L Street Beach
South Boston, MA
L Street Beach is the small stretch of sand off Day Boulevard in South Boston best known for the L Street Brownies, the neighborhood swimmers who have been plunging in year round for generations. Come on a warm afternoon and it feels like any city beach; come on New Year's Day and you will see why locals are proud of it.
The Brownies give it real local character and history, though it is a compact stretch that blends into the rest of the Day Boulevard beaches.
How we score beachesIf you want to swim with the Brownies, ask around the bathhouse in winter; a polar bear plunge is a longtime local tradition. Otherwise use it as a quieter alternative to the busier blocks nearby.
Street parking along Day Boulevard and nearby lots. Expect the closest spots to disappear early on summer weekends.
Flat access from the sidewalk and the harbor walkway to the sand. The beach surface itself is regular sand.
Summer is when the beach fills up, but the year round swim tradition means you can catch locals in the water in the depths of winter.
More Atlantic Coast beaches
Coast Guard Beach
Eastham, MA · Atlantic Coast
A National Seashore beach backed by grassy dunes and a tidal marsh, with clean Atlantic surf and one of the Cape's most scenic approaches on foot from the parking area.
Surfside Beach
Nantucket, MA · Atlantic Coast
Open Atlantic swell and a wide sandy shoreline about three miles from Nantucket town, popular with locals for its bodysurfing waves and quieter, less commercial feel.
Jones Beach State Park
Wantagh, NY · Atlantic Coast
A classic Long Island beach with six and a half miles of shoreline, a landmark water tower, boardwalk, and a large outdoor amphitheater that hosts concerts through the summer.