Palm Springs Surf Club neighbors allegedly furious about unchill vibe

"Since late 2023, the surf club has generated 66 noise complaints from approximately 16 individual residences in a nearby neighborhood..."

We live in a brave new surf era, one wherein the power of the ocean can be replicated in a manmade swimming pool using plows, blasts of air or rusty plungers. But who could ever forget the look on Kelly Slater’s face when his barrel rolled out of the tule fog and cow stink for that very first time? Wide-eyed and giddy. The surf future infinite and now commodifiable.

As things go with humans and our inventions, though, unexpected consequences always result and, like Pandora’s Box containing disease, sorrow, death and vice, they are impossible to reverse.

But let us go to Palm Springs, California, a paradise of warm, dry weather and aging queens. The town was once famous for housing Liberace and golf. It is now famous for its robust surf scene. The Palm Springs Surf Club which opened a few years ago quickly became a must-do attraction. Our Com Turren couldn’t stay away (read here) and the drag brunch scene flourished.

Alas, not everyone is happy.

According to a bombshell report in The Palm Springs Post, Palm Springs Surf Club neighbors, used to the quiet plunk of a golf ball or lightly tickled ivories, are very angry with the noise and are forcing a city commission to review in three short days.

Per the piece:

Since late 2023, the surf club has generated 66 noise complaints from approximately 16 individual residences in a nearby neighborhood, according to a city staff report. Code enforcement officers have cited the business six times, with four citations resulting in fines that have been paid in full.

Most complaints have come from residents along Cherry Hills Drive and Pebble Beach Drive in the Tahquitz Creek neighborhood, located about 900 feet from the facility. The complaints primarily concern noise from the its eight wave-making machines and music from special events.

Aye, aye, aye.

BeachGrit readers, long on the side of the oppressed, are considering fundraising for billboards in the neighborhood reading “Blame Kelly Slater” in order to comfort those with ringing ears.

A small token of love.