[image from LAUR]
Malibu beaches are lined with “private street” signs, but as activist Jenny Price has pointed out, many of these beaches are publicly owned.
And now, Malibu Public Beaches Safaris can show you exactly what beaches’re there for your surfing pleasure — and how to find, park, walk, picnic, and sunbathe there.
What: Malibu Public Beaches Safaris, each 3.5 hours long with visits to 2-3 beaches.
When: West Malibu beach tours happen Sat., August 4, 2007 from 9:30 am-1 pm and Sun., August 12, 2007 from 1:30 pm – 5 pm. East Malibu beach tours happen Sun., August 5, 2007, from 9:30 am – 1 pm and Sat., August 11, 2007, from 1:30 pm – 5 pm.
Cost: Free with RSVP by emailing info@laurbanrangers.org with tour date, name, and number of people.
Check out the beaches, explore “natural history, jurisdiction, and the identification of public and private property,” and take part in fun activities like “a public-private boundary hike, an accessway hunt, sign watching, and a public easement potluck.”
The safaris’re put together by the Los Angeles Urban Rangers, a collective of artists, writers, architects, and urban designers who explore LA and work to help others do likewise.
ALL beaches are public, at least up to the “mean high tide mark.” If you are walking on the beach at Malibu and have one of those private security, flunked-out-of-police-acadamey losers tell you that you are on a private beach, you should tell them to fvck off. The beaches are public property and the rich assholes who think they can exclude others should be made to recognize this. In practice, courts have interpreted the “mean high tide” line to be the line of vegitation, leading some landowners to alter the landscape to attempt to insure privacy. However, if you are walking on the wet sand where the waves are crashing, you should be OK.
Before I had young kids (who might be disturbed by the confrontation), I made a habit of walking on “private” beaches when I was done surfing in order to provoke confrontations. The beaches–like the airwaves, national parks and forests, BLM land, etc.–are PUBLIC. Unfortunately in this day and age we have to insists on our rights to what is already ours…
Brian
Comment by Brian — July 18, 2007 @ 8:47 am
Thanks for pointing out the mean high tide line issue — all beaches are indeed free on the wet sand area, as Jenny Price often points out on her posts :)
Comment by Siel — July 18, 2007 @ 1:58 pm