Brooks Street Beach

What it’s like

Brooks Street Beach is a rock reef surf break about 0.8 mile south of Main Beach in a straight line. The city’s beach page calls it a surfing-only beach during summer, not one for swimming or body boarding. Its beach list marks it as a surfing area and a skimboarding area.

The city describes the wave. A good south swell can generate long lefts that begin breaking far out at Second Reef. The entire bottom is rocky reef, with rock exposed at low tide, and the city says to use extreme caution entering and leaving the water at Brooks. The city’s beach information page also names Brooks as one of four beaches where surfing is allowed, along with Agate Street, Rockpile and Thalia Street.

The beach gives its name to a contest. The Brooks Street Surfing Classic is an annual event, administered by the city’s Community Services Department. It runs on a different weekend each year, set by when the forecast shows optimal surf. Only Laguna Beach residents can enter. It has age divisions and separate shortboard, longboard, paddleboard and bodyboard events.

Getting there and parking

The access is a staircase at the end of Brooks Street, near where the street meets Ocean Front. The city rebuilt it in the decade before 2018; its 2008 plan for the work put a new overlook and bench area at the top of the stairs. OpenStreetMap maps the stairs at the end of the street, and the Coastal Commission lists stairs at most street ends from Anita Street to Pearl Street. Oak Street has the next stairway about 330 feet north, and Cress Street has the next one about 450 feet south.

There is no beach lot. The Coastal Commission lists street parking and no fee for the stretch. Expect a mix, based on the city’s description: three-hour meters in some areas and very limited neighborhood parking in others. The city’s parking page lists enforcement from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m., but its lot list gives 8 a.m. to 7 p.m. for the off-season through June 2027, so check the meter. The parking guide covers permits and the summer lots, and the getting around guide covers the free Coastal Route trolley on Coast Highway.

The city’s beach list shows outdoor showers at Brooks. The Coastal Commission lists no restrooms. The city’s three picks for restrooms are Main Beach, Treasure Island Beach and Crescent Bay Beach.

Rules and safety

Brooks falls inside the Laguna Beach State Marine Reserve, which runs from Abalone Point south to Goff Island. State rules bar anyone, surfers included, from injuring, damaging, taking or possessing living, geological or cultural material, and fishing is not allowed.

The city’s page points to the rock reef and the low-tide rock exposure. The city’s advice for every beach is to swim near a lifeguard and with a buddy, and it says lifeguards are not at every beach all the time.

The city lets leashed dogs on the sand all year, except that from June 15 to September 10 the window is before 9 a.m. and after 6 p.m.

Good to know

Beaches are closed from 1 a.m. to 5 a.m. Alcohol is banned on city beaches for everyone, including adults 21 and over, along with smoking and fires.

The Village page covers the housing and figures nearest this beach. The beaches on either side are Oak Street and Cress Street.