Idyllwild in the San Jacinto (ya-sin-toe) mountains just 90 minutes east of Los Angeles as you head toward Palm Springs has long been the hidden getaway of Hollywood celebrities. Movies such as Kid Galahad with Elvis Presley was filmed in the mountain community where there’s a quaint downtown with dining, gallery shopping and a movie theater. An historical museum shows many photos of Elvis and other celebrities who filmed movies, and a world class performing arts school offers productions from up & coming students, many who “make it” in movies, theater, music and performing arts. Idyllwild, like most mountain cities, has a beautiful fall season with crisp, cool nights and warm days. It’s that between-time, just before the lodges are fully booked for the winter holidays. It’s the perfect time to visit. Wouldn’t it be better if you could go for free?
Now is your chance. BeachCalifornia is known for being picky about what it partners on. We have turned down major advertisers for world class hotels and other advertising interests, simply because their marketing plans do not meet our standards. This Idyllwild contest is simple, fun, and no underhanded marketing is being used to gather personal data about you. We are willing to promote it because we can tell you Idyllwild is worth the drive for those seeking a mountain getaway. Nearby you’ll find Temecula wine country, balloon rides and Pechanga Casino.
It’s time to take your holiday portrait photo for your cards you’re going to mail to people.
Have you caught the huge full moons lately? How about the big golden setting suns? The beautiful autumn season doesn’t offer much snow yet in California, but for those looking for California Christmas cards with beachy, cool themes, it’s a good time to start putting your picture ideas together and snapping those digital photos for the old-fashioned US Postal service mailer that millions send to people beginning in just about 7 or 8 weeks. The beach is mellow and ideal for taking the Santa Suit or cute surfboard pix right now. Use some flash fill (put camera on “auto” and get within 6 to 8 feet of subjects) with the sunset behind you setting over the Pacific Ocean to send a picture that will delight everyone.
A popular fundraiser starting at Halloween is the pet portrait for Christmas cards. I have included a photo I took for a friend, Sandi, of her two poodles several years ago. Sandi fought cancer bravely for several years. She became weaker and weaker through time and had to give up her teaching at the Anaheim school district. But at Christmas, she bought the red hats and decked her little pet friends out for cards she sent. While I believe the picture is a scan from film (remember film?), with digital you can perfect your skills and get a nice image to capture what you love the most. For Beachcalifornia, it’s the beach, of course, and loved ones such as Sandi L., who many of us miss dearly.
Beachcalifornia.com receives many editorial submissions, some corrections and enough information to keep us constantly looking to the next trip. This email came through, stating that the La Jolla Children’s Pool has been adopted not just by the seals, but by their advocates who allegedly yell at visitors from around the globe. If you dare step on the beach, according to letters posted, activists can videotape you and follow you to your car, can yell at adults and children and scare them. After reading all this, we’re curious to know if anyone else has had a similar experience. Here is the letter received:
Your page at
http://www.beachcalifornia.com/chilrens-pool-la-jolla.html contains some misstatements about the Children’s Pool at La Jolla that are damaging myths. Please understand, I can provide you with scientific and legal
documentation for everything I say, and would be pleased to hear back
that you don’t believe me and require proof.
(1) You have it right most of the page, right up to ;
“Seals began using the beach as a
winter haul-out site during the 1970s. ”
In the recently upheld suit against the City that it “violated
its fiduciary obligations” under the trust, the summary provided by the
judge contains his conclusions based on subpoenaed documents and sworn
testimony. Among his statements is; ” The
creation of the Reserve in close proximity to the Children’s Pool and
the
release by Sea World of rehabilitated harbor seals in the kelp beds
off-shore
of the Pool, seem to have contributed to an increasing number of seals
using
portions of the Children’s Pool in the mid-1990’s.” I was diving
Children’s Pool myself in the 70’s. Seals did not start coming onto
the beach before 1992.
(2) “The only mainland
California rookery south of Carpinteria is the southernmost harbor seal
rookery in the United States.” This is propaganda from the
squatters and thugs that have stolen that beach from the children of
San Diego. Please check our La Jolla Councilman’s website for an
interview with the foremost expert on harbor seals in the state, Dr.
Doyle Hanan.
Note he estimated over 1200 sites seals use in California. There are
36,000 harbor seals in California now - less than .1% of them were
pupped at Children’s Pool last year. As Dr. Hanan said in a sworn
deposition once “Children’s Pool is not biologically necessary to the
harbor seal population in California”.
