Lease to San Onofre beach renewed for 25 years. Yes, it's rented property

Access to the famed San Onofre State Beach was renewed for 25 years, just in the nick of time before its prior agreement lapsed on Aug. 31.

The stretch of the coast tucked between Orange County and San Diego brings in an estimated 2.5 million visitors each year.

But to generations of homegrown surfers reared on the legendary waves and throwback beach culture of their beloved San O, the new agreement is nothing short of preserving a way of life.

"We weren't sure if we were going to lose access to that beach forever," said David Matuszak, author of San Onofre: Memories of a Legendary Surfing Beach and a diehard San O surfer. "It's absolutely great news because for a fellow like me who's entering his golden years, I know that I'm going to be surfing there for the rest of my life."

The new lease

The new lease between the Navy and California State Parks for San Onofre State Beach and San Mateo Campground is good for 25 years, at a cost of $90 million.

Despite the price tag, no actual money will change hands, says Kevin Pearsall, a coastal superintendent for California State Parks.

Instead, Pearsall said the amount will be tendered through in kind credits — basically, by offering services to the military in lieu of cash.

'Hours and hours of meetings'

Pearsall said renewal talks started at least a few years before the original half-a-century agreement expired in 2021. An extension was in place until the end of August.

"It was hours and hours of meeting for years, going through every word in the old lease and constructing it towards a more modern lease agreement," said Pearsall, who took part in the talks that included high-level stakeholders from state and federal governments, as well as the military.

"The lease is more complex than it was for the last 50 years," he added, pointing to changes in state and federal laws, as well as other priorities. He noted that certain areas have been returned to the military for training and other purposes under the new lease.

But the two sides were always aligned on the end result.

"The ultimate goal was to have public access for everyone," he said. "It was a big deal to get this little park figured out."

A brief history of San O

To surfers worldwide, San Onofre is one of those quintessential spots that embodies the original spirit and culture of years past.

The first documented instances of surfing at San Onofre took place in the early 1930s, according to Matuszak.

"There was marine culture, farming culture, cowboy culture, and then, of course, before that was the Native Americans. And along come the surfers," Matuszak said.

About a decade later, the federal government acquired the land by eminent domain to build Camp Pendleton as a training facility for the Marines.

"So the surfers got kicked out of most of San Onofre, except for the area that we now call 'Old Man's,'" said Matuszak, referring to one of the area's most famous surf breaks.

Matuszak said some of those surfers were enjoying themselves too freely — "primarily drinking, partying, that sort of thing" — and caught the attention of the Marine Corps.

"The military went to the surfers and said, 'Listen, unless you can regulate your behavior, you're going to lose your privilege of surfing here,'" Matuszak said.

In response, the San Onofre Surfing Club was born in 1952.

"It was a private club. They had a locked gate, started out with about 500 members," said Matuszak, adding that its ranks included everyone from "surf bums" to wealthy tycoons.

"It was called the most exclusive club in the world," he added. "There was a five-year waiting list to get into the club and to have access to surf at San Onofre."

In the early 1970s, the club lost that exclusive access when the area was established as a state beach under President Richard Nixon's “Legacy of Parks" program.

'Stoked'

"We're stoked. I'm stoked. The club is stoked," said Craig Ephraim, a longtime San Clemente resident and a member of the San Onofre Surfing Club, about the new lease, which will maintain public access to surf beach until 2049.

Ephraim said the community had gotten wind of deal earlier in the month, but without details on the terms.

"We're real pleased that it's 25 years," he said.

Cathy Young directs the Wahine Kai Women’s Surf Club, with chapters across and outside California. The club holds a couple annual events at San O.

"We are excited about the future of San Onofre and what this lease means for its preservation and accessibility for generations to come," she said.

The new agreement has lifted a weight off the shoulders of San O diehards, but challenges for the beach remain. Earlier this year, access to Old Man's was blocked after the only dirt road leading to the area was washed out. Over time, the coastline itself has changed, remolded by the effects of high tides, rising sea levels, and monster storms.

"There's a lot of irons in the fire regarding coastal erosion," Pearsall with California State Parks said. "So we're looking at it on a daily basis, and we always will from this point on."