A popular surfing spot in Southern California may look beautiful on the surface, but this beautiful stretch of coastline hides a dark secret.
For six decades, a gang of surfers known as the Bay Boys have aggressively defended what they consider their turf in Lunada Bay.
Now angry locals have exposed the scare tactics the group uses to drive away tourists. Speaking to the LA timessurfers described how they have been exposed to harassment, intimidation and even violence.
It was hoped that a recent lawsuit would cause the city of Palos Verdes Estates to take steps to ensure public access to the beach and eradicate this behavior.
But residents like it John MacHarg fears this alone won’t be enough to end the Bay Boys’ reign of terror.
‘I think [the Bay Boys] still feel like, ‘Oh, we’re protecting this sacred place,'” MacHarg told the LA Times. “They don’t realize that the more sacred it is, the more sinful it is to do their so-called protection.”
A notorious surf gang has been harassing and intimidating the locals of Lunada Bay for decades
The group, branded as the “Bay Boys,” has operated for decades from their elaborate meeting place (seen here) at the base of this bluff along the Palos Verdes Estates, a lawsuit alleges.
The Bay Boys’ actions are motivated by the belief that they “own” the rift, a sentiment known as localism that is rooted in the desire to preserve the character of the community.
The group, which for a time operated from a fortress-like base beneath the cliffs, is known to have verbally harassed, vandalized cars and thrown rocks at visitors. Some victims have even reported being attacked by members of the gang.
Their terror tactics have led to decades of conflict and legal challenges, culminating in a recent lawsuit demanding the city of Palos Verdes Estates take stronger measures to ensure public access to the beach.
Lawyers for the plaintiffs identified at least 85 individuals – core members of the Bay Boys gang, along with their friends and family – who were considered “entitled” to surf Lunada Bay.
The city agreed to settle the case, which had been ongoing since 2016, without admitting any wrongdoing.
But while the city promised to improve public access and enforce beach rules, the settlement did not list specific measures to prevent harassment — and some surfers aren’t either. confident that the city will protect them.
Local surfers who 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 violence and vandalism, have become less common in recent years, more subtle forms of intimidation persist.
These include verbal abuse or maneuvering their administration in ways that endanger the lives of non-local residents.
“If you swing right, they’ll try to burn you right away,” Long Beach resident Sofly Matturi told the LA Times. “They take off in front of you and then try to make a very long turn down, trying to push you against the rocks.”
Matturi said he had personally experienced the gang’s intimidation. In April, he said a gang member tried to push him off his board in the middle of a wave, yelling, “Go away, you’re not supposed to surf here.”
Palos Verdes Estates, which has a population of about 13,300 and its own police department, has long been committed to protecting its community from outsiders.
News articles from 1939 indicate that one of the main reasons why the inhabitants chose to establish their own city was to secure local control over the coastline.
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 she was ‘flashed’ by a man while she allegedly rubbed his private surface. sharing in a sexual way
Although the gang’s more overt acts of violence have declined, more subtle forms of intimidation remain, such as verbal threats and offensive maneuvering in the water.
The Bay Boys started in the 1960s as a relatively benign surf club, according to the local newspaper Daily breeze.
However, as Lunada Bay became more popular in the 1970s, members of the Bay Boys began using increasingly aggressive bullying methods to deter outsiders — an issue that city officials say had gone out of control, according to the recent lawsuit.
The wave of new residents in California in the early 2000s overwhelmed locals’ efforts to maintain exclusive control of the coastline.
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 surfing gang and the city’s failure to maintain public access to the beach violated the California Coastal Act.
Plaintiff Cory Spencer recounted a 2016 incident in which a gang member deliberately struck him with a surfboard, resulting in a deep gash on his wrist.
Following 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 settlement, the city has 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 open to all, and install benches along the cliffs.
The city also plans to train its staff on coastal access laws and report any allegations of harassment to the California Coastal Commission.
Additionally, the lawsuit held individual Bay Boys liable, with various fines up to $90,000 to continue surfing at Lunada.
“I think the city might be a little bit better of a partner than an enemy at this point in getting Lunada more open,” Spencer said. “We hope this is what the lawsuit has achieved.”
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 intimidation 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 that more needs to be done to tackle this issue and ensure that Lunada Bay is truly accessible to all
“We’ve been protecting this beach for years,” McCullom told LA Times in 1995, expressing concern about growing crowds disrespecting the environment.
Localism in Lunada Bay is often associated with classism and racism. In 2014, native Hawaiian surfer Chris Taloa faced hostility during a peaceful paddle out when a local resident 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 is localism and half is racism. Anyway, they don’t like me,” he said.
Despite the intimidation, he believes that the ocean belongs to everyone, and that the thrill of riding the waves of Lunada Bay outweighs the disadvantages.
MacHarg, a Palos Verdes Estates native who opposed the Bay Boys’ bullying, sees the recent settlement as an opportunity for outsiders to demand their right to surf.
He told LA Times: ‘The moral of the story is: go out and surf, crack it open. The door is open, but if no one goes through the door, it doesn’t matter.’