Latest News

Angry Man With Gun Starts Shooting - Santa Monica



Around 3:00 PM on Tuesday, police closed off the the area near an apartment building on the 2500 block of Kansas in Santa Monica, because of reports of a "domestic issue involving a man who was armed with a gun".

The man who was apparently having a mental breakdown, fired off 2 shots before the police were able to take him into custody. No one sustianed any injuries and the police have not made any statement about the shooting other than Lieutenant Flores stating he had shot "a round or toe".

Another officer told a witness that "the perp had fired at officers".

Here's what happened according to the witness:

"I live almost right across the street and heard it all go down. There was an armed individual who was having what sounded like a psychotic episode. There was some kind of verbal altercation around 2:45. It just have escalated because around 3:00, there was another loud exchange and I heard a man yell, “drop the gun” (or something like that) and then there were two shots fired.

Shortly thereafter there was a back and forth between the belligerent man and a female voice yelling, “Michael, no one wants to hurt you. They just want to help you,” etc.

About 5-10 minutes later, after a lot more yelling and glass breaking, there was a rush of police/SWAT into the apartment building and someone yelled, “take him into custody!”

The whole block has been locked down ever since.

The Sergeant who escorted my son and me back to our building after I picked my son up from school said, when I asked if everyone was ok, that the perp had fired at officers and was taken for medical evaluation. I took that to mean that there were no other injuries. I didn’t see any ambulances, so I assume there were no injuries."

Surf Photos - Ocean Park - Tuesday - 11-29-2022

Here's surfing photos from a lovely Tuesday, November 29th 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 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 120+ more photos from this session, all full size and in high-resolution, in this photo gallery:

Ocean Park - Tuesday - 11-29-2022 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.

Man Passes Away On Venice Beach



A homeless man is discovered unconscious on the sand in Venice Beach. Lifeguards try to save him but he passed away.

He had been laying on the beach since dawn, tracks from the early morning show the beach cleaning trucks had drove around him.



Clean Beach Poster Contest





Enter our CAN THE TRASH! Clean Beach Poster Contest for a chance to have your message shared with millions of beachgoers!

To enter the poster contest, draw a picture with a message about how we can keep our oceans and beaches pollution-free and healthy. Be creative!



Contest winners will have their artwork displayed around trash barrels on the beach. Simply submit your artwork online, in person, or by mail. The contest is open to students in grades 3 – 5 who reside in the County of Los Angeles. Online submissions must be entered by an adult.

While entries are accepted year-round, the deadline to enter the contest for summer 2023 is Jan. 31, 2023.

For more info and to enter, Click Here

Petition To Save The Venice Lifeguard Tower



This weekend a "SAVE THE VENICE LIFEGUARD TOWER" petition started being share on Twitter and Facebook. Here is what the petition says:

"Without notice to the Venice community, LA County lifeguards, ocean ecologists or beachgoers, the LA County Department of Beaches and Harbors plans to demolish the iconic Venice Lifeguard Tower and leave our beach with the surrounding nondescript eyesore single story building.

The Tower provides a phenomenal and unmatched expansive view of the entire Santa Monica Bay. If destroyed, it could never be replaced. It has been the pride of our lifeguards for the past 50 years. The County has disregarded the Tower's unique outstanding qualities, its history, the scarcity of public buildings in Venice and has failed to consider alternative uses.

We are asking for the opportunity to evaluate repurposing the Tower for use as a public venue such as a Lifeguard Oceans Museum. Private not-for-profit funds are available.

Repurposing the Lifeguard Tower as a community asset would create an exceptional cultural, environmental and educational venue for everyone, young and old, residents and visitors, to enjoy.

Initiative of: Adjacent neighbors, LA County lifeguards, Venice Oceanarium, Dept of Historic Resources, and Venice Neighborhood Council Preserving Public Places Committee."

No other information about this is avalaible. The petition closes with this statement:

THIS IS NOT A REQUEST FOR FUNDS - DO NOT MAKE DONATIONS

Which is good. Due to one of the above mentioned organizations having a current board member who was previously caught stealing donated funds of over $9,000. So please be careful of any donatations you make to causes like this.

To visit the petition page or to sign the petition, Click Here

Surf Chats with Topanga Lou-Roger-Ditching Your Board





25% Hydro Flask



Hydro Flask is having a sale and is offering 25% Off Hydro Flask Products (prices will be marked down already).

Spy Optics 40% Off Cyber Monday Sale





40% Off Sunglasses + FREE Gift at SPYOptic.com

RVCA Black Frioday Sale



Check out RVCA's Black Friday Sale going on right now. Extra 40% off Sale on all Sale Items. ⁠

RVCA Men's Trunks

Malibu Sandstone Peak Brush Fire



Nov 24, 2022

Body Glove Black Friday Sale

Venice Surfathon Registration Is Open



You can now register online for the 29th Annual Venice Surfathon!

Save $5 on the contest entry by registering online. It is going to be $30 to register at the beach on the day of the contest. It is just $25 to register online, plus you get to reserve a contest t-shirt in the size you want!

For more info and to register, Click Here

Santa Monica Bike Path



From Santa Monica Close Up:

"Check out this street sweeper drive around a homeless man sleeping on the Santa Monica Beach Bike Path, Monday, November 16, 2020. The man has been sleeping here for days. Santa Monica Police Department has been notified. An officer arrived with West Coast Cares and helped the man."

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

Surf Photos - Sunset - Wednesday 11-23-2022



Here's surfing photos from Wednesday, November 23rd at Sunset.

This set of surf photos was shot by Six12 Media and brought to you by Body Glove.

This Monday only, get 25% Off at BodyGlove.com with code: GIFT25.

These are just a few of the 100+ 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 galleries for this day, check them out, the links to the complete galleries are down below.
















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

Sunset - Wednesday 11-23-2022 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.