Photo: LA Times
One thing most people residing in or visiting Los Angeles readily agree on: parking’s a bitch. But what is even more frustrating — especially for people in the surf community — is when you have to pony up however many dollars to park along the very public Pacific Coast Highway to access the umpteen breaks spread throughout.
Therefore it is rather understandable that surfers have reached yet another critical limit of sorts in the limited access and unlimited harassment they have received from Malibu’s shishi Paradise Cove; the harassment includes huge walk-in and parking fees. Fortunately for the surf community, the California Coastal Commission is having none of it: regulators have sent official warning letters to the upscale cafe.
Photo: LA Times
The Los Angeles Times reports that the investigation was instigated by multiple occurrences over the past year. One such occurrence involved members of the Black Surfers Collective, an organization promoting diversity in surf, who claimed that they were not allowed to carry their surfboards across the sand. And then there was one that involved a $40 “fee” collected by a parking lot attendant to avoid a trespassing charge. Paradise Cove’s website goes as far as to indicate that walk-ins must pay a $20 fee. None of these specific examples make sense. And, according to documents, none were or are legal.
There is even an unpermitted gate blocking the pier. In the official warning letter, the CCC verified that charging the fee was a violation of the company’s lease with the California State Lands Commission.
Let’s hope that Paradise Cove amends its ways before we have to engage in more long, drawn-out lawsuits, like that of Martin’s Beach — even if that did end in a big win for public access.
Read the entire story on LATimes.com.
