The coolest L.A. beach trend of 2024 and how it has helped me and so many others

Good morning. It’s Wednesday, Sept. 4. Here’s what you need to know to start your day.

• Why “beach mats” are the most important summer beach trend of 2024.
• UC and CSU are wary over legislation allowing them to hire undocumented students.
• Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and director Coralie Fargeat on the fall’s most shocking movie.
• And here’s today’s e-newspaper.

The coolest L.A. beach trend of 2024? Accessibility and empathy

Vogue proclaimed colorful crochet swim suits and jelly sandals among the hot beach trends of 2024.

But as I cruise on my electric bike down the coastal trails this summer, something else catches my eye. It is blue, rubber and revolutionizing beach access.

“Beach mats” started rolling out more than a decade ago, creating paths along the sand that come tantalizingly close to the water’s edge. They are used by people in wheelchairs, parents pushing baby strollers and others who just feel more secure navigating on rubber than on sand. Some communities are also offering special beach wheelchairs with oversized tires that allow mobility-impaired visitors to enjoy the waves without fear of getting stuck in the sand.

When Californians talk about beach access, it’s often in the context of billionaires trying to block us regular folks from enjoying public spaces next to their fancy compounds.

But there is a different type of inaccessibility, one that is both physical and emotional.

A walkway leads onto Treasure Island Beach.

(Jacqueline Pinedo / Los Angeles Times)

It’s a paralysis triggered by two related sources of doubt: Can I get there? Do I belong there?

It’s about real physical limitations — can I make it up Runyon Canyon without passing out, or survive the mile walk to see a show at the Hollywood Bowl? But then there are the hurdles your mind creates. I’m not in good enough shape to hike anywhere. The Hollywood Bowl is completely off limits to me.

I’ve struggled with these questions for decades. I’ve always been overweight. I am now about 345 pounds but was once much bigger. For much of my adult life, it cut me off from many of L.A.’s best things, and isolated me from others. There were no Dodger games. No hikes through Griffith Park. No beach bonfires. No daylong marches through Disneyland. I always wanted to attend the Los Angeles Times Festival of Books, but for years I was too intimidated.

L.A.’s flawed origin story of physical superiority

More than most cities, Los Angeles has always seemed to put a premium on Hollywood good looks and physical superiority.

But historian Paul Haddad reminds us that the city’s preening self-image belies its origin story. Yes, men of brawn and guts were considered the ideal Angelenos back in the 1880s. But in truth, “many of those who stepped off the train were, well, invalids,” he wrote in his history of early Los Angeles, “Inventing Paradise.”

“The sunny Southland had become a prescription for whatever ailed you, be it arthritis, exhaustion, senility, or just a general sense of the blahs.” Luring the frail was good business, and The Times promoted Southern California as a “mecca for sick pilgrims.” In fact, some of L.A.’s most influential pioneers — Harry Chandler, Moses Sherman, Charles Fletcher Lummis — arrived here in ill health, hoping the warm climate and clean air would heal them. Los Angeles did not provide the cure, Haddad writes, but it created the environment for them to dream, scheme and often cheat their ways to riches.

Los Angeles gave them a chance, and they went with it.

Many of our founding fathers worked to create a city that enriched elites and robbed everyone else of opportunities. But what’s remarkable about L.A. history is how often individuals banded together to push past those barriers and advance anyway.

The rise of the beach mats is a continuation of L.A.’s best tradition, in the same way that rich people trying to block off public beaches represent the worst.

Don’t take it for granted

When Long Beach opened its first beach mat a couple of years ago, resident Jennifer Kumiyama arrived for the unveiling in her wheelchair. The Long Beach Post asked her about the experience and she declared it liberating.

“Having access to the healing properties of the beach is something that some people take for granted,” Kumiyama said.

I did not set foot on the beach for decades, my mind telling me that it would be too hard and that I didn’t belong. My pandemic purchase of an e-bike got me onto the concrete trail but never onto the sand or surf.

Recently, I was pedaling down Dockweiler State Beach and saw the blue rubber cutting an enticing path along the sand, which was glowing in the sunset. Why not? So I dismounted and made my way down the pad, which ended a few yards from the crashing waves.

A beach access mat at Dockweiler State Beach. These mats are made of a synthetic mesh that provides a firmer surface for those who need it to cross the sand, such as people who use wheelchairs or other mobility aids.

(Shelby Grad / Los Angeles Times)

I’d not been this close to the water since I was a teenager, and I was hit by the long-lost sensation of salt water and seaweed. For the walk back, I got off the blue magic carpet and ventured onto the sand. It was a bit tricky, but far less treacherous than I expected, even without those $125 jelly sandals.

Today’s top stories

Supporters of undocumented students rally and march at UCLA outside a meeting of the UC Board of Regents.