(3) “It offers the harbor
seals their only high and low tide sheltered pupping and nursing haul
out area.” Rubbish for the same reason as (2).
(4) “The harbor seal
population has dropped slightly in California with one count around
27,500.” Your data is out of date. That is from the NOAA SAR
report of 2004, when they got a low count which clearly was a glitch.
The 2005 census made the new estimate of 34,333. Further, that was
with a 3.5% growth rate, so now, 2 years later, the population would be
at 36,000.
(5) “ Up to 100,000 visitors per
month flock to Children’s Pool Beach in the summer months, walking
along the causeway with its vantage point to study the seal behavior up
close.” Another myth. I found out the numbers came from the
lifeguard log books and studied the book and interviewed the
lifeguards. They log a daily estimate of the people who fall under
their protection, which includes 3 city blocks in each direction,
joggers, swimmers, hikers and visitors to 5 other beaches they watch
from that station. The numbers gave almost 80,000 per month, but the
number coming there to look at seals is a small fraction of that. I
can give you the raw data if you wish. In fact, as I said before, feel free to disbelieve me and demand
proof. Make my day.
If you are going to point up interesting facets of Children’s Pool you
should also mention the animal rights activists who yell at people who
go on the beach.
Just say Pinkberry and people’s eyes light up in California. If your town doesn’t have one, you gotta get one, or have to try it somewhere else. What’s all the fuss about frozen yogurt? Could it be that Paris Hilton likes it that makes it so popular? Maybe it’s the sweet taste and 25 calories. At around $5/cup, it’s one more item to add to your daily expense, should you become addicted to this latest food craze. There are over 20 stores to this franchise, mostly around L.A. Orange County and Northern California are getting stores as they come online. Colleen, Janice and I all hopped aboard the Aqualink at Alamitos Landing and wandered along Pine Avenue in Long Beach when Janice spotted the Pinkberry shop. Even though she’s from Port Angeles, Washington, she knew all about this yogurt. So we had to try it. More on Pinkberry.
When you tire of the Yahoo surveys and want to know what’s the best place to go, ask a travel writer. I surveyed mostly out-of-state (outside California) professional travel writers to see what their favorite places to visit are in California. The results will be compiled along with additional information but for now, the cities chosen included: San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Monterey, Santa Barbara, Malibu, La Jolla and San Diego. The summer attendance numbers of the most popular U.S. destinations did not show California cities in the top 3, but several made the top 10, based on person/days to a city. Orlando, Florida was 1; Myrtle Beach, South Carolina ranked 2; Ocean City, Maryland was 3; and San Diego came in 4. Other California vacation cities included Anaheim at 7; and Los Angeles at 10. What is your favorite vacation spot in California?
It’s the time of year when things mellow in the travel industry in the U.S. California is not exempt from a tourism slow down as well. As we performed our normal studies for our hotels blog, and California Travel News updates, some interesting trends for 2007 were discovered that are reflected in our travel numbers. The middle income American traveler is being squeezed financially, just as hotel room rates across the board (budget, mid-range and luxury resorts) have risen. While the middle and lower income travelers are cutting back with shorter stays, the upper income traveler (over $100,000/annual) shows the strongest spending, accounting for one-third of increases in reservations in nearly all hotel price categories.
In metropolitan cities and places such as California, $100,000+ family income does not necessarily afford luxury living. Recent trends show that this particular segment has traded down, booking more mid-range rooms and traded out by staying in rentals, time shares, taking cruises and using options outside the standard hotel room night choice. While the international traveler continues to pay top dollars for rooms in the US, their numbers have been down since 2000. The good news, if there is any for the middle class–there may be a lowering of prices upcoming in the luxury hotel segment. We’ve yet to see any deals in those rooms for the winter of 2007. Meanwhile, an opportunity to raise rates on the mid-range properties has occurred, thanks to the strength of bookings from the $100+K income bracket. As this occurs, the middle class simply travels less days with shorter stays and travels with fewer family members. The data for this summary was gleaned from several sources such as D.K. Shifflet reports.
For a first-time overnighter to Tijuana, start mellow with a meal that gets you away from the tourist bars and clubs and takes you into the heart of the bullfighting culture at Casa Plasencia. My introduction to Mexican cuisine was shockingly familiar in many ways as I dined on Caesar salad in the city where it got its start. I’ve heard a lot of negative things about Tijuana but my excursion turned out to be one of the best surprises of the year.
