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Heal the Bay Blog

Category: Locations

Thanks to Our S.T.E.A.M. Supporters

11.20.2014 |

Santa Monica

Last Saturday our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium hosted S.T.E.A.M. Machines on the Pier—a day of fun and tinkering, art and innovation—all anchored by a Rube Goldberg machine contest. Thanks so much to our presenting sponsor, Time Warner Cable’s Connect A Million Minds Initiative, along with sponsor Bricks 4 Kidz. Thanks too to the Santa Monica Pier Corporation for their partnership in presenting this second annual event.

Congratulations to all the teams that participated in the Rube Goldberg machine contest: Santiago Canyon College; Cal Poly Pomona; Ánimo Venice Charter High School; Malibu High School; King Drew Magnet; Santa Monica High School; and Canyon High School.  Kudos to the four judges who donated their time and expertise to judge and offer feedback to the teams, including: designer Hector Alvarez; Adam Lichtl, director of research for Space Exploration Technologies; artist Brett Doar; and Betty Fekete of Time Warner Cable.

Thanks also to the vendors who spent the day demonstrating their amazing devices and giving visitors the opportunity to create, tinker and build: Dr. Sharp’s Steampunk Gear; Exploratory; iFly; Pacific Park; Peddler’s Creamery; reDiscover Center; Santa Monica High’s Team Marine; STEM Center USA; Steve Craig; ToyBuilder Labs; Trash 4 Teaching; TreePeople; and Vocademy the Makerspace.

And a special shout out to DJ Agent Blak, for keeping the stage lively and lyrical, along with Aquarium volunteer Jaclyn Friedlander and her team for building their own Rube Goldberg Machine to deliver a clean water message—and for demonstrating the contraption throughout the day. Check out the making of Friedlander’s machine!

Time Warner CableConnect a Million Minds Time Warner Cable

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S.T.E.A.M. Machine Madness at the Aquarium

11.12.2014 |

EventsSanta Monica

Nov, 13, 2014 — Jaclyn Friedlander saw the email inviting Santa Monica Pier Aquarium volunteers to build a Rube Goldberg Machine for this Saturday’s S.T.E.A.M. Machines event on the Pier and took the challenge to her most creative and handy friends.

“We had two objectives,” Jaclyn explains, “to incorporate as much of Heal the Bay’s message as we could and build a machine that works. The second part of that is actually not as easy as it looks when it comes to building a Rube Goldberg Machine.”

A Rube Goldberg machine is “an overly complex contraption, designed with humor and a narrative, to accomplish a simple task,” according to the national competition’s official website. Teams of high school and college students will compete beginning at 11:30 a.m.  Saturday marks the second annual regional Rube Goldberg contest, which will showcase machines that erase a chalkboard in a unique fashion.

The free event is hosted by Heal the Bay along with the Santa Monica Pier Corp. and presenting sponsor Time Warner Cable’s Connect a Million Minds initiative.

Friedlander’s creation won’t be entered in the contest, but will add to the multitude of fun and innovative activities – from bicycle-powered ice cream to 3-D printing, to opportunities for all to build, draw, paint and create. The event takes place 11:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on the east end of the Pier. The theme will continue at the Aquarium, where visitors can pilot an underwater ROV, capturing marine samples with mechanical claws.

Friedlander calls the process of building a Rube Goldberg machine one of “creative trial and error with major contributions from everyone.” The six-member team did include one person with an engineering degree who creates video games for a living (Jason Wishnov) and a second, Timothy Ries, who Friedlander credits with using his construction skills to create the base of the machine.

After about eight hours in the planning phase, the team — which also included Trisha Hershberger, Justin Langley, and Nate (goes by his first name only  ) — spent a couple of hours to collect the necessary materials and another 14 hours building. So their baby is definitely a 24-hour labor of love. Built at YouTube’s studio in Los Angeles, the group created a time-lapse video as well, which will be available on Hershberger’s YouTube channel any day now.