(Jay L. Clendenin/Los Angeles Times)

UC and CSU are wary over legislation allowing them to hire undocumented students

• State legislation directing the UC and CSU systems to hire students without work permits may violate federal law and has put Gov. Gavin Newsom in a tough spot.
• Meanwhile, another bill awaiting approval from Newsom would require vehicles to include a warning system to alert drivers anytime they went more than 10 miles over the speed limit.

The hottest temperatures of the summer are coming to Southern California this week

• A broiling heat wave could see temperatures reach as high as 115 degrees in the San Fernando Valley while downtown Los Angeles is forecast to see temperatures in the mid- to high 90s.
• Oppressive heat can increase the risk of heat-related illnesses. Here are some tips to stay safe.

The Mexican Mafia Tapes: Secret recordings reveal greed, betrayal — and a deal with the feds

• Ralph Rocha made secret tapes documenting his tenure as an informant. Were they an insurance policy? A way to blow off steam? An early stab at a screenplay?
• Are Mexican drug cartels as powerful as people think? Academic Oswaldo Zavala argues they could not exist without state support.

The NFL regular season prepares to kick off

• Jim Harbaugh might sound quirky, but his Chargers are getting the message ahead of Sunday’s season opener.
• If the Rams make a Super Bowl push, wouldn’t the always-in-shape Aaron Donald want to come out of retirement to win another championship?
• USC’s win over LSU showcased how much the Trojans have improved on defense under coordinator D’Anton Lynn, who has rejuvenated the once-beleaguered unit.

More big stories

• The Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department considers demoting a whistleblower for spreading “gossip.”
• Live-fire military exercises are suspected of causing a wildfire on San Clemente Island, which is owned by the U.S. Navy.
• A mountain lion attacked and injured a 5-year-old child in Malibu Creek State Park.
• The Polaris Dawn mission that will feature the first civilian space walk is set for Friday.
• Kim Kardashian visited a camp in the mountains of Northern California where incarcerated men serve as firefighters.
• A Disney-obsessed couple lost their lawsuit to get back into the exclusive Club 33.

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Commentary and opinions

• Trump and Vance are dead wrong — economists unanimously agree that U.S. tariffs are a tax on American consumers, Michael Hiltzik writes.
• Don’t make students state their pronouns on the first day of class, Darren Rosenblum writes.
• Here’s how students can address their backgrounds on college applications, even without affirmative action, Sara Harberson writes.
• Trump keeps talking about bacon prices, but he’s not making the point he intends, LZ Granderson argues.
• Actors and writers celebrated last year’s labor victory. Now the cheering seems premature, Brian Lowry argues.
• Melissa Wall wrote postcards to strangers, urging them to vote. But she wondered:Who were these people shirking their civic duty?
  

Today’s great read

(Courtesy Shawn Amos)

Wally Amos launched and lost a cookie empire. His family reveals the trailblazer’s baking secrets. How did Famous Amos cookies become a ’70s luxury status symbol on par with caviar (said Vogue)?

How can we make this newsletter more useful? Send comments to essentialcalifornia@latimes.com.

For your downtime

“The Substance” director Coralie Fargeat, left, with stars Demi Moore, center, and Margaret Qualley.

(Jennifer McCord / For The Times)

Going out

• 🎥 Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley and director Coralie Fargeat discuss this fall’s most shocking movie, “The Substance,” a darkly surreal fantasia about Hollywood misogyny.
• 🎤 Mexican singer-songwriter Natalia Lafourcade, one of the most revered and celebrated artists from Latin America, will be performing two shows at the Hollywood Bowl this week.
• ⚔️ Fans of Dungeons & Dragons can live out their dreams at this downtown bar.
• 🎢 Here’s why Disneyland’s Star Wars: Rise of the Resistance is one of the best amusement park rides in Southern California.

Staying in

• 📺 Here’s what to know about the Disney and ESPN blackout on DirecTV.
• 🎒 “English Teacher,” starring series creator Brian Jordan Alvarez, makes the grade with a sweet, funny look at high school teachers in Austin, Texas.
• 🕵🏼‍♂️ Viewers — and Emmy voters — are finally catching up with “Slow Horses,” which begins its fourth season today on Apple TV+.
• 🧑‍🍳 Here’s a recipe for fresh raspberry pie.
• ✏️ Get our free daily crossword puzzle, sudoku, word search and arcade games.

And finally ... a great photo

Show us your favorite place in California! We’re running low on submissions. Send us photos that scream California and we may feature them in an edition of Essential California.

Today’s great photo is from Kathleen Powers of Glendale: Carmel Bay, located near the fairytale-like Carmel-by-the-Sea.

Kathleen writes: “While much of our California coastline is obstructed by homes built shoulder to shoulder, Carmel Bay offers spectacular views and full access to all.”

Have a great day, from the Essential California team

Ryan Fonseca, reporter
Defne Karabatur, fellow
Andrew J. Campa, Sunday reporter
Hunter Clauss, multiplatform editor
Christian Orozco, assistant editor
Stephanie Chavez, deputy metro editor
Karim Doumar, head of newsletters

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