Question from an unfamiliar northeasterner: how public is the beach really if you have to flee the rising tide? Or are folks happy to pack it in after a few hours?
The purpose of the beach being public isn't really sunbathers. It's a very old principle based on the idea that the waters and the land under them belong to the public, and that they should be accessible to people doing the fundamental things that require access to the water: fishing, washing clothes, etc.
Actually, it really depends on how the house there is built. Many are on stilts, and with the tide, you are up against their property. Beach is also uneven, so in places there is dry sand left, but it's surrounded on three sides by water and forth side is the house.
There are also legitimate concerns for many homeowners. I've frequently seen homeless camping underneath those houses on stilts. This is definitely a safety issue.
Another issue is trash. If you walk through Santa Monica beaches Sunday evening, it is appalling. Piles of trash in the parking lots and by waterline. After seeing it, I really can't blame Malibu residents from trying to protect their beaches.
That said, because I'm not privileged enough to have private beach access, this app is kinda cool.
> I've frequently seen homeless camping underneath those houses on stilts.
I'm with you on the trash -- come down to Hermosa on the morning of July 5! -- but this is a lame excuse to prevent beach access. I'm all for homeless people camping out beneath David Geffen's infinity pool. Maybe complaints coming from somebody of his stature would finally get the city to deal with this problem in a humane and effective way, instead of just sweeping it under the rug as they have for decades.
...deal with this problem in a humane and effective way...
Which problem exactly? Where the homeless sleep or the fact that they exist? Most municipal solutions I've seen to the former problem are repulsively violent, while it isn't clear that the latter "problem" has solutions.
The high tide point isn't the same every day, but the public beach line is. On a typical day there's a decent amount of public beach left even at high tide.
Yes but that would be the mean high tide of perhaps the last week. If a stormed rolled in, by your logic, the whole beach could be public property. Some states define the mean high tide as the mean over a 18.6-year period or Tidal Epoch. To my knowledge, California makes no such distinction.