City Council Cites Quote The Spirit Of The Thing And Also The Economic Development Potential

Bohiney Magazine | The London Prat

Long Beach Officially Declares Itself A Surf Town Despite Having Waves That Are Technically Classified As Ripples

LONG BEACH — The Long Beach City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to officially designate Long Beach as a “Premier Southern California Surf Destination,” a designation that the council acknowledged, in a footnote to the resolution, “does not reflect the current wave conditions at Long Beach beaches, which are, due to the breakwater configuration, generally insufficient for surfing in the conventional sense, but reflects the aspirational direction of the city’s coastal identity strategy.”

The resolution, championed by Mayor Pro Tem Valentina Reyes-Ogunmola as part of the city’s “Blue Economy Initiative,” authorizes the installation of surf-themed murals at twelve locations along the beachfront, the addition of surf-related programming to the city’s parks and recreation offerings, the development of a Long Beach Surf Heritage Museum dedicated to “the surfing that could occur here under different oceanographic conditions,” and the engagement of a brand strategy firm to develop “a comprehensive surf identity framework for the Long Beach coastal experience.”

“Long Beach is a beach city,” Mayor Pro Tem Reyes-Ogunmola told the council before the vote. “We are a city of the coast. We are a city that loves the ocean. The specific wave conditions we have been given by our current breakwater configuration should not define our coastal identity. We define our coastal identity.”

The Breakwater Situation

The Long Beach breakwater, constructed by the Army Corps of Engineers between 1941 and 1949, is a 2.3-mile structure that runs parallel to the Long Beach shoreline and that has, since its completion, substantially eliminated the ocean swells that would otherwise produce surfable waves at Long Beach beaches. The breakwater was built primarily for the protection of the Port of Long Beach, which is, by cargo volume, the second busiest port in the United States.

The waves that do reach Long Beach beaches after passing the breakwater are, by various surf assessment methodologies, not waves in the competitive surfing sense. They are described in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s wave modeling literature as “attenuated swell remnants” and in the surfing literature, when described at all, as “ankle-snappers” or “barely perceptible.” A 2019 study commissioned by the city itself estimated that the maximum wave height achievable at Long Beach beaches under current breakwater conditions is approximately eight inches.

This is consistent with a long pattern of cities adopting identities that reflect desired rather than existing conditions, with the aspiration serving the branding function regardless of its relationship to physical reality.

The Surf Heritage Museum

The proposed Long Beach Surf Heritage Museum is, in the council resolution’s framing, “a celebration of what Long Beach’s coast would offer if the breakwater configuration were different.” The museum’s proposed exhibits include: a recreation of the waves that existed at Long Beach before the breakwater was constructed; historical accounts of surfing activity at Long Beach in the pre-breakwater period; and what the resolution calls “an immersive wave simulation experience that will allow visitors to experience the Long Beach surf of the future, when breakwater modification may make it possible.”

The city has allocated 1.4 million dollars for initial museum development. The museum’s curator has not yet been hired. The location has not been determined. The wave simulation technology has not been specified.

Several actual surf museums, including the Surfing Heritage and Culture Center in San Clemente, were contacted for comment. None agreed to be quoted, though one representative described the Long Beach proposal as “ambitious.”

The Surf Community Reacts

The Southern California surf community’s reaction to Long Beach’s surf city declaration has been, in summary, amused. Professional surfer and Huntington Beach native Casey Torrington-Banks posted a response on social media noting that he had “attempted to surf Long Beach once, in 2016, and had stood on my board for approximately forty-five seconds in water that was, at maximum depth, at my knees.” He said he supported Long Beach’s right to aspire.

Several Long Beach residents who do surf expressed cautious support for the initiative. Longtime Long Beach resident and part-time surfer Marcus Delvecchio-Watts, who drives to El Porto or Seal Beach for his sessions, said he had “always wished Long Beach had surf” and that “the museum thing is a bit odd but if it raises awareness that the breakwater is a problem, I’m for it.”

This is consistent with a wider pattern in which civic identity initiatives around aspirational characteristics occasionally produce practical conversations about the actual conditions that prevent those characteristics from existing.

The Breakwater Question

The council resolution includes, in its final paragraph, a reference to the city’s “ongoing advocacy for breakwater reconfiguration studies,” which is the practical implication that some council members hope the surf city designation will advance. The Army Corps of Engineers has previously been approached about partial breakwater modification and has indicated the process would be “extensive, expensive, and subject to federal review timelines.”

Whether framing Long Beach as a surf city will accelerate or advance the breakwater modification conversation is, various observers note, unclear. What is clear is that the surf city designation is, in its current form, primarily a branding exercise applied to a coastline where surfing is not, at this time, meaningfully possible.

The murals will be installed along a beach where the waves are eight inches high, depicting surfers riding waves that do not exist at that location, celebrating an identity the city hopes to one day earn. This is, in its specific combination of aspiration and implausibility, a very Long Beach thing to do.

For more on California coastal identity innovation, see The Daily Mash for related British seaside town rebranding coverage.

The surf heritage museum is expected to open in approximately two years. The waves are expected to remain at approximately eight inches.

SOURCE: https://sites.google.com/view/world-satire/united-kingdom-and-satire