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| Agency overview | |
|---|---|
| Headquarters | 13837 Fiji Way, Marina del Rey, CA 90292 33°58′14″N118°26′46″W / 33.9705°N 118.4460°W |
The Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors is responsible for 20 beaches [1] and the Marina Del Rey small-craft harbor in Los Angeles County, California.
The department also manages the Marina Del Rey small-craft harbor, which has “4,600 boat slips in 23 marinas” [2] and brings in nearly $60 million annually in revenue. [1] The Marina function was added by the Board of Supervisors in 1954. [3] The department also operates Burton Chace Park, and monitors raptor and waterbird nesting sites in Marina Del Rey's urban forest; tree trimmers wishing to work in the area must apply for a special permit. [4]
Management of the beaches was shifted from the Parks and Recreation department in May 1969. [3] [5] L.A. native Dick Fitzgerald was the first director of the Department of Beaches. [6] In 1976, Fitzgerald advocated for marine reserves to protect the tide pool ecosystems at Abalone Cove and Vista Sudeste. [7] Circa 1975, when the city of Los Angeles handed over management of the “lifeguards, maintenance, parking and concessions” at their beaches to the county, the department oversaw 73 mi (117 km) of the 76.5 mi (123.1 km) of beaches in the county, including 38 mi (61 km) miles of “improved beaches.” [8]
“The beaches surrounding Santa Monica Bay were visited by more than 42.5 million people in 1987,” according to the department's Lifeguard Division. [9] The Los Angeles County Lifeguards were transferred to the Los Angeles County Fire Department in 1994. [10]
The following beaches are owned or operated by the department, sometimes in partnership with the State of California or a city government: [11]
Beaches and Harbors also runs the Dockweiler Beach RV parking and campground facilities, as well as Dockweiler Youth Center. [1]
“Safety operations on state waters in county territory” are also under the purview of the department. [3]
The Beaches and Harbors Dept. collaborates with the Department of Public Works in the management of Ballona Creek and watershed, Malibu Lagoon and Oxford Basin.
Venice is a neighborhood of the City of Los Angeles within the Westside region of Los Angeles County, California, United States.
Marina del Rey is an unincorporated seaside community in Los Angeles County, California, with an eponymous harbor that is a major boating and water recreation destination of the greater Los Angeles area. The port is North America's largest man-made small-craft harbor and is home to approximately 5,000 boats. The area is a popular tourism destination for both land and water activities such as paddle board and kayak rentals, dining cruises, and yacht charters. Land activities include bicycling on several bicycle paths, walking paths along the waterfront, and birdwatching (birding). Wildlife watching opportunities include California sea lions and harbor seals. Dolphins and whales occasionally visit the deeper waters of harbor. This Westside locale is approximately 4 miles (6.4 km) south of Santa Monica, 4 miles (6.4 km) north of Los Angeles International Airport, and 12.5 miles (20.1 km) west-southwest of Downtown Los Angeles.
Newport Beach is a coastal city of about 85,000 in southern Orange County, California, United States. Newport Beach is known for swimming and sandy beaches. Newport Harbor once supported maritime industries; however, today it is used mostly for recreation. Balboa Island draws visitors with a waterfront path and easy access from the ferry to the shops and restaurants.
Playa del Rey is a seaside community in the Santa Monica Bay and the South Bay region of Los Angeles County, California. It has a ZIP code of 90293 and area codes of 310 and 424. As of 2018, the community had a population of 16,230 people.
Santa Monica Bay is a bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn between Point Dume, in Malibu, and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. Its eastern shore forms the western boundary of the Los Angeles Westside and South Bay regions. Although it was fed by the Los Angeles River until the river's catastrophic change of course in 1825, the only stream of any size now flowing into it is Ballona Creek. Smaller waterways draining into the bay include Malibu Creek, Topanga Creek, and Santa Monica Creek.
Area codes 310 and 424 are telephone area codes in the North American Numbering Plan (NANP) for the U.S. state of California. The numbering plan area includes the West Los Angeles and South Bay areas of Los Angeles County, a small portion of Ventura County, and Santa Catalina Island, which is located 26 miles (42 km) south.
Ballona Creek is an 8.5-mile (13.7 km) channelized stream in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, that was once a "year-round river lined with sycamores and willows". The urban watercourse begins in the Mid-City neighborhood of Los Angeles, flows through Culver City and Del Rey, and passes the Ballona Wetlands Ecological Preserve, the sailboat harbor Marina del Rey, and the small beachside community of Playa del Rey before draining into Santa Monica Bay. The Ballona Creek drainage basin carries water from the Santa Monica Mountains on the north, from the Baldwin Hills to the south, and as far as the Harbor Freeway (I-110) to the east.
