Long Beach Breakwater

I seem to take living across from the ocean for granted. Every now and then (when Carolyn can convince me to go) we do get over to the beach. When you think of the ideal California Beach, Long Beach doesn't usually come to mind. Malibu, Venice, Huntington...these are the picture perfect post card beaches that California is famous for. Long Beach has a reputation for being dirty, stagnant, and polluted. The reason is two fold. First there is a 2 mile long breakwater that protects all of the Long Beach coastline from the Pacific. It was built to protect the Navy when they had ships here. The second factor is that the Los Angeles river empties into the Long Beach harbor. This wouldn't be so bad, except that the breakwater traps all of the pollution that flows down the river.

In it's heyday, Long Beach was one of the premier beach destinations in the area, of not the state. The water was clean and there was no breakwater so there were excellent surfing waves. Long beach also had the Pike, Los Angeles' answer to Coney Island or the Atlantic City Boardwalk. Today, the beaches are mostly empty except for the occasional family or wind surfer.

There is talk lately about removing the breakwater and returning the waves to Long Beach. If they do, then I feel that Long Beach can return to the great destination that it once was.