Few of us ever actually thought about tsunamis till the Indonesia earthquake and tsunami killed thousands of people back in 2004. I can’t forget that time because I was on a Carnival (Miracle) cruise heading back for Tampa Bay, Florida, when it happened and our ship suddenly experienced a jolt in the night. Glass items fell off the cabinets, and everyone was awakened by the sudden shift and noise. The captain had to dock in a military slip in the morning due to challenging conditions, and we were delayed for our port arrival. We had just witnessed hurricane damage causing devastation to Grand Cayman Island, and cleanup efforts to tear down demolished houses, hotels and offices, and rebuild. Trees broken in half still lay on the torn landscape waiting to be cut for firewood.
Now I notice the blue signs all over the place near California beaches. So today a girl who just moved from Chicago (one former home of mine) to Long Beach told me how she missed the weather in Chicago and we got to talking. She said that at least Chicago didn’t have tsunamis and earthquakes and we talked about the signs say, “Tsunami evacuation route.” They are in almost every beach city.
Riding on the Long Beach Transit Aqualink past Belmont Pier and Long Beach peninsula, I was amazed to notice with new eyes just how flat the beach is. “They wouldn’t stand a chance in a tsunami,” a friend and I agreed. On our way home we stopped in Seal Beach where we looked at a sign. The sign itself didn’t look hopeful. It showed a big blue wave coming in from the left and person on right trying to climb up a hill. There aren’t any hills around here, we both consented…like zero. “These houses have flooding problems,” my friend said.
Let’s face it, if a tsunami hits, we’re dusted. The good news is that it’s been a long time since our area experienced any ground motion. And I haven’t missed the Chicago winters at all. So to choose one or the other, we choose California beaches… and take it one day at a time, loving it.
When the Long Beach Water Department board announced an imminent water supply shortage, steps to conserve included watering lawns just three times per week only at night, not watering driveways, and not serving water in restaurants unless there’s a request. Acting after U.S. District Judge Oliver W. Wanger ruled that the State Water Project was in violation of the federal endangered species acts because it is threatening the existence of the Delta smelt, the judge supplied a detailed ruling that limits half the water coming to Southern California, pumped from the Sacramento Delta. Delta smelt are fish found only in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary (the area where the Sacramento and San Joaquin Rivers flow into San Francisco Bay. The delta smelt historically was one of the most common fish in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Estuary, though considered environmentally sensitive because they have a one year life cycle, a limited diet, and reside primarily within the interface between salt and freshwater. The sign on left appears outdoors near a water fountain at Long Beach Aquarium of the Pacific.
Long Beach water officials stated they believe other cities are lagging behind in enacting regulations for conservation, but said they believe most cities in Southern California will soon have to conserve similarly. For many living in the land of sunshine, they’ve not seen more than a drop or trace of rain. If climatologists, environmentalists, city planners the water boards are correct, measures will take effect sooner than later. We are just amazed we’ve made it this long without mention of rationing. Los Angeles has recorded just 3.21 inches of rain in the year ending June 30, making it the driest year on record since 1877. The Sierra Nevada mountains, which provide Los Angeles with approx. 50% of its water, have provided just 20% of their normal volume this year, and the snowpack is at its lowest for 20 years. Pumping from an aquifer in the San Fernando Valley was stopped in August when chromium 6 was found in the water. Southern California has grown two-to-four times the national average in the past 50 years and the growth predictions don’t show significant slowing.
If five friends and friends-of-friends lost jobs this week, it could be a blip, but seems more like a trend. Several were downsizing efforts, removing departments, one was a major bread company that shut its doors after years in business, while yet another was a small furniture company that may be heading for bankruptcy. I am keeping my eyes open for jobs for these folks. And if this continues, I suspect we’ll see hotel prices drop anywhere from $10 to $100 per room this fall. I haven’t pulled up the hotel sales numbers in a while but there should be a glut of rooms right now except for weekend beach destinations in California and warm climate places, perhaps. I think the hotels are staying firm on this year’s rates into the fall season, but they can’t hold out if people don’t have money to spend and just quit booking rooms. We’ll know within the next few weeks as we start receiving discount offers from California vacation getaways. Several have already come in and we’ll do our best to get those offers posted on our hotel page.
