Beach Access

The California Coastal Act guaranteed public access to the coastline, ensuring that state residents would share equally in their most famous, and perhaps most treasured, resource. Even without a house on the sand, we all have the right to catch a wave or a view of the sunset. It's wonderfully democratic, but is it entirely practical? What happens on the coast after sunset can be worrisome. Late at night, the beach can be a magnet for crime. For gang skirmishes, or kids drinking and smoking weed.

A crackdown on Venice Beach homeless encampments and renegade vendors is pitting longtime residents and merchants against homeless advocates and younger transients. The Los Angeles Police Department enforcement efforts, begun almost two months ago, were spurred by mounting complaints from waterfront residents and business owners who said aggressive, intoxicated transients and violent disputes over vendors' spaces had made the boardwalk an increasingly lawless, frightening place.

The Occupy L.A. group that camped out at City Hall for months before being ejected in late November may have chosen the wrong venue: Not only would protesting in Malibu have been more scenic, it would have more appropriately symbolized the group's struggle against the unfairnesses perpetrated by the 1% — such as the refusal by certain super-wealthy individuals to allow public access to public beaches. A recent report by the California Coastal Commission showed that some progress has been made across the state in improving access to the 1,100-mile shoreline, whose wet sands and craggy tide pools are part of the birthright of all Californians and cannot be privately owned below the high tide line.

Gregory J. Bonann not only co-created "Baywatch" but he also lives the lifestyle from his Malibu beach compound, part of which he just sold for $5.25 million. The secondary house, with two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,618 square feet, features a master bathroom with an indoor shower that opens to an outdoor shower and beach access. The rooms open to beachfront decks. There is a patio with a hot tub, a three-car garage and six more parking spots on the property. Bonann, 59, was a creator, executive producer and director of "Baywatch" (1989-2001)

The Times' Nov. 23 editorial on local municipalities imposing beach curfews was well intentioned but misinformed. While recognizing fundamental public beach access rights and acknowledging that allowing local governments unilateral discretion over beach closures ? which the California Coastal Commission opposes -- is not a good idea, the editorial the commission's historic approach to dealing with this issue. The Commission is always concerned about public safety issues and takes them into careful consideration when reviewing locally imposed access restrictions.

After reading the article ("Panel Pressures Laguna to Open Private Beaches," July 14) about the California Coastal Commission's latest effort to improve public access to the small cove beaches in Laguna Beach, I am ready to side with the homeowners. What is the real need for the public to have convenient access to such pocket beaches anyway? How many people would be served in the course of a summer? I think the real issue here is not realistic public service so much as harassment by political activists for their own funny reasons.

Re "A Malibu Civics Lesson: Beach Is Open," Aug. 25: I congratulate The Times for being involved in educating the public about its public access rights. I also congratulate Sara Wan of the California Coastal Commission for her bravery and tenacity when confronted by the ignorant security guards and sheriffs who patrol Broad Beach and regularly deny beachgoers access to which they are legally entitled. The manipulative and selfish activities of the homeowners on Broad Beach are particularly illuminated by resident and attorney Marshall Grossman's accusation that Wan was merely "seeking a publicity stunt."

California's 1,100-mile coastline is a public treasure, by law and by custom. The rich have no more right to the sand, at least below the high-tide mark, than the poor. This shouldn't need restating but it does, because wealthy landowners are struggling on every front to keep the beaches to themselves. Their campaign is not always direct. For instance, not a single individual or group is on the record as opposing state Sen.

Ending a long-running dispute over coastal access, music producer David Geffen gave up the key to locked wooden gates next to his Malibu home, allowing the public to enter an exclusive stretch of beach walled off by multimillion-dollar homes.

I think Steve Lopez ("A Walk on the Beach Is No Stroll in the Park," Jan. 4) and the public have this beach access story all mixed up. The uproar in Malibu is not really about public access to a five-foot-wide rocky beach, but about the steps that were taken to make this "beach" a public access point in the first place. The California Coastal Commission is the only true dictatorship in California. What it says goes, and it is as political an organization as you can find in this state.