When watching the machine in action, notice how a shell became a key component to a crucial step. But the true secret ingredient? Lots of duct tape. 

Time Warner Cable

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Thank You Thursday 11-6-14

11.06.2014 |

California SharksSanta Monica

A huge thank you to Adventure Voyaging for including Heal the Bay in last month’s Catalina Cruisers Weekend – two days full of fun at Two Harbors. Additional thanks go out to Peter Ellis and friends who served up the famous “Buffalo Milk” beverages at Saturday night’s party, donating every drop these sailors drank back to clean water. These may have been some of the most delicious dollars we’ve received recently!

When a swimmer was bitten in July by a white shark struggling to be free of an angler’s hook next to the Manhattan Beach Pier, the city banned fishing from the pier to protect public safety. The ban was lifted at the end of the summer, but the unfortunate incident prompted coastal communities with piers throughout L.A. County to consider similar bans. As an alternative, Heal the Bay recommended the establishment of a pier and sport angler educational program, where on-the-pier ambassadors educate the fishing public about local sharks and marine life and how to avoid catching these sharks.

The cities of Santa Monica, Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach along with L.A. County embraced the shark ambassador program, and all have contributed to support it. Kudos to these partners, who are helping us educate anglers on the important role sharks play in the ecosystem.

Corporate Healers play an integral role in cleaning our beaches while encouraging stewardship among their employees – not to mention providing their workers with a day at the beach. Thanks to Wells Fargo and Macerich for joining the program.

Students from low-income schools will have the opportunity to visit our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium for field trips thanks to the support of the UPS Foundation. Thanks so much for sponsoring youth education.  

And last but not least, happy 5th anniversary to the The Grilled Cheese Truck – and thanks to this traveliing wagon of cheesy goodness for donating proceeds from its celebration to Heal the Bay.

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Thank You Thursday 10-30-14

10.29.2014 |

Heal the Bay AquariumSanta Monica

The Frightfully “Fintastic” Fishy Fest held last weekend at our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium lived up to its name. The marine center was packed with all sorts of witches, ghosts and ghouls. It was a monstrously successful event and we have some neighbors and friends to thank who contributed to the fun.

  • The Girl Scouts of Troop 12815 brought reusable trick-or-treat bags they created from recycled tee shirts. The girls gave the bags out to our guests for decorating, while sharing ocean pollution education.
  • Parade partners Rusty’s Surf Ranch, The Albright, Bubba Gump and Pacific Park all provided treats for our parade of goblins. And a special shout-out to our honorary grand marshal, Treeman of Venice, who put all his passion for the natural world – and his considerable height – into leading the parade. Thanks also to filmmaker Michael Angelo for documenting the procession and post-parade festivities at the Aquarium. It was a “tree-mendous” weekend!

And last but not least, we thank Bob Shanman of Wild Birds Unlimited in Torrance, who is a true believer in getting kids outside and experiencing the natural world. For years, he has worked with our Key to the Sea and Key to the Watershed programs, providing binoculars at cost (or below cost) for our programs and servicing them every year free of charge.

What a treat!  

Halloween parade at Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

Halloween parade at Santa Monica Pier Aquarium

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Halloween: Come Play Dress Up at the Aquarium!

10.13.2014 |

Heal the Bay AquariumSanta Monica

Our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium always loves dressing up for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos. There’s the colorful papel picado hanging from the rafters, mini pumpkins decorating the tanks and spooky enhancements all around. Volunteers and visitors are encouraged to celebrate the season by arriving in spooky gear the last weekend in October for the Aquarium’s Fishy Fest.

For those who need a little help putting a costume together, both inspiration and materials will be available.The Aquarium is partnering with Santa Monica’s Resource Recovery and Recycling division to offer gently used goblin garb to visitors.  Anyone who drops off a costume with the library by Oct. 15 gets a coupon to pick out a costume at the Fairview Branch of the public library Saturday, Oct. 18. Costume swappers also receive a coupon for $1 off admission to our festivities.   

