Back in the 1950’s and early 1960’s, Playa del Rey, California was known as a great surf spot.
Penny Burnstein Photography The northernmost end of Playa del Rey was coined “Toes Over Beach” (“Toes Beach” or just “Toes” for short) by local surfers, in reference to the iconic “hang ten” foot positioning.
Flickr / Justin Tarango
Penny Burnstein Photography Playa del Rey is a coastal community in the City of Los Angeles. The rolling hills were created by ancient, wind-blown, compacted sand dunes, which rose up 125 feet above sea level. The northern areas were wetlands, but the construction of a concrete channel eventually prevented natural flooding.
Penny Burnstein Photography
Penny Burnstein Photography The area was originally called Palisades del Rey, and was the last stretch of L.A. coastal land to be developed. Many of the large, beautiful homes here were owned by Hollywood actors and producers.
Wikimedia / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection The Los Angeles Pacific Railway and the Pacific Electric Company used to run a Red Line Trolley to the beach down Culver Blvd. If you ever wondered why the median on Culver Blvd is so wide, it was to accommodate the train tracks. The Red Line was constructed between 1888 and 1903 and ran along the beach from Santa Monica to Redondo Beach up until 1940.
Trolley Street and Trolley Place were likely named after the iconic Red Line.
Penny Burnstein Photography
Penny Burnstein Photography
Wikimedia / Wtstoffs These same streets bordered a small housing area south of Culver Blvd, nicknamed “The Jungle,” which was home to many of the earliest surfers, who often hit the waves right out front of their apartments.
Penny Burnstein Photography Russ Peterson, one of the lucky surfers to grow up around “The Jungle” in the early days, was a part of the group who helped to create Toes: “It was a public beach and no surfing area. But it was never posted as such, so we surfed it as much as we could. Every so often a lifeguard would make us leave.”
Penny Burnstein Photography
Penny Burnstein Photography
Penny Burnstein Photography
Penny Burnstein Photography Russ: “The dad of one of our friends, Tom Stevenson, worked for the county. Through him, we talked the county into creating a surf spot for us, next to the jetty.”
Penny Burnstein Photography One of Russ’s friends, Jerry Booth, was the one to coin the name. “He was a hot little surfer and was always getting ’toes’ at that spot. Jerry was the one who began referring to the spot as ‘Toes Over.’”
Penny Burnstein Photography
Russ, who is now nearly 70 years old, claims, “my years growing up in Playa del Rey were the absolute best years of my youth.”
Penny Burnstein Photography
The northernmost end of Playa del Rey was coined “Toes Over Beach” (“Toes Beach” or just “Toes” for short) by local surfers, in reference to the iconic “hang ten” foot positioning.
Flickr / Justin Tarango
Playa del Rey is a coastal community in the City of Los Angeles. The rolling hills were created by ancient, wind-blown, compacted sand dunes, which rose up 125 feet above sea level. The northern areas were wetlands, but the construction of a concrete channel eventually prevented natural flooding.
The area was originally called Palisades del Rey, and was the last stretch of L.A. coastal land to be developed. Many of the large, beautiful homes here were owned by Hollywood actors and producers.
Wikimedia / Los Angeles Public Library Photo Collection
The Los Angeles Pacific Railway and the Pacific Electric Company used to run a Red Line Trolley to the beach down Culver Blvd. If you ever wondered why the median on Culver Blvd is so wide, it was to accommodate the train tracks. The Red Line was constructed between 1888 and 1903 and ran along the beach from Santa Monica to Redondo Beach up until 1940.
Trolley Street and Trolley Place were likely named after the iconic Red Line.
Wikimedia / Wtstoffs
These same streets bordered a small housing area south of Culver Blvd, nicknamed “The Jungle,” which was home to many of the earliest surfers, who often hit the waves right out front of their apartments.
Russ Peterson, one of the lucky surfers to grow up around “The Jungle” in the early days, was a part of the group who helped to create Toes: “It was a public beach and no surfing area. But it was never posted as such, so we surfed it as much as we could. Every so often a lifeguard would make us leave.”
Russ: “The dad of one of our friends, Tom Stevenson, worked for the county. Through him, we talked the county into creating a surf spot for us, next to the jetty.”
One of Russ’s friends, Jerry Booth, was the one to coin the name. “He was a hot little surfer and was always getting ’toes’ at that spot. Jerry was the one who began referring to the spot as ‘Toes Over.’”
Toes Beach is located at Culver Blvd and Pacific Ave. The best public parking is near Del Rey Lagoon Park, where you can find a parking lot as well as street parking.
A special thank you to Jennifer Weissman and Russ Peterson, who shared their wonderful memories of Toes Beach, Playa del Rey, and the special history of this beautiful area!
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