I recently read an article that quoted the new manager of the Wildwood Convention Center and he stated that Wildwood had one of the last free beaches on the east coast.

Where on the coast, East, West, or Gulf, Alaska or Hawaii, do you have to pay for the beach besides New Jersey?

I'm not refering to parking fees, entrance fees to state parks or taxes but where you pay to go to the beach?

In some cases the HOTELS should have to pay Us for the beach. In the early 80s the paxpayers had to pay millions to replace the eroded beach on Miami Beach.

Long Beach, New York -- $5 to walk out on to the beach.

Long Island New York. You need to pay for almost any beach - either because it's a state park or a town beach (town residents get permits - others have to pay). Usually if you are staying in a hotel in the town they give you beach access as part of the rate - or if you rent for the summer you get a summer pass. But if you drive out for the day you have to pay in most places.

Very interesting.

My understanding is that all beaches are public state property.

How can some charge and some be free within the same state?

In Florida, all navigable waterways are public. They can't be blocked and there has to be public beach access to all beaches. There are no private beaches here, except for in sea-walled communities, and I'm not sure how they were grandfathered in as this is a very old FL law.

In Malibu, CA the homeowners "own" the beach. This is highly controversial but the owners have the political and economic clout to keep it that way.

Beach renourishment (dredging sand off-shore then pumping it onto the beach to shore up eroding waterfront) is paid for by cities who receive it, and by the feds. Beach erosion is a HUGE problem everywhere, and an expensive one to fix. One alternative is retreat -- to let the shores erode and take the buildings with them. This is an alternative that is being more and more seriously considered due to the high cost of beach renourishment, which is paid for by all taxpayers, not just those who have waterfront property.

This applies to New York - I don;t know about other states. No actually a lot of beaches are private property and the public is not allowed on them without the owners permission. You can swim past in the water but you have to stay below the low tide line or you're trepassing. (Oherwise why would all these famous people pay for multi-milllion dollar houses in the Hamptons?)

And many beaches are owned by either the country or a specific town. Sometimes only tax paying residents are allowed on these beaches - but many allow others for a fee.

Note; there are large areas of beach owned by the state - Jones Beach, Robert Moses State Park etc - but these also charge a fee per car.

TandooriGirl, By law, the state of California owns everything on the beach below the mean high tide line, and the public has an unfettered right to use the beach. It is the homeowners that are trying to keep the public out.

Producer David Geffen got a highly controversial building permit in Malibu provided he built a public beach access adjacent to his property. All was fine and dandy until he noticed tourists looking inside his house.

No, Tandoori, as Go Travel explains, houuse owners only along a narrow strip of beach west of the pier, known locally as the "colony" own down to the high water line, but not below that line, plus they own beach to either side of their homes, unless the city has labelled it open to public beach access. For practcial purposes, all of the beach in Malibu is open to the public and not controlled by anyone excpet the city. Just like Sunset Beach which you may be familiar with.

Aprilluv, you don't seem to exist on Fodors when I click on your name. Isn't that odd.

Probably just your system's thats odd, TG. It's all in the wrist, maybe you're not doing it right.