 2019 at about 3:12 a.m., a suspect attempted to make entry through the front door of a residence at the 700 block of 25th Street.
- On January 16, 2019 at about 1:28 a.m., a suspect attempted to make entry through the front door of a residence at the 400 block of 24th Street.
- On January 16, 2019 at about 4:30 a.m., a vehicle theft occurred at the 500 block of 21st Place.
- On January 21, 2019 at about 2:45 a.m., a vehicle theft occurred in the 400 block of 14th Street.

SMPD detectives will present the case to the LA County District Attorney’s Office requesting that he be charged with a completed burglary, multiple attempted burglaries, and a violation of his sex offender registration conditions. He is currently being held without bail for the parole violation. His first court appearance will be on November 13th.

Here he is featured on a SMPD press release back in 2019:


Anyone with information related to this individual or incident is encouraged to contact Detective Zamfirov at Peter.Zamfirov@santamonica.gov, Detective Sergeant Lozano at Alfonso.Lozano@santamonica.gov, or the Watch Commander (24 hours) at 310-458-8427.



November 09, 2023
Ocean Water Use Warning for Los Angeles County Beaches

The Los Angeles County Department of Public Health cautions residents who are planning to visit the below Los Angeles County beaches to avoid swimming, surfing, and playing in ocean waters:

· Mothers Beach in Marina Del Rey

The entire swim area.

· Santa Monica Pier in Santa Monica

100 yards up and down the coast from the pier.

· Manhattan Beach Pier in Manhattan Beach

100 yards up and down the coast from the pier.

· Hermosa Beach Pier in Hermosa Beach

100 yards up and down the coast from the pier.

· Herondo Street storm drain in Hermosa Beach. Near Hermosa Tower TK

100 yards up and down the coast from the storm drain.

· Windward storm drain at Venice Beach
These warnings have been issued due to bacterial levels exceeding health standards when last tested.

Use the map below to obtain the current water quality status of your favorite beach location. Use your mouse wheel to zoom into a particular location. Click on the marker to identify the sampling location. This map is updated as conditions change.




Plans to restore more coastal habitat will be featured in an online presentation on November 16th.

Over the last several years, the City of Santa Monica has been working with the Bay Foundation on the Santa Monica Beach Dune Restoration Pilot to successfully transform and restore a 3-acre section of beach north of the Pier into a native coastal strand habitat. By restricting daily beach grooming activities like cleaning and leveling sand and sowing native plant seeds, beach dunes have formed and grown into a resilient native habitat, encouraging the return of native shorebirds like the western snowy plover.

With the success of the pilot project, the City is preparing to restore an additional 5 acres in a second phase of the Beach Dune Restoration Pilot to expand the existing habitat. As the City and the Bay Foundation prepare for the expansion later this winter, local organization Climate Action Santa Monica will host a presentation online for the public on Thursday, Nov. 16 at 12 p.m. This presentation will give an overview of the plans, and ask for feedback, enhancing the community input already received from residents, businesses, non-profits and other local organizations over the past few months.

On Thursday, November 16th, SAMOCAN will be welcoming Nico Predock, from the City of Santa Monica, and Alexandra Tower, from the Bay Foundation, to speak about Santa Monica's Second Dune Restoration Project to the Beach with a brief presentation by CASM's Climate Jobs Corp member Jasmine Contreras.

For more info and to reserve a spot, Click Here

Find out about more upcoming local events, Click Here for the Event Calendar.