Manhattan Beach Visitors Guide Tourist Information The Pier North Manhattan
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That Southern California lifestyle of surfers and the Beach Boys exists in Manhattan Beach.
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Welcome to Manhattan Beach, CA!
That Southern California lifestyle, the one with images of surfers, sunsets over the Pacific and The Beach Boys, does indeed exist. It's at a small, somewhat secluded spot called Manhattan Beach.
This is a place where people ride their bikes and rollerblade along a concrete path parallel to the beach called The Strand. Where surfers come to ride the waves at the Pier or, for the experts, El Porto. Where the sport of beach volleyball was born and where each August it holds the Wimbledon of Beach Volleyball, the Manhattan Open.
The Beach Boys played here – they hung out as teenagers a couple of miles inland on Hawthorne Blvd., and Mike Love lived on 40th Street – and that "all over Manhattan" line in Surfing USA refers to Manhattan Beach. Located just south of LAX and a million mental miles from Los Angeles or Hollywood, Manhattan Beach is a locals' hangout, a clean community with good schools, fine restaurants, martini lounges and even a few dive bars. It runs from the end of Hermosa Beach to the edge of El Segundo, 45 blocks and 2 miles total.
The main part of Manhattan is the downtown area. Dozens of shops, restaurants and bars are walking distance from the Strand, sand and pier. The main street is Manhattan Beach Blvd. (which, anyone from Florida would be shocked to see, is on a steep hill) with many of the businesses located here or along the two streets that intersect it, Highland and Manhattan Ave. The area is packed with restaurants, many of them small family operations. There is fine dining (Rock 'n Fish for steaks and seafood, Talias and Mangiamo for Italian, Mucho for upscale Mexican, the long-time Cafe Pierre for French), mid-level places (Cafe Venice for Mediterranean, Simmzy's for one of the few patio places in town), traditional beach joints (Hennessey's, Ocean View Cafe) and great breakfast spots (Uncle Bill's Pancake House, the Koffee Kart).
There's enough boutique stores to keep any lady shopper enthralled for hours. But don't worry guys, bars like the Shellback, Ercoles and Sharks Cove have plenty of TVs for watching sports. Have her meet you at Beaches at the end of the day for sunsets and the area's longest Happy Hour, which goes until 9 on weeknights. A little more than a mile to the north, on Highland between 33rd Street and Rosecrans (pronounced Rose-krans) is an area known either as North Manhattan or El Porto. What one calls it depends on how one has lived in the area. Newbies like North Manhattan while longtimers prefer El Porto (known as the second port because of the tankers that park off the adjacent Chevron facility and one of LA's top surf spots, it was an unincorporated area until Manhattan Beach took it over a few decades ago). This area has a few shops and spas, restaurants (the North End Cafe was featured on the Food Network's Diners, Drive-ins and Dives, but is not as popular for lunch or breakfast as is Sloopy's across the street) and a sprinkling of bars.
Taco Tuesday is popular at the small sports bar OB's, Upper Manhattan Lounge is for the swanky crowd, Sharkeez is for the "we've never left college" local adults, Pancho's features overpriced Mexican food but great live bands, and Summer's is a dive. El Porto – Surfside Sam has lived here for a while – also has a little counter of a Mexican place called El Tarasco at Rosecrans and Highland. It's the most popular restaurant in the entire town. Especially weekends at 2 a.m. Manhattan Beach also includes an area along and just east of Pacific Coast Highway, which has a Target, a couple of car dealerships, some small hotels and the Manhattan Village Mall with a Macy's as the main anchor, plus an Apple store and restaurants. In the daytime Manhattan Beach is as lively as it is at night. People are always running, rollerblading or biking up down the Strand. The water is full of surfers It seems there's a volleyball tournament at the Pier ever weekend in the summer and beach volleyball is played year-round up and down the sand. This is a healthy community, but people also like to have fun. Witness the annual 6-man volleyball tournament (the first weekend of August), AVP weekend, the Old Hometown Fair the first of October which features a beer garden, and the annual Manhattan Beach Holiday Fireworks the second Sunday of December. SurfsideSam.com covers beach cities and towns around the world. © 2010. All rights reserved.
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