Actress Linda Hamilton , who has had a recurring role on "Chuck" for the last two years, recently listed her gated villa in Malibu at $5.495 million. The 4,754-square-foot residence features open-plan living spaces, vaulted wood-beam ceilings, terra-cotta floors, a skylighted kitchen, two fireplaces, a bar, five bedrooms and 41/2 bathrooms. The more than one-acre property includes a two-bedroom guesthouse, garage space for six cars, expansive lawns and beach access. Boulders surround the free-form swimming pool.

The Occupy L.A. group that camped out at City Hall for months before being ejected in late November may have chosen the wrong venue: Not only would protesting in Malibu have been more scenic, it would have more appropriately symbolized the group's struggle against the unfairnesses perpetrated by the 1% — such as the refusal by certain super-wealthy individuals to allow public access to public beaches. A recent report by the California Coastal Commission showed that some progress has been made across the state in improving access to the 1,100-mile shoreline, whose wet sands and craggy tide pools are part of the birthright of all Californians and cannot be privately owned below the high tide line.

The Times' Nov. 23 editorial on local municipalities imposing beach curfews was well intentioned but misinformed. While recognizing fundamental public beach access rights and acknowledging that allowing local governments unilateral discretion over beach closures ? which the California Coastal Commission opposes -- is not a good idea, the editorial the commission's historic approach to dealing with this issue. The Commission is always concerned about public safety issues and takes them into careful consideration when reviewing locally imposed access restrictions.

The California Coastal Act guaranteed public access to the coastline, ensuring that state residents would share equally in their most famous, and perhaps most treasured, resource. Even without a house on the sand, we all have the right to catch a wave or a view of the sunset. It's wonderfully democratic, but is it entirely practical? What happens on the coast after sunset can be worrisome. Late at night, the beach can be a magnet for crime. For gang skirmishes, or kids drinking and smoking weed.

Broad Beach is home to the rich and famous, a secluded stretch of coastline where the houses seem to practically sit on the sea. But for those who don't live in the Malibu enclave, the public beach has been all but impossible to visit. For years, Broad Beach has been the epicenter of high-profile battles over public access, and now chains, locks and barricades that have blocked the only two entrances to the beach have revived that fight. The gates were locked last winter when residents got an emergency permit from the California Coastal Commission to build a 1.1-mile seawall to protect their multimillion-dollar homes from the advancing ocean.

The longtime executive director of the California Coastal Commission and an author of the state's landmark Coastal Act is fighting lung cancer and will step aside from most of his day-to-day duties overseeing the agency charged with protecting the state's coastline. Peter Douglas will begin chemotherapy this week, he confirmed in an interview Monday with The Times. He will no longer attend monthly public meetings but will remain executive director and continue to be involved in decisions on most important issues.

Re "The Sand and the Fury in Malibu," July 10: The fight in Malibu over public beach access at Broad Beach is the classic class struggle: the haves against the have-nots. The people of California own this land and not the moneyed few. I personally hope our new governor does not give in to the political pressure from his rich Hollywood cronies and fight against keeping our beach free to public access. Charles Beck Diamond Bar So, once again, the good burghers of Malibu are raising a fuss about sharing the beaches in front of their homes with the rest of us. Enough already, let them declare their independence and keep us off their beaches.

After a decades-long struggle to win approval for a 121-acre gated community of 118 homes and a resort on a commanding bluff in Dana Point, developers made extraordinary concessions for public access, including four access points and an inclined railway called a "funicular" that shuttles visitors to a secluded beach known as the Strand. But now that the bluff-top lots, marketed as the "last undeveloped oceanfront property" in Southern California, have started to sell for as much as $12 million, locked metal gates have gone up and signs posting hours have appeared at the top of the stairways: "Coastal Access (Limited to Sidewalk)

Actor Leonardo DiCaprio has sold a bluff-top contemporary in Malibu that had been listed at $7,999,000. The main house has two bedrooms and two bathrooms in 2,374 square feet. Walls of glass frame ocean views in the living room. A guesthouse has two one-bedroom suites, and a stairway leads to the beach. DiCaprio, 34, put the property on the market in mid-November. He purchased it for $6.35 million in 2007, according to public records.