(CNN) For nearly a century, people flocked to Martin's Beach, a picturesque stretch of sand just south of Half Moon Bay in the San Francisco Bay Area, to swim, surf and dig their toes into the sand.

Then in 2008, Silicon Valley billionaire Vinod Khosla, through two limited liability companies, bought two large pieces of land next to the popular beach, which happened to contain the only viable public path to the shore.

Martin's Beach has been at the heart of a number of legal challenges over whether the public has a right to access California's coastlines.

Now the state of California is the latest player to take on the venture capitalist, in a challenge that could set a precedent for whether the public is entitled to have access to the state's coastline.

The California State Lands Commission and the California Coastal Commission announced Monday the state has filed a lawsuit to restore full public access to Martin's Beach.

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