Los Angeles County beaches open today

Sloane Bozzi

Zuma Beach in Malibu remains empty on Tuesday May 12, one day before beaches are set to open on Wednesday.

Sloane Bozzi, Assistant Campus Editor

Los Angeles County beaches are set to open Wednesday after two months of closure during the pandemic.

The beaches are restricted to active use, such as running, walking, swimming and surfing. Six feet of social distancing is still going to be enforced, and wearing face masks is required except for when in the water.

Biking, picnicking, sunbathing, and group sporting activities are not allowed. Parking lots, piers, boardwalks, and bike paths will remain closed. A tweet from LA County Beaches and Harbors outlines these restrictions:

 

The day before the restricted reopening, Zuma Beach in Malibu was empty. Many of the lifeguard towers still donned signs of the beach’s closure.

In addition to the beaches, parks and trails have been closed in Malibu. The City has since launched a virtual recreation center.

The announcement of the beach reopenings comes days after LA Mayor Eric Garcetti announced recreational trails would be allowed to open during a press conference on May 6.

Runyon Canyon remains closed, as one of LA’s popular hiking trails. Physical distancing should be followed, and face masks should be used when in the trail parking lots or around other hikers. Hiking groups should be limited to members of your household, said LA County Parks and Recreation.

The Trails LA County website provides more updates as to which trails are currently open.

Some counties such as Santa Barbara, Ventura, San Diego, and Orange County have begun restricted beach openings.

Orange County beaches began opening in April, during Southern California’s first big heat wave of the year. The “active use” rule was enforced but it was ignored by many beachgoers who flocked to and lounged on Orange County’s open beaches.

California Gov. Gavin Newsom previously issued a hard closure of Orange County beaches on April 30, following the influx of visitors not following active use orders.

The City of Huntington Beach reopened beaches on May 5 for active recreation only. The opening of coastal cities is a hot button issue for some Huntington Beach residents, who have organized protests following the hard closures.

The Huntington Beach City Council voted to sue the State of California and claimed Newsom overstepped his powers.

“In response to Gov. Newsom’s announcement earlier today directing the hard closure of all beaches in Orange County, the Huntington Beach City Council voted Tuesday to pursue a legal challenge against the State’s beach closure order,” stated the city’s press release.

Orange County Superior Court Judge Nathan Scott is expected to come to a decision by the end of this week.

“This virus doesn’t take the weekends off,” Newsom said in a press conference. “This virus doesn’t go home because it’s a beautiful sunny day around our coasts. The likelihood of having a virus-free world is not realistic in the next number of months.”

A California beach tracker created by the LA Times can be found here.