‘Hidden’ California beach open to the public for the first time in 40 years

Access to Escondido beach was cut off in the 1980s by wealthy homeowners who craftily hindered the path to the coastline

California’s “hidden” beach will now be fully accessible to the public for the first time in 40 years, after the state approved an agreement for wealthy landowners to create a new path to the coastline.

Escondido beach, known for placid waters and golden sand, had been mostly inaccessible to the public since the 1980s, when homeowners in the area cut it off from the public. Though California law requires that land below the high tide line remain open to all, complicated legal and construction maneuvers had obscured access to the strip of coastline.