Lifeguard Towers Will Go Commercial

Commercial advertisements that now appear on lifeguard trucks, phone booths and trash cans at Los Angeles County beaches soon will adorn lifeguard towers.

County supervisors on Tuesday unanimously approved placing ads on the bottom of 3-by-4-foot chalkboards hung on the sides of 155 lifeguard towers. The boards advise the public of the times of high and low tides, sunset and temperature.

Beginning in August, the chalkboards will carry a handprint, the logo for a beachwear company. The county will get $15,000 a year from the contract with American Marketing Works Inc.

Last month, supervisors decided to allow ads on beachside phone booths. About 6,000 trash cans line county beaches, donated by a radio station. Also, lifeguard trucks display signs that say “Nissan, official car of the Los Angeles County beaches.”