SEAL BEACH : Summer Brings a Wave of Graffiti

Early-morning beach-goers stumbled upon a startling sight last week: heavy doses of graffiti scrawled across a lifeguard tower and snack bar and over some large rocks that make up the San Gabriel River breakwater.

Police investigators said Monday that the graffiti is just another sign that summer has arrived at this usually quiet beachside community.

“Graffiti along the beach is a seasonal thing. We get more of it when the weather gets warm,” said Police Sgt. Dean Zanone. “I have no doubt that it’s going to get worse as summer comes and we get more people out here.”

Zanone said the June 6 incident was the worst in about a month and is part of a surge in graffiti tagging that has hit the city over the last two years.

Police have no suspects in the case, but investigators are studying photos taken of the graffiti before it was painted over in an effort to identify the vandals, Zanone said.

Residents who live around the beach expressed dismay over the rising tide of graffiti and said they are bracing themselves for the summer ahead.

“It’s very difficult for the police to keep their eyes on everyone,” said Chi Kredell, who lives and owns properties along the Seal Beach coast. “We’ve always been sheltered. We didn’t used to get” graffiti.

Kredell said that taggers occasionally hit ocean-side homes and apartments from the San Gabriel River jetty across town to Anaheim Bay.

Police believe that last weekend’s tagging incident was probably the work of teen-agers from outside the city. “Very rarely is it locals who do this,” Zanone said.