Dockweiler State Beach. – Courtesy photo / Daveynin (CC BY 2.0)

Los Angeles County has announced three new openings in advance of the holiday weekend, allowing increased outdoor and retail activities for residents. Beach bike paths are now open, indoor malls can open for curbside service, and car parades will be allowed.

Beach Bike Paths and Parking Lots

The opening of bike paths follows the May 13 announcement that County beaches would be available for active recreation. Allowable recreation activities now include swimming, surfing, running, walking, skating, and biking. Beach bathrooms remain open, and beach parking lots at Dockweiler State Beach, Will Rogers State Beach, Zuma Beach, and Surfrider Beach will be open at partial capacity. Santa Monica lots are closed, as are most public beach lots in coastal communities.

Safety protocols and additional information about beach visits include:

• Bring your own mask. Everyone needs a face covering while out of the water if there are other people nearby. Infants and children under the age of 2 should not wear cloth face coverings.
• Practice physical distancing. Stay at least 6 feet away from other people who are not in your household. Avoid crowded areas or crowding around others at the beach.
• Gatherings of any size or other events are not allowed on the beaches including athletic competitions, youth camps, or recreational programming.
• Chairs, umbrellas, canopies, coolers, and grills are not allowed.
• Piers, volleyball courts, and boardwalks are closed except for the purpose of customers accessing retailers’ curbside and doorside and essential businesses along the boardwalk.
• Concessions and food vending are not allowed. Bring what you may need with you.

More information on LA County beaches and parking lots can be found at beaches.lacounty.gov.

Indoor Shopping Malls

The County will also open indoor shopping malls for curbside service. Retail establishments and their customers must practice social distancing and wear face coverings, and the businesses must also be in compliance with the conditions laid out in this checklist for retail establishments opening for curbside pickup. It is recommended that shopping malls create clearly-marked curbside or outside pickup points that maintain physical distance with visual cues or other measures, and have purchased goods available there or available through home delivery. Retailers located within a mall may take orders and deliver goods to the public outside of the mall from these marked locations.

Car Parades

Car parades are now allowed so that graduations, birthdays and other special days and achievements can be safely celebrated. Car parades cannot include participants on a bicycle, a motorcycle, a convertible with the top open, or a vehicle with no doors such as a golf cart. If any of the windows on a vehicle is open, the occupants of the vehicle must wear a face covering.

Any organization coordinating a large-scale parade must have a designated organizational host who is responsible for ensuring compliance with the rules for the parade and adherence to the State’s Stay At Home Order that precludes gatherings. Only those personnel of the organization necessary to facilitate the parade and to ensure compliance can be present at the location designated by the host.

The host must:

• At its own cost, arrange for and provide security sufficient to ensure compliance with the State’s Order and address any traffic and safety issues.
• Develop a parade plan that deals with State’s Order, traffic and safety issues, parade participants, and social distancing requirements.
• Ensure participants and personnel adhere to the face covering and physical distancing requirements.
• The host may provide a significant document to one vehicle parade participant at a time, such as a diploma or other paper, while adhering to face covering and social distancing requirements.

The parade must:

• Take place in an outside location large enough to accommodate the social distancing requirements.
• Proceed by the host’s invitation only, with the parade limit of vehicles tied to the capacity size of the location.
• Not allow sales or exchanges of any items or food.

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