Hometown Hero: Lifeguard Captain Remy Smith

Lifeguard Captain Remy Smith

SUSAN CLOKE

Mirror Columnist

July 26, 2013

Why be a lifeguard I asked LA County Lifeguard Captain Remy Smith.  “I love going to work,” he said.  “Having to be ready to perform every day and having the chance to work with so many different people.  I love that it’s proactive work.  Our goal is to stop the bad things from ever happening.  We are there to help people, to make the beach safe for everyone, and to prevent accidents, injuries and deaths.”

Remy Smith was born in Australia in 1967 and grew up in New York, Santa Barbara and Los Angeles.  “When I lived in LA I went to Area H Alternative School in Highland Park,” said Smith talking about his childhood.  “My friends and I would ride the bus to the beach on the days we weren’t playing baseball or football. 

“We usually went to Tower 26.  It was where the ‘cool kids’ hung out.  We rode boogie boards and we body surfed.”

In the 1990’s Smith went to SMC.  He’d been a baseball player but had to give it up because of a sports accident where he’d hurt his hand.  He wanted to stay in shape and he knew he could swim, even with a hurt hand.

“I joined the swim team and the water polo team,” Smith said. “I was the worst guy on the team starting out but in a couple of seasons I was the fastest in butterfly, individual medley and breast stroke.

“The team head coach was John Joseph, a legendary coach and the most winning coach in Junior College history.  Whether you were the fastest or the slowest he respected and cared about all his team members.  Stuart Blumkin, himself a star athlete, was our second coach and he and Coach Joseph made a good tag team.”

Smith said, “I had never thought about being a lifeguard but SMC has a long tradition of producing lifeguards.  Many swimming team members became lifeguards after graduating and would come back to train with the team.  The lifeguards who swam with the team inspired me to become a lifeguard.”

Being a lifeguard is a highly competitive position.  To be selected for an interview applicants must first race in a 1000 meter open water ocean swim.  Typically about 300 to 400 people participate.  The top 100 finishers are then interviewed.

Smith was 23 the first time he competed in the 1000 meter open water ocean swim and he didn’t make it.  The 54 degree water was too much for him.

In preparation for the next open water ocean swim he practiced over and over in cold water and even took ice baths to get his body accustomed to cold-water temperatures.  “For me to make it,” Smith said, “I had to put my mind in another place.”

Smith finished in the top 100 the second time he competed and secured one of the coveted interviews.  In the interview he told them, “I am a relentless person and I will really apply myself to this job.”

That got him the job and in 1991 Remy Smith became the sixth black person to be hired as a full time lifeguard.  When he was hired there were four black lifeguards and one black Section Chief, Russ Walker.

At that time there were 140 full time and 800 recurrent (part time) ocean lifeguards working for the County.  Everyone starts as a recurrent ocean lifeguard.   Before being able to become full time a lifeguard has to log 200 days of work, take a swim test and a written test, and be appraised for performance and knowledge.  Certification for lifeguards is an ongoing process and permanents continue to be tested twice yearly and recurrents once per year. 

Lifeguards are also part of the LA County Fire Department and Smith was at the Encinal Fire on June 22.  “Lifeguards help with all emergencies,” Smith said, “fires, car accidents, cliff rescues.  We do whatever is needed.”

Smith stated, “Being a lifeguard makes you grow up fast because you are responsible for people’s lives.  In the time I have been a lifeguard there have been over 1000 rescues by LA County Lifeguards at LA County Beaches.

“On one day in Zuma we made over 300 rescues.  It was 110 degrees in the Valley and over 150,000 people had come to Zuma Beach that day.

“Usually we get to people so quickly that they are more scared than hurt.  But at the end of that day at Zuma we had a boogey boarder who hit his head.   When we pulled him out of the water he wasn’t breathing and we couldn’t feel a pulse.  Thankfully we were able to bring him back.”

Smith said, “It takes special training to take care of the children we rescue.  One day a few other off-duty lifeguards and I were training on jet skis.  A 2 year-old boy had been pulled out to sea by a rip tide.  He was almost 300 yards off shore when we got to him.  We were just in time to save him.  I will never forget that rescue.”

Smith hopes to prevent accidents from happening, guarding the water and the beach.  He advises parents that, “Swimming is a life skill, everyone should learn to swim.”  He laughingly adds, “but teach them to swim in warm water because they’ll learn better when they’re comfortable.  And when you come to the beach make sure your kids know the number of the lifeguard tower where you are on the beach and teach them that lifeguards are their friends.”