The leftover outfits from the costume swap are being donated to the Aquarium and will be available for anyone to use for the parade, stepping off in front of the marine science center at 3 p.m. Oct. 26. The trick-or-treat procession will make stops at neighboring Pier businesse. What a sweet deal for all the little monsters in your life!   

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Thank You Thursday 10-16-14

10.09.2014 |

Marine Protected AreasSanta Monica

Taking the time out to clean the beach is one of the most direct ways anyone can contribute to a healthy ocean. When businesses bring their employees together for a cleanup through Heal the Bay’s Corporate Healers program, they make an important statement about community responsibility and individual stewardship of the marine environment. We thank the following companies for becoming corporate healers this week: DIRECTV, Equity Residential and The Shore Hotel.

The Carrington family – Lisa, Russ, Alexa and Amber – this week hosted an evening at the California Yacht Club, giving Heal the Bay board members, staff and fellow supporters an opportunity to mix and mingle with water enthusiasts in the Marina and to chat about Marine Protected Areas in the Bay. Thanks to the Carringtons, Cal Yacht Club manager Michelle Underwood, and Coleen Cavan, the club’s catering manager, for providing Heal the Bay this opportunity to share news on the success of these zones. And thanks also to Golden Road Brewery for delivering a delicious beverage to accompany the delicious food, all with a stunning sunset backdrop. 

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Royal Flush: The Aquarium's Brand New Loos

10.07.2014 |

Heal the Bay AquariumSanta Monica

A ribbon-cutting ceremony to commemorate remodeled restrooms may not sound newsworthy at first glance. But when the remodeled bathrooms are in Heal the Bay’s Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, and the remodelers did all the work for free – well, that’s something to celebrate.

The dream team from One Week Bath will be lauded and the gleaming new restorooms will begin active duty this Sunday, October 12th, at 1pm. In addition to a ribbon-cutting, a presentation on water as a resource will follow in the Dorothy Green Room at 1:30 p.m.

Matt Plaskoff, a native of the area and the owner of One Week Bath, wanted to make a donation that would have a big impact to mark his company’s 2,000th bathroom redo. “When we learned that the public restrooms of the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium needed help, we knew we found a great recipient.”

“I grew up in the area,” Plaskoff continued. “I went to Santa Monica High School, Santa Monica College, raised my kids on the Bay, and I surf – the health of the Santa Monica Bay is something I am very passionate about. Knowing that these bathrooms are going to serve millions of kids that come to the Aquarium to learn about marine biology makes this one of the most meaningful projects in my career.”

Thank you Matt and One Week Bath!

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Thank You Thursday 9-25-14

09.25.2014 |

Santa Monica

Wow, what a week! The list of organizations and businesses to thank is massive. But first, some massive numbers to illustrate how we couldn’t have pulled it off without you.

  • Coastal Cleanup Day (Sept. 20th) brought out 11,155 volunteers picking up 30,480 pounds of trash at 49 locations around L.A. County stretching over nearly 43 miles!
  • Coastal Cleanup Education Day (Sep. 17th) brought 700 children from 10 schools in underserved communities to the beach to play marine conservation-themed games, clean the beach (filling our nine-foot “butt-o-meter” to the brim with nasty cigarette butts) and to tour our Santa Monica Pier Aquarium.

Thanks so much to our South Bay aquaria partners SEA Lab and Cabrillo Aquarium, and to Mattel, Inc.’s volunteers. All helped wrangle – and educate – those 700 kids on Coastal Cleanup Education Day.

Toyota was a Patron Sponsor of Coastal Cleanup Day and Rubio’s donated meal cards for volunteers at all 49 cleanup sites. Picking up trash was accomplished with a minimum of plastic bags, thanks to Simplehuman’s donation of thousands of reusable buckets made of recycled trash. Rusty’s Surf Ranch quenched everyone’s thirst from the Santa Monica Pier site, providing a free beer to everyone 21 and over who cleaned the beach, along with discount lunch tickets. And a shout out to Scott Hubbell and Anheuser Busch for their part in sponsoring the partnership with Rusty’s as well.

