This shot of PCH from a few weeks ago is what the city is expecting will happen this upcoming weekend.

LA County Public Health director Barbara Ferrer is begging people to stay home. She talked to KBUU 99.1 about this upcoming weekend:

“I do want to really beg people who are in LA County: please do not go to Ventura to use their outdoor spaces.”

“You’ll overwhelm a county that has that is trying to sort of relax some of the restrictions for the residents … and do so in a sensible way. And you could because you’ll be in closer contact with lots of other people you could inadvertently come back infected yourself.”

Ferrer is the person with the key to the beaches in Malibu and the rest of L A County … and she is not going to open the gates.

Extra sheriff’s deputies are being brought in to Malibu this weekend to make sure that the anticipated hordes of people heading to the beaches beyond the county line keep moving … and do not stop at Zuma … Westward or any of the other beaches in Malibu.

Read the full story at KBUU 99.1

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

According to Surfline, "NW Pacific remains active – medium to locally strong swells for the US West Coast"



"High-pressure in the eastern half of the North Pacific is expected to expand over the western US by the second half of the week and will likely remain in that relative position through at least the weekend of the 25th-26th and possibly beyond. That should set up a couple of different things: increased short period NW swell for the middle to second half of the week for California and also warming temps – with significant warming expected in some areas.."



"Just a small pulse for Southern California. Look for larger swell for the end of the work week and the weekend for the Golden State."

The average water temps as of April 20th.

This run through the skate park was filmed two days after they stopped putting sand in it.



For full coverage of the skate park's burial, see this story: VENICE SKATE PARK GETS BURIED

According to Surfline, "NW Pacific remains active – swells favor Hawaii, but California to get waves as well"



"High-pressure in the eastern half of the North Pacific has weakened some in recent days and we’ll see a pair of lows impact California in the shorter term. There is potential for light rain on Saturday morning in some areas and again early next week, but that shouldn’t be anywhere close to what we experienced during the week of the 6th. High pressure is expected to rebuild along the coast and eventually over California for the middle to back half of the upcoming week. That should kick up some shorter period NW swell and we should also see a warming trend."

Join Life Rolls On founder Jesse Billauer onSaturday April 18th at 1:00PM for a Life Rolls On Zoom Call

"Feel free to ask me any questions you would like. Let’s chat and catch up with each other."

ZOOM only has room for 100 of us, so the call is "first come, first serve." I hope to see you Monday."

Join Zoom Meeting:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/87183538616?pwd=MmNsWE9JWnZJU1J4SENraVRoZDFDUT09

Meeting ID: 871-8353-8616
Password: 8nsbgR

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