Remy Smith has been on the job 22 years.  He was made a permanent hire in 1997 and promoted to Captain in 2006

“I didn’t realize it I was going to feel the way I did when I came back to Santa Monica but I felt I’d come home,” said Smith.

It was an understandable feeling given that Remy Smith’s great grandfather came to Santa Monica in 1908.  He was the Presiding Elder at Phillips Chapel on 4^th Street in Santa Monica.  Smith’s grandfather, Hilliard Lawson served on the Santa Monica City Council and his grandmother, Bernice Stout Lawson, was a well-known music teacher in Santa Monica.

Remy Smith 
photo credit Ruben Pena

For Smith home is Santa Monica and the ocean.  “Being a lifeguard is a lifestyle. Surfing is by far the most challenging way to stay in shape.  The waves are always changing.  It’s a mental and physical challenge.  When you catch a wave you’re walking on water and there’s no better feeling.  

“The most important thing to know,” Smith tells everyone, “is that the ocean is always in charge.”

Captains Of The Ship: South Beach Park Playground

Photo rendering courtesy KSA

Susan Cloke
Mirror Columnist
July 12, 2013

Have you seen the blue shade “sails” at the southern end of Santa Monica Beach and wondered what was happening? What you are looking at is the shade structure for South Beach Park, a playground specifically designed to be universally accessible to children of all physical ability levels.
The park will open this Saturday, July 13.  All are invited.  https://www.facebook.com/smbuap


The Santa Monica Disabilities Commission began a serious push to promote the idea of a universally accessible playground five years ago. They partnered with the City’s Recreation and Parks Commission, received City go-ahead, grant money was found, and the location determined.

Katie Spitz, head of the firm KSA, was chosen to be the landscape architect for South Beach Park.
“The idea of being able to work on the design of a universally accessible park has great meaning,” Spitz said.

The concept for universally accessible parks is not new.  In Los Angeles 15 parks are identified as universally accessible.  One of the LA universally accessible parks, 4th Ave. Park, was designed by Spitz and her team.

“We need to consider providing play experiences for children at all ability levels and to create opportunities for the social interaction that is a key element of play,” she said.

“We chose the theme of the boat because we could imagine children running and climbing in the boat but what is really fun is that they will bring their own inventiveness to their play on the boat. We made sure that all children, even children in wheelchairs, could get to the prow of the boat and pretend to be the captain of the ship.”

The images used by the design team came from historic precedents.  The shade sails are reminiscent of those at Pacific Ocean Park, the amusement park that used to be at the south end of Santa Monica Beach.  The boat is the focal park image. The park builds on the ocean theme with sand and water play and marine images.

Located just north of the border between Venice and Santa Monica, the blue sails and the surrounding palm trees of South Beach Park are designed to mark the entrance to Santa Monica. The image is one of fun and playfulness, of being at the beach.

Previously the 20,000 sq. ft. area had several picnic tables set in grass and a small sand play area. The existing palm trees will be incorporated into the design of the new playground.

Design work to help shape the park started in 2011 with the design team and city staff meeting with members of the Santa Monica/Malibu Unified School District PTA Special Education Committee, members of The Growing Place preschool, and residents of Sea Colony.   Public meetings on the design of the park were also held at Virginia Avenue Park and at Recreation and Parks Commission meetings.   Mostly, the meetings focused on thematic design and the choice of play equipment.

In addition to their interest in the design of the park, residents at Sea Colony were also concerned about issues of safety and traffic.  In response to their concerns the City will close the playground at night, add additional plant material along the fence, post signage saying “adults allowed only when accompanied by children,” add new signage and striping on the bike path, and a new crosswalk across the bike path.

Like all Santa Monica Parks, sustainability is a mandated goal.  The sustainable planting palette for South Beach Park includes lily-of-the-valley, quail bush, fortnight lily, wild lilac, white rosemary and trailing lantana. A fence that is 42” high will surround the park. A new path across the sand is also planned.

In designing the park KSA research helped to determine play activities that would be accessible, challenging and encourage independence.

Play equipment in the park is designed to meet specific needs of all children and to ensure that children at all ability levels can participate.   Sand tables provide face-to-face interactive play. The climbing net helps to develop motor skills, strength, coordination, and balance.  Water play areas and water toys are part of sensory play.   The theme boat stimulates imaginative play.

Parks are great places to have fun, to swing and climb and run. A park is a place where all you have to bring is your imagination.

I’m ready for this park and I’m ready to imagine the beach parking lots becoming green parks in the future.  Imagine the green of parks and playing fields next to the warm tan colors of the sand and the blues of the ocean. What an image that would be for Santa Monica.

What Say You?