by The Editors on November 29, 2016
The Palos Verdes Estates, California surf gang known as the Bay Boys will be short one club house this week after AMPCO Contracting Inc. was paid $61,511 to tear it down, according to a story in the LA Times. Workers reportedly used a helicopter to airlift jackhammers and other equipment used to remove the structure. It should be a thing of the past by Friday December 2, 2016.
The Bay Boys began building the so-called “fort” 30 years ago, on the rugged shoreline of Rocky Point, at one of Southern California’s best and most notorious surf spots. They cemented in stone retaining walls and a patio with a stone table, fire pit, rock bench and wood canopy. An adjacent seating area contains a wooden bench covered by a wood frame with palm fronds.
Even without the fort, it seems doubtful that the Boys will be any more welcoming to visiting surfers, but it’s a symbolic step in the right direction.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on September 21, 2016
The Lunada Bay Boys are going to be down one clubhouse on the point after the Palos Verdes Estates Planning Commission voted unanimously last night (September 20, 2016) to tear the fort down, according to story in the LA Times.
. . . the structure [was] used by the notorious Bay Boys, a self-appointed gang of enforcers who people from outside the upscale community have, for decades, accused of using violence and intimidation to keep them away from the famous surf spot. . . The commission approved the motion unanimously and without comment. No one from the public spoke on the matter.
Guess the men will have to move their weekly surf protection meetings to one of their parents’ rec rooms.
[Link: LA Times]
by The Editors on March 30, 2016
The Palos Verdes Estates, California men (known as the “Bay Boys“), who have been “protecting” their Lunada Bay surf spot for years by harassing outsiders, vandalizing cars, and threatening violence, are in the process of getting sued. The plaintiffs have even included Palos Verdes Estates Police Chief Jeff Kepley in the lawsuit, according to a post on CurbedLA.
In spite of new Palos Verdes Estates Police Chief Jeff Kepley’s promises to crack down on the Bay Boys, the suit alleges that the harassment of outsiders has continued under Kepley’s watch and names him as a defendant, along with the city of Palos Verdes Estates. “Defendant Kepley has failed to enforce the State’s laws when it comes to crimes committed… against visiting beachgoers,” the suit claims. . . The suit goes on to accuse the city of Palos Verdes Estates of tolerating and even indirectly encouraging the Bay Boys’ exclusive practices. It states that the city “considers non-residents ‘riffraff'” and that through “complicit approval and deliberate indifference” to the behavior of the surfers, the city denies visitors access to publicly owned land.
Will be interesting to see how this one goes in court. As they say, “There’s no law against being an asshole.”
[Link: CurbedLA]
