Will Wednesday, Jan. 1, be a good beach day?
You can count on it.
Temperatures may only be in the low- to mid-60s, but hundreds of folks wouldn’t think of skipping the chilly Polar Bear ocean plunge at noon on the first day of the year at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro.
And nature is sure to provide some sweet surprises to make the shivers worth one’s while.
“The sun was out this morning,” Cabrillo Beach Polar Bear Boosters President Annie Donahue said after a Monday, Dec. 30, swim, “and a pod of dolphins were out there as well.”
The brisk winter tradition draws between 600 and 800 participants each year, from toddlers and their parents to nonagenarians — as well as throngs of well-wishers and spectators who cheer them on.
Cabrillo Beach Polar Bear Boosters will host the New Year’s Day swim at Cabrillo Beach in San Pedro at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1, 2025. Polar Bear Queen Stella Hernandez and King Robert Keller are shown at this year’s holiday parade in downtown San Pedro. (Photo Courtesy Cabrillo Beach Polar Bears)“Last year,” Donahue said, “(the crowds) stretched all way down beach; there had to be close to 2,000 (people.”
Special prizes will be handed out to participants who are the youngest and oldest, and who have come the farthest (a visiting New Zealand resident took that honor one year).
This year’s presiding Polar Bear King and Queen are Robert Keller and Stella Hernandez.
An airline pilot, Keller is a lifelong San Pedro resident — “with the exception of a year in Seattle and a year in New York,” he said.
He and his wife, Sydney Keller, have two children and enjoy traveling to Europe, Hawaii and Japan.
“My job allows me to travel frequently since I am a captain on the Airbus A320 for American Airlines at LAX,” he said. “I tried hard to persuade the chief pilot and other colleagues to swim on new year’s, but they say it’s too cold.”
Keller also enjoys surfing, skiing and riding mountain bikes, along with walks and playing fetch with the couple’s two German shepherds, growing native plants and listening to audiobooks. His wife is a vegetable gardener.
Hernandez, meanwhile, is the youngest of four and grew up in West Long Beach. But Hernandez also had family in San Pedro and she moved across the harbor in 2022. She joined the Polar Bear Club in 2022 and is a weekend ocean swimmer.
A fan of UCLA and the Los Angeles Kings, she’s also a member of a Long Beach reading group and works in accounts payable.
The crowning opening ceremony is at 11:30 a.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 1, and the plunge splashes off at noon, though organizers suggest people arrive earlier than that. Many start showing up around 11 a.m.
Extra lifeguard patrols will be in the water and on shore. To qualify for a certificate, participants must get wet “head to toe,” Donahue said. And for the truly ambitious, a swim around the buoys is all part of the ritual.
Swells may be higher than usual, but Donahue said they’re hoping for “normal” winter swells by the time Wednesday rolls around.
Coffee, hot chocolate and cupcakes will be served following the swim.
The idea is to encourage people to start the new year with a focus on health, being outdoors and doing something active.
The New Year’s Day tradition started informally sometime in the 1940s, when a group of Los Angeles County lifeguards at Cabrillo Beach, including John Olguin and Jack Cheaney, would take a casual plunge every Jan. 1.
Onlookers began taking notice and soon, many decided to join in the fun.
Eventually, Olguin and Cheaney decided to form the Cabrillo Beach Polar Bears, with Olguin’s wife, Muriel, designing the club’s logo. That logo is still in use today (and appears on the merchandise that will be sold on Wednesday, including some new items by Calimucho Screen Printing in San Pedro).
The first official Polar Bear Swim took place on Jan. 1, 1953, and it’s been held every year since, with two recent exceptions: The pandemic and a sewage spill, which caused the swim to be canceled in 2021 and 2022, respectively.
If you go
When: 11:30 a.m. Wednesday, Jan. 1. The swim begins at noon.
Where: Cabrillo Beach, 3720 Stephen M. White Drive, San Pedro.
Cost: Free to participate. Parking is also free from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
Information: cabrillobeachpolarbears.com
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