Results tagged “beaches”

A long summer of hot-hot-hot heat means lots of beach days for Southern Californians. Now that the season is wrapped up, Heal the Bay has released their annual Summer Beach Report Card [PDF]. The non-profit group graded nearly 500 beaches statewide based on bacterial pollution levels monitored from Memorial Day to Labor Day this year, according to their release, and the news is generally pretty good.

Local beaches have been cleared of the tsunami advisory issued yesterday in response to the massive earthquake in the South Pacific, reports KTLA. This morning Los Angeles County lifeguards announced they'd conducted patrols of the beach overnight and "found no dangerous currents or other hazards."

Starting tomorrow, the region will be within a high pressure system resulting in some hot weather that will even have the beach areas suffering somewhat. Then tomorrow expect mid 80s at the beaches and temperatures into the 90s more inland. Some parts of the San Fernando Valley could reach in the low 100s. Thursday could see even hotter temperatures followed by a just slightly cooler weekend, but not by much. As for today: expected highs are in the upper 70s at the beaches, upper 80s inland and into the 90s in the Valleys.

Dangerously high surf is still expected today at the beaches, as predicted earlier--all part of the same system of swells that "pounded Orange County beaches on Friday, killing a surfer at the Wedge" according to the OC Register. Massive waves can be awe-inspiring, but the 4-7' swells "and occasional sets up to 9′" and higher in some places mean even the pros should think twice about hitting the water.

Typical for the Los Angeles area, beaches are experiencing upper 60s to mid 70s while more inland, highs will reach the mid 80s, according to the National Weather Service. In the Hollywood Hills and Valley, expect the 90s. However, the LA County Public Health Office today released a warning for the Santa Clarita Valley: "High temperatures are forecasted for today and tomorrow in the Santa Clarita Valley, with the heat index forecast to reach 104 degrees today and 101 degrees tomorrow.... 'While people don’t need to be told it’s hot outside, they do need to be reminded how to take care of themselves, children, the elderly, and their pets when the weather gets hotter,' said Jonathan E. Fielding, MD, MPH, Director of Public Health and Health Officer.'"

Speaking of LA County's terrible water quality ranking that was announced today, have you seen these along Los Angeles' curbs? These catch basin screen covers prevent litter larger than ¾ of an inch from entering the storm drain system that brings water to the ocean via the LA River and Ballona Creek. Over the past year, they started appearing in the Valley, but they were first installed in other areas that generated the highest amount of trash.

LA County still has worst water quality in state and includes several sites on the top 10 "beach bummer" (i.e., worst beaches in the state) list in this year's Heal the Bay Beach Report Card. This comes as neighboring Orange and Ventura counties earn high grades for good water quality.

Planning for the weekend, the weather is looking to be pretty sweet. Basically, today through Sunday, the weather will be in the 70s on the beaches, low 80s inland and a little hotter in the hills and Valley, according to the National Weather Service. Oh yes, for the win. The skies will remain clear and sunny until Sunday night and Monday morning, when patchy clouds and fog will roll on in before it once again... clears.

When it rains in the Los Angeles area, the yucky stuff (you know, bacteria, debris, trash, and other public health hazards) from city streets and mountain areas enter the ocean via storm drains, creeks and rivers. That means, swimming near them for the next few days can be hazardous for your health.

Why do all these prisoners love our governor? Because in his budget cuts that were released today, it proposes just that -- an early release for 22,000 low-risk inmates. "The governor says the cuts are necessary to erase a $14 billion revenue shortfall over the next 18 months. Schwarzenegger's new budget would spend 3 percent less than the one he signed last summer," according to the AP.

An article from the Daily News takes a look at the toll the 6-month old smoking ban in Burbank is taking on its local workers, most of whom are flummoxed by the fact that a smoke break means breaking the law. According to the article, one local businessman "Barry Kessler, 48, owner of a downtown jewelry store bearing his family name, has led the charge against the anti-smoking ordinance. In the coming weeks he plans to bring together business owners and petition the council to ease up on smokers."

The Geminid Meteor showers are set to peak this week, especially on Thursday and Friday. Um, great date night, anybody? Astronomers studying the phenomenon, David Levy and Stephen Edberg, are terribly enthused: "If you have not seen a mighty Geminid fireball arcing gracefully across an expanse of sky, then you have not seen a meteor.' Those guys are serious!!! "The Geminid Meteors are usually the most satisfying of all the annual showers, even surpassing...

The LA Times is reporting this morning that "the big waves predicted for Southern California beaches failed to materialize Tuesday afternoon." Photographer Jonathan Alcorn, an LAist Featured Photos contributer on Flickr, shot these large waves yesterday in El Segundo at El Porto. These surfers seem to be riding waves in that 7-12 ft. range the Times predicted yesterday morning. Hrmmmmm? Yes, throughout the region waves were not as high as many hoped to be,...

Where are the best pickup soccer venues in the greater Los Angeles area? -- Bankole O Los Angeles is an enormous city, and soccer is a popular sport. You can find games being played just about everywhere! If you're looking to avoid organized leagues, there's soccer played on a regular basis at Rancho Park, Pan Pacific Park, the Westwood Rec Center, and Mar Vista Park (they have a new-ish turf field which is frequently booked,...

Last night I was casually checking out what various travel websites had to say about the neighborhoods of Los Angeles. Most of the summaries in Frommers sounded like this: Silver Lake, a residential neighborhood just north of Downtown and adjacent to Los Feliz (home to the Los Angeles Zoo and Griffith Park), just to the west, has arty areas with unique cafes, theaters, graffiti, and art galleries -- all in equally plentiful proportions. The...

