Dive Crews Begin Below-Water Safety Check of the Pier

Seal Beach, CA · November 13, 2026

An illustration for this edition's lead story: Dive Crews Begin Below-Water Safety Check of the Pier

Rain is tapping the windows early, giving us a soggy Friday morning before the weekend live music calendar kicks into gear.


The Lead

Specialized engineering divers are gearing up to inspect the underwater timbers of the municipal pier as part of a comprehensive $198,000 structural assessment by engineering firm GHD Inc. The review comes after late-summer ocean swells stripped cross-bracing from two exterior pilings, prompting city engineers to look well below the waterline before winter storms arrive.

While the city regularly replaces topside decking and railings, the pier’s submerged substructure has not undergone a full engineering diagnostic since 2015. Over the coming weeks, dive teams will map the integrity of hundreds of wooden support pilings, assessing timber rot, marine borer damage, and wave fatigue across both the public boardwalk and the reinforced platform at the far end.

City staff will use the resulting condition report early next year to prioritize long-term repairs and strengthen grant requests for federal coastal resilience funds.


Local Pulse

  • Council Weighs Sidewalk Scrubbing in Sweeping Agreement City Hall Lawmakers approved a two-month maintenance pact while directing staff to add downtown sidewalk power-washing to future contracts.

  • Downtown Ambassador Patrols Transition for Winter Season Safety Police officials concluded the program’s busy inaugural summer rollout, scheduling the customer-service patrols to return before next Memorial Day.

  • Los Alamitos Unified Unveils New Academic Benchmarks Schools District trustees celebrated rising state testing percentiles while introducing targeted classroom support initiatives across local elementary campuses.


Today's Outlook

  • High 69°F · Low 60°F — Rain (71% chance of precipitation)
    • Keep an umbrella handy today as wet weather and mild temperatures settle in.

What's On Around Town

Today

  • Nick Justice Bogart's Coffee House (905 Ocean Ave), 7:00 PM · Free Intimate acoustic folk and storytelling right beside the oceanfront sand.

  • 80's Night with Knyght Ryder The Gaslamp (6251 E Pacific Coast Hwy), Long Beach, 9:00 PM · Paid High-energy eighties pop covers and classic synths to welcome the weekend.

Tomorrow

  • Michael Ubaldini Bogart's Coffee House (905 Ocean Ave), 7:00 PM · Free

  • No Doubt and Sublime Tributes The Gaslamp (6251 E Pacific Coast Hwy), Long Beach, 8:00 PM · Paid

Sunday

  • Ashe Brothers Trio The Beach House (15 1st St), 2:00–5:00 PM · Free

  • Darrell Nulisch & Alex Schultz Marni's (620 Pacific Coast Hwy), 5:45 PM · $12


Spotlight & Story

  • The 13th Street Trompe-l’Œil Mural
    • Painted in 2022 by mother-daughter duo Jody Williams and Samantha Seguine at 13th Street and Seal Way, this coastal wall seamlessly extends the wooden pier around the home's corner, perfectly masking an exterior door beneath painted cresting waves and playful seals.

Seal Beach Daily Digest — compiled from local sources every morning. For breaking updates, follow your local newsrooms.

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