After updating the annual events calendar for Christmas 2007, I came across pages on last year’s Christmas spent in San Pedro and Redondo Beach. Meanwhile I am writing stories about the mountain getaways such as Mammoth Lakes, where you’ll find the most snow for skiing in California. What I discovered is that even though it is early September, there aren’t many hotel rooms left for Christmas in Mammoth. And the prices are higher than surrounding weeks. If you’re thinking of hitting the mountains for some skiing or a white Christmas with your family, you better start booking now for Christmas, because it looks like soon there won’t be many options. Options for unique holiday dining, drive-thru nativity, Nutcracker and boat rides are all scheduled throughout California this year. What’s new right now are auditions for Nutcracker have begun, a new custom burger/Martini bar opened in Ventura and some of our travel writer friends are getting back from Scotland and Ireland. If I went out of country recently, I don’t remember. Oh yes, I promised to write about the delicious foods and restaurants of Tijuana, Mexico. In two short days I ate my way through the city, sampling award-winning Caesar’s salad, paella, fresh fish, delicious Mexican dishes and at the hotel, a full breakfast bar with a huge staff, and tortillas being made fresh on the spot. Man, how could you ever go hungry? You don’t need a barrel of money to eat well south of the California border.
Leaf peeping or fall foliage is all the rage this autumn. It seems the pr community promoting destinations has just awakened to leaves, fall color and claims of having it. The eastern U.S. states such as New Hampshire and Vermont are especially active in efforts to grab bodies to fill hotel rooms for the fall foliage season which doesn’t last long enough, unfortunately. It usually runs from now to late October, though a snowfall can change all that. Here in California people such as John Poimiroo said he’s been promoting the fall foliage for years. People don’t recognize California as a fall foliage paradise, so he worked with Mono County Tourism Commission to make a map/brochure with 17 spots to see the leaves turn. One of his favorites and easiest to access is Lee Vining. While many will check this out, the region featured in the Mono County map is best known for snow, and set records recently for most snowfall in a season with 632 inches or 52 feet. The good news is that there seem to be ample hotel rooms available now. But come late October of first snow, prices will go up at the Eastern Sierra slopes such as Mammoth Mountain. If you’re game for beautiful mountains and lakes, this is the season in which fine arts photographers such as Timothy Wolcott grab their large format cameras and get the pictures in California, Vermont, or wherever beauty can be found.
In 1994 when a friend from Huntington Beach sent me a story about military chip implants of soldiers, he had strong opinions and Biblical interpretation that, as I recall, pointed to this technology as yet one more sign of fulfillment of prophesy. He posted it on his website, hoping to inform others of what he considered were ominous signs of things to come. Not long after, he received a phone call from a military base POI who informed him the outraged public was calling. The base was not implanting soldiers with microchips, the rep said.
Today, microchipping of pets is becoming legislation in beach cities in California. Two surfing cities that sparred over the name, Surf City, seem to have the microchip legislation in common. Santa Cruz has it and Huntington Beach wants it. Just within a week of Huntington Beach moving toward legislation, an AP story was released today about cancer dangers from microchips. The FDA approved implanting microchips in humans last year, to aid in the tracking of medical information. 90 Alzheimer patients were just chipped and the plan is to initiate a national chipping program of humans for medical records and tagging into a database. The devices, about the size of a grain of rice, are based on “passive RFID technology,” and can be detected with a special device. An implanted pet or human holds an ID number that’s placed in a database for a fee. For humans the non-insured cost is $80/year to have information held and more for a full medical history by chip maker, VeriChip. However, a 2001 study by the Bayer Corporation and published in a journal of toxicology found tumors surrounded the microchips in about one percent of lab rats. A study by the Dow Chemical Company in 1996 also found malignant tumors in a small but significant percentage of lab animals, according to the AP. The capsules can migrate around the body or bury themselves deep in the arm. When that happens, a sensor X-ray and monitors are needed to locate the chip, and a plastic surgeon must cut away scar tissue that forms around the chip. A four-month AP investigation turned up additional documents, several of which had been published before VeriChip’s parent company, Applied Digital Solutions, sought FDA approval to market the implant for humans. VeriChip received FDA approval in 2004 under the watch of then Health and Human Services Secretary Tommy Thompson who later joined the company’s board. Under FDA policy, it would have been VeriChip’s responsibility to bring the adverse studies to the FDA’s attention, but VeriChip CEO Scott Silverman claims the company was unaware of the research. An interesting book on chip technologies can be found on the site - antichips.com. Books, razors and a thousands of items in Walmart and Best Buy are implanted with chips, and the technology recently made its way into credit cards, as well.
