Right After Torrance (RAT) Beach is the unofficial name of a short stretch of Los Angeles County unincorporated beach, officially known as Torrance County Beach, located along southern
Santa Monica Bay
Santa Monica Bay is a bight (geography), bight of the Pacific Ocean in Southern California, United States. Its boundaries are slightly ambiguous, but it is generally considered to be the part of the Pacific within an imaginary line drawn betwe ...
, contiguous to the city of
Torrance, California
Torrance is a city in the Los Angeles metropolitan area located in Los Angeles County, California, Los Angeles County, California, United States. The city is part of what is known as the South Bay (Los Angeles County), South Bay region of the m ...
and neighboring
Palos Verdes Estates
Palos Verdes Estates (''Palos Verdes'', Spanish for "Green Sticks") is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, situated on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The city was master-planned by the noted American landscape architect and ...
in
Los Angeles County
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States and in the U.S. state of California, with 9,861,224 residents estimated as of 2022. It is the ...
.
Access
RAT beach is located in a cove in between Torrance Beach and Malaga Cove.
It is usually not very crowded, due to the limited access to the beach. There are no roads to it, needing a walk either from Torrance Beach or the Palos Verdes Beach and Athletic Club. Due to its location in a cove and the presence of a large
kelp forest
Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...
just offshore, the beach collects a lot of
kelp
Kelps are large brown algae seaweeds that make up the order Laminariales. There are about 30 different genera. Despite its appearance, kelp is not a plant - it is a heterokont, a completely unrelated group of organisms.
Kelp grows in "underwat ...
on the shores and in the water.
Beach Activities
The beach is a popular local surf, windsurfing, diving and spear fishing spot. The world famous giant
kelp forest
Kelp forests are underwater areas with a high density of kelp, which covers a large part of the world's coastlines. Smaller areas of anchored kelp are called kelp beds. They are recognized as one of the most productive and dynamic ecosystems on Ea ...
just off the coast offer great diving as well as spear fishing. The uncrowded beach attracts windsurfers and surfers, although the beach's waves are not normally very big.
See also
*
Madrona Marsh
The Madrona Marsh Preserve, in the city of Torrance in the South Bay region of Southern California, is a seasonal wetland with vernal pools. The was a former site of oil wells and is one of the few natural areas remaining within an urban ...
*
Columbia Park, Torrance, California
Columbia Park (formally Columbia Regional Park) is a recreational urban regional park in the City of Torrance, located in southern Los Angeles County, California. Columbia Park provides the community with soccer fields, baseball diamonds, bo ...
*
List of beaches in California
This list of California beaches is a list of beaches that are situated along the coastline of the State of California, USA.
North to South
The beaches are listed in order from north to south, and are grouped by county. The list includes all of ...
References
{{Coord, 33, 48, 13, N, 118, 23, 41, W, region:US-CA, display=title
Beaches of Southern California
Parks in Los Angeles County, California
Geography of Torrance, California
Beaches of Los Angeles County, California