Glass shards and hacked up pieces of plastic are all that remain of Redondo Beach's Pier's light poles which had to be cut down after one of the poles fell from todays strong winds. The poles are made of plastic, and have been aging in the sun for years. Once one pole fell, the city decided the rest had to come down NOW, before someone gets hurt, and more importantly before this potentially injured...

So I have this pretty fun tradition (aside from Three Rivers in the holidays), of going camping at Two Harbors on Catalina Island every Labor Day Weekend. The tradition originally began as a Jugglers' Festival, oddly enough, of which I was only a part due to my friend and her husband who are amateur jugglers, and because they are friends with some fairly accomplished ones. There was a juggling volleyball game on one of...

I lived in New York my whole damned life up until l made the move to Los Angeles in 2006, and even though I've been here at least a year already, I still get harassing phone calls from my friends that entail the sentence "yo, what you got over there in la-la land that we ain't got here in the greatest city in the world?" I've gone through the natural beauty, beaches and mountains,...

So, today, we wanted to celebrate the end of summer with a day at the beach followed by a bonfire. The place to do that in the in the City is Dockweiler Beach at the end of Imperial Highway and LAX - one of the only beaches in the region with fire pits. We got there early in the day to reserve a prime pit and free parking on the street (and not have to pay seven dollars in the County lot). We arrived before noon and spent the day in and out of sun and rain. The night drew near after a magnificent red, orange, yellow, grey and black sunset sky, and our fire raged on. We roasted marshmallows and cooked hotdogs (for some, in that order!), and we tried to win the unspoken competition of creating the largest fire in the pit with the pallets we’d collected and disassembled throughout the day. As the fire finally died down, we relaxed on blankets on the sand as the sunburn of the previous six hours started to sting. We got to our cars before the 10pm parking restriction to avoid a ticket. It was a great day to end the summer.

Several years ago, I used to be a Westsider and part of my weekly routine was to hit up the beach, whether playing ball on the blacktop at Venice, laying out and reading a book at Ocean Park, or people watching at Santa Monica. It was super-relaxing to be out in the sun, soaking up the ocean breeze, and enjoying the local culture. Part of the culture was stopping off at some of the eccentric beachfront shacks to grab a bite and talk with the help.

Shark attacks are rare, but you wouldn’t know it watching the 20th anniversary of Shark Week on the Discovery Channel. From catching a few of the shows so far this week, it seems like swimmers and scuba divers serve as chum more often than not for great whites and company. (Sheesh. And we needed another reason to stay out of Santa Monica beaches?)

The good thing about Chicago is that the beach that lines its Eastern border is all public beach. That's not so true about the city's suburbs. And in Malibu, it's tricky at best (remember the whole Geffen debacle?) But there are workarounds and if you want to get your sexy nerd tan on, the Los Angeles Urban Rangers have announced their "Malibu Public Beaches" Safari: The "Malibu Public Beaches" safaris will show you how...

Blended drinks make me happy. They remind me of laying out on the beaches of Maui while soaking up the sun. The cold texture and gulping the last frothy bit from the glass are extra bonuses. A strawberry margarita is, hands down, my blended drink of choice. With that said, a well blended Good Luck drink from the Good Luck Bar in Los Feliz gives the strawberry margarita a run for its money. A...

Now that classes have wrapped up at UC Santa Barbara, this is the best time for a weekend getaway 90 minutes north of LA in Isla Vista. If parties are your thing, this weekend should find Del Playa and Sabado Tarde sprinkled with farewell bashes as the kids pack up for a summer back home. But if peace and quiet are your thing, cruise up the 101 in a week or two when pretty...

Photo by C-Monster via LAist Featured Photos on Flickr.

LAist has been giving a lot of love recently to the many fine eating establishments that exist all over the basin. No matter what type of cuisine you like, there’s a long list of restaurants that can meet the grade. However, there’s also been a noticeable lack of Orange County representation in these reviews. True, 95% of the non-five-star restaurants in OC are chains not worthy of being reviewed, unless you want to debate...

We live in a town of talent. A talented town. Yet, the talent that's making the most noise, is usually (dare we say it?) without talent. We think of Paris Hilton at this juncture. We think of the many would-be famesters that litter our clubs and sidewalks and cafes while off the set from their "reality" shows involving our fair beaches. While these no-talents (because haven't we established that?) run around and make a...

Show Date: Saturday 4/14/2007 Venue: Temple Bar, Santa Monica $15 @ 10:00 p.m. Artist: CéU Album: CéU Label: Six Degrees Records On April 14, CéU (pronounced “say-ew”), the talented young Brazilian singer/songwriter, debuts in Santa Monica at the Temple Bar to celebrate the release of her self-titled debut album, co-released by Six Degrees Records and Starbucks Entertainment. If you like or are interested in exploring contemporary Brazilian music this is a show that’s not...

5. Airbus was actually going to dis LAX until a few weeks ago because the airport was so far behind on the infamous ~$50 million modifications needed to accommodate the 8-story tall village-in-the-sky. So while 550 Lufthansa passengers will arrive simultaneously (9:30 a.m. PDT Monday) at New York's JFK, the LAX-bound A380 is practically a test flight, with only handful of Airbus techs and some heavy equipment (although it's rumored that Samuel L. Jackson...