Summer is over, but rather than let it get you down, you can head for the mountains in its bristle pine time before the snow arrives, or you can enjoy the beautiful beaches and plan your next beach event. We collected some ideas this summer that seem to be hits. Who can believe that “Limbo” was so popular? The video posted shows how much people liked it. So we’re recommending that you try it as an element of your next beach event. It’s good for a half hour of entertainment and there are some recommendations for a spin on the traditional limbo. Each is age and event appropriate. For a kids party, hire a fake princess or rabbit, or even Santa to limbo down. If you are planning a corporate beach event, offer money prizes or incentives. And for all age groups your beach party or event is catered to, also cater the limbo music to that group. Rock, pop and teeny-bop are all suitable for limbo. Some things you need to know before you hit the beach include rules such as 25 or less people generally do not require a license to have a party on public beaches. But you can’t stake off space, and you can’t use electrical connections for a sound system such as music amplifiers. For that kind of fun, try contacting your local beach operations of choice and get the low-down on what’s required to host a beach event.
Just when you have the weekend vacation getaway with your kids down to a science, along comes the idea of escaping midweek for some R&R. While parents taking children on the great California kids vacations have less flexibility because of school and sports schedules, adults without kids, and seniors who are free as birds can hit the road to enjoy lighter traffic, wide open spaces and often cheaper hotels. We drew up a list of pluses and minuses, and though they seem to hold equal weight in making decisions, the mid week getaway could be the ticket for saving time and money. It’s not for everyone. But we’ve seen more and parents taking their children out of school for week day trips. Tied to learning experiences ranging from seeing the colorful fall foliage, to studying tidepools, the real world offers tactile and sensory inputs that help speed up learning. And besides, travel is just fun.
I went by the beach today and it was empty. Just three days ago it was
packed–millions of people were there, literally. For fall, our web site (California Beaches) is taking a look at some delightful weekend getaways that will include beaches but also the leaf peeping season. There’s not much of it at the beaches…in fact, we’ve not found any beaches in California with it yet. But as soon as we finish the story on great fall foliage getaways, there’s one that will knock your socks off, rivaling anything you’ll find in Vermont. It is very much a driving experience so you’ll have to buy a tank of gas or two to see these leaves turn from green to red, orange and yellow. But framed by the backdrop of a beautiful mountain peak, it will surely take your breath away.
San Diego ranked as the top attended beach and weekend getaway for Labor Day 2007, lagging just behind Las Vegas as the place of choice for Californians to visit. Now that you’ve done San Diego, what will be your choice for the California weekend getaway? May we recommend some great beaches to enjoy? According to national and international surveys we’ve studied recently, journalists around the globe don’t always pick the top attendance beaches in their list. How do they pick beaches? We went to places such as The Travel Channel and found that a writer would fill in a list of criteria such as sand quality, activities nearby and kid friendliness. An assigned writer ranked each on a scale of 1 to 5. I was not apparent that a writer actually went to a beach she wrote about, but you can only so. Proclamation of the best beaches in the USA has always been a slippery sand dune when you look at the methods for determining and declaring such. One survey of 1,000 or so people on Yahoo ranked beaches by the informal poll results. By the numbers and beach attendance figures, generally L.A. beaches will come in #1 as top beaches annually. Second will be San Diego, and third will be Orange County beaches. But what beaches are best for kids vacations, weekend vacations, dog vacations with pet-friendly hotels, etc.? The results I’ve found are mostly subjective. While Dr. Beach presents an annual list of top beaches around the globe, some of his California choices have been based on limited visits, with his data not factoring many issues important to travel and vacations. Since the new journalism is so subjective, I will tell you my opinion. First you should know that I’ve spent 10 years visiting and writing about beaches in California. And my declaration is that the more you know, the more you realize how little you know. Some beaches are only accessible by boat…they fascinate me and I want to see them. Some beaches are filled with refuse, yet people go and tell me they like these urban beaches.
For a dog beach, you’ll never find more love than at Long Beach’s dog beach. But for a dog lover, dog beach is the closest beach you can find to let your dog roam off leash.
