Hermosa Beach’s Barbara Guild honored by American Shore, Beach Preservation Assoc.

by Kevin Cody

Hermosa Beach resident Barbara Guild was honored by the American Shore and Beach Preservation Association (ASBPA) on Thursday, August 1, in Hermosa Beach for her work locally and in Hawaii to protecting ocean coastlines. 

ASBPA honoree Barbara Guild, of Hermosa Beach with (left to right) Hermosa Mayor Dean Francois, City Manager Suja Lowenthal, ASBPA Executive Director Nicole Elko, and Chief Deputy Director of Los Angeles County Department of Harbors and Beaches Amy Caves. Photo by Kevin Cody/Easy Reader

Guild was instrumental in the 1957 defeat of Shell Oil’s election campaign to allow offshore drilling in Hermosa’s tidelands. Five decades later, in 2015, Guild helped defeat a ballot measure that would have allowed E and B Oil to drill from the Hermosa city yard into the Hermosa tidelands.

In Maui, where she and her late husband Don spent many of their later years, she drew on her UC Berkeley engineering degree in hydraulics, to design a system to protect her beachfront Maui community from being lost to beach erosion.

The inaugural Barbara Guild Coastal Stewardship Award was presented by ASBPA Executive Director Nicole Elko. 

ASBPA is dedicated to the preservation of the nation’s shores and beaches through research, education and policy efforts. The “Barbara Guild Coastal Stewardship Award” honor individuals who have made extraordinary contributions toward these goals. For more information, visit ASBPA.org.