Newport Pier is the center of small tourist-oriented retail, restaurants, the Pier itself, and the Newport Beach Lifeguards headquarters. A small dory fleet compound is next to the pier. The statue is a strictly local production--artist and casting--and honors Ben Carlson, whose drowning death while performing a rescue in big surf shocked the community.

The memorial statue's location at the entry to Newport Pier is a busy pedestrian, so it's hard to miss. It's also notable that the lifeguard headquarters building, renamed after Carlson, is right there. Ben Carlson's death was widely noted in the surfing and lifeguarding communities nationwide when it happened. Newport Beach is that famous a beach town. The statue, very much a community project, was created by a Newport Beach artist and fabricated in southern California (stainless steel). It's a respectful and appropriate memorial. When I visited, for the first time, the city's huge Junior Lifeguard program was in full swing at the beach, with lots of groups of kids and clusters of their orange backpacks. The statue's swim fins, while not brand-specific, lean toward Vipers. Fins designed mainly for bodysurfers, bodyboarders, and ocean lifeguards are niche items, and I suspect that Newport Beach might be the best place anywhere to buy them in person.

So many wonderful restaurants and clean beaches.Being a pier ‘fan’ I enjoy this lovely olde wooden pier with it fantastic view of Santa Catalina Island and behind me the snow covered San Bernardino mountains.

It feels sympathetic to show reverence for a profession that means so much to California's beach life.

As we spent time enjoying the beach and all that Newport has to offer, this monument in memory and honor to a fallen hero in Ben Carlson, was a sobering reminder of the risk that all first responders undertake to keep us safe. It also reminds us to always be aware of our own safety especially when being in unfamiliar waters. JDT-Lewisville, TX.