For romantic beaches, if you love chilly, cuddle-up nights, you really will have to chose Carmel with muted colors, and its twisted pines and bonfires on fine sand beaches. It’s a great place to propose to your lover, and a great place to get married, too.
For kid friendly beaches, I have to chose San Diego beaches…there are many. They just do kids so well. The hotels on the bays are great. From Catamaran to the Hilton on Mission Bay, kids can play on the beaches on site, swing a the playgrounds nearby, go to the zoo, SeaWorld…you name it. The beach and amusements combine to make it the family-friendly destination.
For conventions, there are two beaches…Long Beach or San Diego. Both have the convention business wired. Both provide events, nightlife, public transportation and things to do near the convention centers. San Diego is bigger and has more going on, but still, Long Beach is a contender and does extremely well with conventions.
For sunbathing, I personally think Newport Beach and DelMar are it. If you’ve ever heard of trophy babes, Del Mar jokingly refers to its lovely beach ladies as such. But at Newport Beach, there are beautiful women and men, and they all look so fine on the intimate beaches that line the peninsula.
Surfing beaches are many. What surfers know (though they won’t tell you) is that they are subject to the waves, and they’ll fly like the wind, and go any place they can catch a decent set. Perhaps the most amazing surfing beach I’ve seen is Rincon Point. The surfers pour into the parking lots off State Highway 101 like workers to a factory. And once on the beach where you do the “rock dance” as many say, there are three sets of waves to watch, and surfers catching them all simultaneously. It’s almost overwhelming.
For nude beaches, Santa Cruz probably has that wrapped up. The Red White and Blue beach was for sale in the fall 2006 but remains a nude beach today.
For dangerous beaches, everyone I’ve spoken with claims Ocean Beach in San Francisco is the worst. Any beach where people are swept away can’t be too safe. It happens unfortunately. When I stayed in Mendocino, locals said some of the beaches there are fierce, as well.
Nature watching is best (as far as I’m concerned) at The Sea Ranch and Piedras Blancas near San Simeon and Hearst Castle. Elephant seal culture is quite entertaining there. The Sea Ranch includes starfish, elephant seals, plus roaming deer all in one place!
As for snorkeling, that’s Catalina Island, and scuba is the Channel Islands.
Not everyone wants a California beach getaway during this season, so you may want to consider mountain trips, lakes, special concert events, chili cook-offs, pumpkin and Halloween festivals and the upcoming Christmas holiday vacations held in nearly every village, town and city in California.
As many of you (millions) enter the water this Labor Day Weekend, we hope that your experiences are healthy and positive. Last year beaches in the USA had more closures than any other year in the past 15. A “raw sewage overflow right to know” act is in the works to protect the public from entering waters not fit for their very own health. California was not immune to its share of closures, with some spots consistently ranking poorly. Up and down the coast of California the water monitoring is most active in larger cities, and while Heal the Bay volunteers do their best to bring in the results, the lag time in reporting to the public is often a week. By the time you find out about a problem or its correction, you may already have exposed yourself and your friends and family to illness from coliform and fecal matter particulates akin to swimming in a toilet that wasn’t flushed completely. This new clean water act seeks to shorten the reporting time closer to a day’s turn around, rather than a week. Some trouble spots that have consistently poor rankings still allow visitors to swim in waters reported as unhealthy. We have checked the Healthebay.org site throughout the year in 2007 and to date have noticed some repeat offenders, getting D’s and F’s even during the summer when there is no rain (swimmers and beach-goers are advised to not go in the water at least a day after it rains). For those who don’t know about healthebay.org site, you can get beach report cards there. Here are some beaches that have been getting D’s and F’s quite a bit in 2007: Huntington Beach State Beach near Magnolia; Huntington State Beach at Brookhurst projection-recent, but not consistent; Malibu’s Will Rogers State Beach at Temescal Canyon; Dockweiler State Beach at Ballona Creek Mouth; Cabrillo Beach (San Pedro) Harborside at Lifeguard Tower; Belmont Pier eastside (Long Beach); Long Beach City Beach projection near 10th Street; Avalon Beach between Pier and Busy Bee (several projection points). We are not telling you to avoid these beaches. In fact, we hope the public will step up to the plate and seek to help clean up the trouble spots. Our recommendation is to look at the healthebay.org beach report card on their website before you go and take into account the water quality reports. Then support efforts to report about beach water quality, and efforts to clean up that water.