A popular Southern California surf spot may look impressive on the surface, but this beautiful stretch of coast hides a dark secret.
For six decades, a surfer gang known as the Bay Boys have aggressively defended what they consider their territory in Lunada Bay.
Now angry locals have exposed the terrifying tactics the group uses to scare away tourists. Talking to him Los Angeles TimesSurfers described how they have been subjected to intimidation, harassment and even violence.
A recent settlement in the lawsuit was expected to ensure that the city of Palos Verdes Estates would take steps to ensure public access to the beach and eradicate this behavior.
But the residents like it John MacHarg fears that this alone will not be enough to end the Bay Boys’ reign of terror.
“I think (the Bay Boys) still think, ‘Oh, we’re protecting this sacred place,'” MacHarg told the LA Times. “They do not realize that the more sacred it is, the more sinful it is to carry out its supposed protection.”
A notorious surfer gang has been harassing and intimidating locals in Lunada Bay for decades.
The group, called the ‘Bay Boys,’ has operated from their elaborate meeting place (seen here) at the base of this cliff along Palos Verdes Estates for decades, a lawsuit alleges.
The Bay Boys’ actions are motivated by the belief that they “own” the breakup, a sentiment known as localism rooted in the desire to preserve the character of the community.
The group, which operated for a time from a fort-like base beneath the cliffs, is known to verbally harass, vandalize cars and throw rocks at visitors. Some victims have even reported being assaulted by gang members.
Their terrorist tactics have led to decades of conflict and legal challenges, culminating in a recent lawsuit demanding that the city of Palos Verdes Estates take stronger steps to ensure public access to the beach.
The plaintiffs’ lawyers identified at least 85 people (core members of the Bay Boys gang, along with their friends and family) who considered themselves “entitled” to surf at Lunada Bay.
The city agreed to resolve the case that had been ongoing since 2016 without admitting any wrongdoing.
But while the city pledged to improve public access and enforce beach rules, the agreement did not set out specific measures to prevent harassment, and some surfers are not. convinced that the city will protect them.
Local surfers who have experienced this hostile environment firsthand described a culture of fear to the LA Times.
While the gang’s more overt acts of violence, such as physical assaults and vandalism, have become less common in recent years, more subtle forms of harassment persist.
These include verbal abuse or maneuvering your boards in a way that puts the lives of non-locals at risk.
“If you get on a good wave, they’ll try to burn you instantly,” Long Beach resident Sofly Matturi told the LA Times. “They will take off in front of you and then try to do a very long bottom turn where they will try to push you into the rocks.”
Matturi said he had personally experienced harassment from the gang. In April, he said a gang member tried to push him off his board mid-wave, yelling, “Get out, you’re not supposed to surf here.”
Palos Verdes Estates, which has approximately 13,300 residents and its own police department, has long been determined to protect its community from outsiders.
News articles dating back to 1939. indicate that one of the main reasons residents voted to establish their own city was to safeguard local control over the coast.
Diana Milena Reed (pictured) claimed she encountered the ‘Bay Boys’ when she visited the surf spot in 2016 at the age of 29. She returned there a second time and said a man ‘showed’ her off while he allegedly rubbed his private parts. parts in a sexual way
While the gang’s more overt acts of violence have decreased, more subtle forms of harassment persist, such as verbal threats and offensive maneuvers in the water.
The Bay Boys began as a relatively benign surf club in the 1960s, the local newspaper reported. daily breeze.
However, as Lunada Bay became more popular in the 1970s, members of the Bay Boys began employing increasingly aggressive methods of intimidation to deter outsiders, a problem the recent lawsuit says did not occur. had been controlled by city officials.
The surge of new residents to California in the early 2000s overwhelmed locals’ efforts to maintain exclusive control over the coast.
But while many surf spots became more accessible, Lunada Bay remained a bastion of localism.
The recently settled lawsuit against Palos Verdes Estates alleged that the actions of the Bay Boys surf gang and the city’s failure to maintain public access to the beach violated the California Coastal Act.
Plaintiff Cory Spencer recounted an incident in 2016 when a gang member intentionally hit him with a surfboard, resulting in a deep cut on his wrist.
After this, Spencer, along with the nonprofit Coastal Protection Rangers and fellow surfer Diana Milena Miernik, who reported being verbally and sexually harassed by the Bay Boys, filed the lawsuit.
As part of the agreement, the city agreed to improve infrastructure to clearly indicate that Lunada Bay is open to the public.
This includes plans to improve the path along the cliffs, add signage indicating the beach is accessible to all and install benches along the cliffs.
The city also plans to train staff on coastal access laws and report any reports of bullying to the California Coastal Commission.
Additionally, the lawsuit held individual Bay Boys responsible, and several faced fines of up to $90,000 for continuing to surf at Lunada.
“I think the city will be, maybe, a little bit of a better partner right now than an enemy in making Lunada more open,” Spencer said. “We hope that’s what the lawsuit accomplished.”
This wasn’t the first attempt to make Lunada Bay more accessible to non-local surfers.
In 1995, Torrance surfer Geoff Hagins filed a lawsuit alleging that locals engaged in violence and harassment to deter outsiders. Local surfer Peter McCullom settled for $15,000 and the city agreed to proclaim the beach open to all.
Locals and non-locals alike believe more needs to be done to address this issue and ensure Lunada Bay is truly accessible to all.
“We’ve protected this beach for years,” McCullom told the LA Times in 1995, expressing concern about the rise of environmentally disrespectful crowds.
Localism in Lunada Bay has often been linked to classism and racism. In 2014, native Hawaiian surfer Chris Taloa faced hostility during a peaceful paddle out when a local approached him in blackface and told him, “you don’t pay enough taxes to be here.”
Matturi, a black surfer, said he has also experienced racially motivated violence.
‘It’s like half it is localism and half it is racism. Either way, they don’t like me,” he said.
Despite the harassment, he believes the ocean belongs to everyone and the thrill of surfing the waves of Lunada Bay outweighs the disadvantages.
MacHarg, a Palos Verdes Estates native who opposes harassment by the Bay Boys, sees the recent agreement as an opportunity for outsiders to reclaim their right to surf.
He told the LA Times: ‘The moral of the story is: go out and surf, open it up. The door has been opened, but if no one walks through it, it won’t make any difference.’
