See ya, Summer, and, hello, Fall!
Since it was the last day of summer I decided to plan a little get together to enjoy the day with some of our friends and their kids. Let me tell you about this little spot I’ve been coming to with my parents since I was a kid. My dad used to take us here when my brother and I were real little. This was a perfect location for our family, it allowed my dad to get his fishing in, and it offered an area for my brother and I to play in the water. Not only was this the perfect spot for our family, but is was also very private since there weren’t too many people who knew about these spots.
Before all the new homes in this area, there were more secret spots, but since the real estate boom, these little gems are disappearing. For example, we used to be able to fish in between the homes that had their backyards facing the back bay, but those areas are now off limits. The location we’ve recently found is not as secluded, but it’s just as good!
We arrived around 11 am and stayed till 6 pm. The whole time we were there, we only saw one other family and they were on the other side of the beach! We pretty much had the whole area to our party so the kids were able to run around and didn’t bother other families.
Some other cool things about this location: the beach was super clean and we didn’t see much trash. It could be because there were plenty of trash cans, and they are really close to all picnic areas. The water quality seems really clean possibly due to the inlet being so close to this area. Also, when you’re ready to go home, they also have a hose which is normally used to wash off the water toys if you want to wash the sand off your stuff. It’s located about 50 yards to the left of the lifeguard tower.
Also, keep in mind that this area is really used to launch small boats, kayaks, windsurf boards, etc. so we tried to stay closer to the lifeguard tower so our kids were out of the way of the other guests and their water recreation toys. There is a designated swimming area so the traffic from those water toys didn’t bother us nor our kids.
The best way to find Alamitos Back Bay is by using the address of the Bayshore Park. Bayshore Park is located at 5415 East Ocean Blvd in Long Beach, California. Here’s an aerial view of the area. Park in the red and the picnic spot is in green.
You’ll know you’re there when you find a lifeguard tower. There’s really only one lifeguard tower in the area. You might want to know that I noticed that there were no lifeguards on duty. I’m not sure if it’s because summer was over, but in the past I don’t recall seeing a lifeguard there either when we were there in the middle of summer.
PARKING
There is both paid parking $0.25 cents for every 15 minutes, and there’s free parking on the street (E. Ocean Blvd). What I recommend is to temporarily park in the paid parking area to unload your stuff. The parking lot is super close to the sand, and the water so it won’t be too difficult to haul your stuff to the desired area.
RESTROOMS
The nearest public restroom is located at Bayshore Park. It’s your typical beach restrooms and if you’re not fan of stainless steel toilets and no doors on your stalls, I recommend taking a swim. 🙂 There’s also a private restroom located to the right of the beach area, but those are usually locked because they’re for the people who are docking their boats in that area.
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