Leo Carrillo State Park is a state park in Los Angeles County, California, United States. Situated along the Malibu coast, the park is a component of Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area. With 1.5 miles (2.4 km) of beach, the parkland stretches into the Santa Monica Mountains. The park has expanded into Ventura County and also includes management of County Line Beach. California State Route 1 runs through the park, where it intersects with the western terminus of the Mulholland Highway. The 2,513-acre (1,017 ha) park was established in 1953. It is named for actor and conservationist Leo Carrillo (1880–1961), who served on the State Parks commission.
Dockweiler State Beach is a beach in Los Angeles, California, with 3.75 miles (6.04 km) of shoreline, a hang gliding practice and training area. Although a unit of the California state park system, it is managed by the Los Angeles County Department of Beaches and Harbors. Part of the park is located directly under the flight path of the adjacent Los Angeles International Airport (LAX). The 91-acre (37 ha) property was established in 1948. Originally part of Venice-Hyperion Beach State Park, it was renamed in honor of prominent early Angeleno Isidore B. Dockweiler in 1955.
Ballona Wetlands Ecological Reserve is a protected area that once served as the natural estuary for neighboring Ballona Creek. The 577-acre (2.34 km2) site is located in Los Angeles County, California, just south of Marina del Rey. Ballona—the second-largest open space within the city limits of Los Angeles, behind Griffith Park—is owned by the state of California and managed by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife. The preserve is bisected generally east-west by the Ballona Creek channel and bordered by the 90 Marina freeway to the east.
The Marvin Braude Bike Trail is a 22-mile (35 km) paved bicycle path that runs mostly along the shoreline of Santa Monica Bay in Los Angeles County, California. The coastal bike trail is widely acknowledged as Los Angeles’ “most popular bike path.”
Gregory J. Bonann is an American lifeguard, television producer, director, writer, and showrunner. He is best known for co-creating the internationally syndicated television series, Baywatch, which ran for eleven seasons, and was listed in the 2001 Guinness Book of World Records as the most widely viewed TV series in the world. His later work includes the syndicated action drama, SAF3, and A Chance For Children, a charitable foundation that benefits homeless and at-risk youth.
Fisherman's Village is a waterfront mall, commercial boat anchorage and tourist attraction located in the world's largest man-made small boat harbor in Los Angeles County at Marina del Rey, California. The Ballona Wetlands State Ecological Reserve is just east of Fisherman's Village and immediately to the south is the federally-owned riverine estuary of Ballona Creek. The historical Fisherman's Village, built in 1967, is nestled on the eastern bank of main harbor entrance channel between Whiskey Reds restaurant to the south and the Windward boatyard to the north.
Zuma Beach is a county beach at 30000 Pacific Coast Highway (PCH) in Malibu, California. One of the largest and most popular beaches in Los Angeles County, California, it is known for its long, wide sands and excellent surf. It consistently ranks among the healthiest beaches for clean water conditions in Los Angeles County.
Los Angeles County Lifeguards is a division of the Los Angeles County Fire Department. The lifeguard operations safeguard 31 miles (50 km) of beach and 72 miles (116 km) of coastline, from San Pedro in the south, to Malibu in the north. The Los Angeles County Lifeguards are the largest professional lifeguard service in the world, and as of 2021, employs 174 full-time lifeguards and 614 recurrent lifeguards.
The Long Wharf in Santa Monica, also known as Port Los Angeles or the Mile Long Pier, was an extensive pier wharf constructed by the Southern Pacific Railroad Company in Santa Monica Bay from 1892 to 1894. When it opened in 1894, it was the longest wharf in the world, measuring approximately 4,700 feet (1,400 m). It served as a cargo and passenger port until 1913, and in 1919 removal of the wharf started. The wharf, the 1,000 foot (300 m) tip of the pier, was removed by 1920. The remaining 3,600 feet (1,100 m) of pier was used as a run down fishing pier until 1933, when the remainder of the pier was removed. One of the major imports to the wharf was lumber from Northern ports, to help in the construction boom in Southern California. Southern Pacific Railroad and the street cars of the Los Angeles Pacific Railroad served the wharf. Los Angeles Pacific Railroad ran passenger trams to the wharf and from midnight to sunrise ran cargo cars.
Abraham M. Lurie was an American real estate developer who was behind the development of much of Marina del Rey.
The Ballona Lagoon is a soft-bottomed channel and 16-acre (65,000 m2) tidal marsh in the Marina Peninsula neighborhood of Los Angeles that feeds the Venice Canals with water from the Pacific Ocean via a tide gate.
Oxford Basin is a 10.7-acre (43,000 m2) constructed wetland and wildlife conservation area in the northwest corner of Marina del Rey, California, located between Washington Boulevard and Admiralty Way.