 We’re also so grateful to Union Bank, Ralphs/Food4Less, The Vons Foundation, Kaiser Permanente and Darden, who contributed to the success of Coastal Cleanup Day, 2014.

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Hello, Sailor! Velella Velella Jellies Hit the Bay

08.18.2014 |

NewsSanta Monica

Santa Monica Pier Aquarium Programs Manager, Tara Crow, explains the arrival of the alien-looking Velella velella, commonly known as by-the-wind-sailors.

The velellas have returned! We knew they were coming. We’d heard reports of them washing ashore in San Francisco last month, then reports of them hitting some of the southern beaches in the Bay last week. Finally, this weekend, the velellas arrived at the Santa Monica Pier. I’ve been with the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium since 1999 and this is only the third time I can remember seeing velellas on our beaches, so it is definitely a rare sight to be enjoyed and taken advantage of.

Velella velella, also know as “by-the-wind sailors,” are a type of colonial jelly related to the Portuguese man-of-war. Luckily for us, the velella pack a much tinier sting and won’t hurt to touch (just be careful not to touch your eyes after handling them). Each velella is actually a colony of tiny hydroids working together to create one whole organism. The base of the velella is an amazing cobalt blue and works as a float with stingers across the bottom to catch its plankton food. The top of the velella is a clear sail that looks almost like plastic. The sails catch the wind and takes these organisms all over the world. When the winds and currents move in our direction, we can end up with an event like we’re seeing now, with millions of velellas washing up on beaches all over the state — and as far north as Oregon. The fact that velellas are showing up now is probably an indicator of the El Niño event that is expected later this year.

Velella

Come on down to the beach (and the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium!) and take a peek before they are gone! And keep your eyes on the water: You never know what strange and interesting creatures will wash ashore during these El Niño years. Now… How many times can you say “Velella velella” before your tongue gets tied into knots?

By-The-Wind-Sailor

You can learn more about velellas and over 100 other creatures native to the Bay at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium, Heal the Bay’s public marine education center at the world-famous Santa Monica Pier. Located at beach level, it’s just below the Carousel.

REGULAR OPEN HOURS

  • Tues. – Fri.: 2 – 6 p.m.
  • Sat. – Sun.: 12:30 – 6 p.m.
  • Closed to the public on Mondays
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Thank You Thursday 7-10-14

07.10.2014 |

Santa Monica

Everyone needs a little structural work done after a hundred years or so, and we are so grateful that John S. Meek Company, Inc. was here to give the Santa Monica Pier a thorough nip ‘n tuck. The skilled folks at Meek also used their expertise to keep the water flowing to our tanks at the Santa Monica Pier Aquarium during the 14-month project and ultimately helped relocate the Aquarium’s pumping station to a new and improved location at the west end of the Pier. Meek’s crew was amazing to work with, and coupled with support from the city of Santa Monica’s engineering department and the Office of Pier Management, the Aquarium’s animals continued to thrive throughout the project. 

Kudos to Grammy Award-nominated musician, surfer and environmental champion Jack Johnson for helping us fight Big Oil in Hermosa Beach. Through his Johnson Ohana Charitable Foundation, Jack has agreed to match donations we receive to preserve Hermosa Beach’s moratorium on oil drilling. E&B Natural Resources has launched a campaign to authorize a slant drilling operation in the middle of Hermosa Beach that includes the establishment of 30 oil wells to extract up to 8,000 barrels of oil each day from beneath the ocean floor. We are so grateful to Jack for helping us fight the proposal to allow drilling in the South Bay.

Heal the Bay’s Key to the Sea program teaches elementary school students and their teachers about the hazards of oil spills and other environmental dangers to marine life. Special thanks to Santa Monica Seafood for renewing their support of this important program!

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