The Brief

It’s about 9 feet wide and 3,600 feet long, the length of 10 football fields. It’s made out of wooden boards and people who know about this long-time Long Beach mainstay say they like it, splinters and all.

“I think it's classic. I think that this gives the area a very classic look. I think it's very beautiful,” said Ana Torres, who lives nearby and had brought her two friends to walk the length of the boardwalk. They wore tennis shoes, something she encouraged all visitors to do.

“If you're walking in heels this is probably not the right place to come,” she said.

That’s because the aging boardwalk is in disrepair, making it somewhat dangerous to walk along. The city has plans to rip up the wood and replace it with a more durable material — but local residents have started a petition to have it restored rather than destroyed.

Ana Torres, left, lives near the Peninsula Beach Boardwalk in Long Beach. She brought her friends Sandra Ortiz, center, and Christina Marquez to take a walk on the boardwalk.

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The golden era of wood boardwalks

The boardwalk is about 100 years old and is said to be the last one in L.A. County made out of wood. It’s unclear if it is. What is clear is that many wood boardwalks built along Southern California beaches in the early 1900s were torn up in the middle of the century and replaced with smooth concrete paths.

This one, in a part of Long Beach known as the Peninsula, is now showing its age.

The Peninsula Beach Boardwalk is about 100 years old.

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There are gaps about half an inch wide between each board, and holes about an inch wide where knots in the wood have fallen out. The wood has splintered in many parts. In some parts the low fence that holds back beach sand bends inland, toward the houses.

“It is raggedy, it's bumpy,” said Rod Burgad, who’s been coming to the boardwalk for 20 years.

Ron Burgad says he loves the bumpiness of the boardwalk while riding his e-bike.

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He said riding a bike with thick tires, as he did on this day, is the best way to enjoy the boardwalk. Smooth, concrete boardwalks are boring, he said.

“I'd rather go on something old like this. It's more fun,” he said.

The plans to replace it — and the resistance

Long Beach City Council would like to replace the wooden boardwalk with composite material. But a spokesperson for the public works department could not provide details for the project before this story’s deadline.

The Peninsula Beach Boardwalk in Long Beach is about 9 feet wide and 3,600 feet long.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez/LAist

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Because the boardwalk is next to the shore, the city has to go through a California Coastal Commission permitting process. Long Beach officials recently placed a poster-sized notice of public hearing at one end of the boardwalk.

That riled up some people to sign an online petition to save the boardwalk.
As of Friday, it had more than 500 signatures.

The man who created it, who gives his name as Samuel Joseph on Facebook, told LAist "I started the petition because the city’s proposal to replace the wooden boardwalk with plastic totally violates the will of the people in this and the surrounding neighborhoods," he said.

"Plastic composite has been used in other near-ocean city projects and deteriorates more quickly than wood, leeching microplastics into our sand."

Richard Nutt walks his dog, Vato. Nutt lives in a house on the Peninsula Beach Boardwalk and says the boardwalk is in disrepair.

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Adolfo Guzman-Lopez

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LAist

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While the petition communicates an urgency to “save” the boardwalk, it’s not clear that the boardwalk’s wood will be torn up anytime soon.

A spokesperson for Long Beach Councilmember Kristina Duggan, whose district includes the Peninsula, said the replacement of the boardwalk is estimated to cost about $2.5 million — but the city has not identified the funding to pay for it.

If you’ve noticed more wildlife visiting your yard in recent years — maybe digging up your vegetable garden or even drinking from your pool — you’re not alone.

A recent study from UCLA found that larger predators like mountain lions and bears are more likely to interact with humans and travel closer to population centers in drier years. To determine this, the researchers analyzed state data collected on reported property damage, nuisances, conflicts and sightings.

“It kind of runs the full gamut of how people interact with wildlife around their neighborhoods and their homes,” said UCLA postdoctoral researcher Kendall Calhoun, the lead author on the study.

It's not just P-22. Mountain lions across the whole state are forced to leave their habitats for survival.

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Different motivations for different animals

As you might expect, different animals might have different reasons for entering populated areas. But in large part, Calhoun said, it comes down to animals’ survival instincts.

The primary motivator for many herbivores is likely to be food. That’s because with less precipitation, there’s also less plant material for them to eat. (Don’t forget: even with all the rain we’ve had recently, much of Southern California is still in a drought.)

“ Deer and elk might be pushed to find those food resources in places that they normally wouldn't go, like agriculture, crops, things from people's yards, persimmons from your tree,” Calhoun said.

And as herbivores get pushed toward humans, the animals that prey on them are too. In fact, the species that saw the highest increases in clashes with humans were omnivores and carnivores, specifically mountain lions, coyotes, black bears and bobcats.

But even these animals have varying reasons for getting close to people.

“Mountain lions might be more inclined to look for supplemental food in livestock — that might be a sheep or a goat,” Calhoun said. “Black bears may be more willing to go into your trash to look for food to help supplement what they're missing in their resource-scarce natural areas.”

Meanwhile, animals of all kinds might enter a yard even when they have enough food to look for standing water.

About the data

Researchers analyzed data from the California Department of Fish and Wildlife that were reported over the last several years as part of a citizen science initiative.

One important caveat is that the researchers primarily looked at conflicts between wildlife and residents, and there may be differences in how these interactions are reported.

For example, you might not report a deer eating fruit from an overloaded tree as a nuisance, but even a peaceful black bear digging through your trash could raise alarm bells.

 "People also really value having wildlife living alongside them," Calhoun said. "It really is important for us to try to strike that balance where there's pros for both sides, without some of the negative interactions that come with living in close proximity with wildlife species."

Learn more about human-wildlife interactions

There’s more background on the research on UCLA’s website, and you can find the full study here.

You can also learn much more about interactions between humans and wildlife in LAist’s Imperfect Paradise podcast series, “Lions, Coyotes, & Bears.”

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in parts of L.A. County at the end of this year, and organizers say eligible households can sign up for alerts when the service becomes available.

The service — a partnership between L.A. County and internet provider WeLink — is the latest project from the county’s “Delete the Divide,” an initiative meant to bridge the digital divide in underserved neighborhoods.

Major funding for the project comes from the American Rescue Plan Act, as well as a grant from the California Public Utilities Commission.

It’s badly needed

About 23%, or more than 20,000, households in the East L.A. and Boyle Heights area don’t have home internet, according to Delete the Divide.

The service will also soon be coming to South L.A., where more than 40,000 households were identified as lacking home internet.

What you need to know

There will be different plans available — including low-income, market-rate and small business options — at fixed prices. The low-cost plan will start at $25 per month for qualifying families. Those who don’t qualify could also purchase plans starting at $65 a month. Monthly rates are fixed until at least September 2027.

Every plan includes unlimited data, a router and parental controls.

Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in South L.A. at the end of this year.

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Courtesy of L.A. County

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Low-cost internet service will soon roll out in parts of East L.A. and Boyle Heights at the end of this year.

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Courtesy of L.A. County

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How it works 

WeLink will install a Wi-Fi router inside a home and a 4-inch radio on the roof to connect the household to the internet.

Interested households can sign up for updates and be notified by WeLink when service is available here.