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Santa Monica Bay is a section of the Southern California coast that
extends from the Palos Verdes
Peninsula to the Santa Monica Mountains near Malibu. The shoreline
is a nearly contiguous stretch of sandy beach that for many people is
what comes to mind when they think of Los Angeles. The southern end of
the bay is, not surprisingly, called the South Bay. Along with the four
cities of the Palos Verdes Peninsula, the South Bay region includes the
three “beach cities” (from south to north), Redondo Beach, Hermosa
Beach, and Manhattan Beach. Though they lack the Baywatch cachet
of Santa Monica and celebrity-saturated Malibu at the north end of the
bay, they’re very popular summer and weekend escapes for residents of
“Greater Los Angeles.” On sunny warm weekends, the beaches are jammed
with families looking for a respite from the inland heat and smog. In
the winter, surfers take advantage of the large waves churned up by
Pacific storms.
In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, cities all along the California coast built municipal piers to serve as docks for commercial shipping. That ended in 1909, with the opening of the Port of Los Angeles in San Pedro. But updated piers in all three beach cities remain for recreational use. They may not have the amusement park amenities of the landmark Santa Monica Pier, but they’re popular places where anglers can catch their supper, and where locals and tourists can enjoy the ocean air and coastal views.
The pier in Redondo Beach is the most extensively developed of the
three in the South Bay. It offers a collection of restaurants, fast food,
and tchotchke shops. There’s also a low-key office complex that includes a
small courthouse, possibly the only truly desirable jury duty assignment
in Los Angeles County. The pier also has underground parking, a convenient
(though expensive) amenity for beachgoers who might otherwise face a
frustrating search for a scarce metered space.
The Redondo Beach Pier is the seventh version since 1889. The
earliest piers were railroad terminals for lumber, to which sections
were eventually added for fishing and tourists. Except for one that
was condemned when the lumber business waned, these piers all succumbed to
the winter storms that periodically batter the Southern California
coast. The 1929 version lasted until 1988, when a fire destroyed most of
it. That pier was called the Horseshoe Pier because of its unusual
circular shape. The small section undamaged by the fire remained open to
the public until 1995, when it was demolished to make way for the
current pier. The old Horseshoe Pier was quite a colorful place, one of my
favorite spots for testing new cameras, lenses, and films.
The current pier officially opened to the public in 1996. The
designers seemed to have learned their lessons well. They built it with
heavy-duty concrete and steel, which should (in theory) better withstand
the storms and fire that destroyed its wooden predecessors. The new pier
includes some distinctive historically-inspired artistic elements. A
series of mesh sun shades on a frame of steel tubes recall the sailing
ships that docked at the 1889 pier. The reinforced concrete pilings are
painted the color of the earlier piers’ wood pilings. And the railings
have decorative inlays with cetaceans, painted sea blue.
The initial concept for the new pier had rather grandiose
ambitions. It included an aquarium, a wax museum, and a carousel. It’s
probably a good thing that those all got dropped in the final design,
since the pier gets crowded enough without them during the summer and on
weekends. The pier nonetheless offers plenty of things to do— and
plenty of colorful details to photograph.
Hermosa Beach is probably best known for beach volleyball. Perhaps
because it’s is the smallest of the South Bay beach cities, the Hermosa
Beach municipal pier is the plainest of the three piers. Completely
reconstructed in 2000, it’s just a simple concrete deck for fishing and
strolling, extending some 200 meters beyond the shore with a square
platform at the end for fishing. At its foot— the end of
Pier Avenue, appropriately enough— is a pedestrian mall with
restaurants, bars, dance clubs, and a few shops. It gets very crowded on
weekend evenings.
Manhattan Beach is the northernmost of the beach cities. At the end of
its 376-meter municipal pier is the Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab and
Aquarium. The Roundhouse is a non-profit educational facility chartered
to teach children (and their parents) about the oceans of Southern
California. Along with exhibits of local undersea fauna in glass tanks,
there’s a marine “petting zoo” with tide pool creatures,
rays, and cute baby sharks.
Travel Notes: Much of the area around the South Bay beaches was
developed in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, well before the
automobile came to dominate Southern California life. The narrow streets
create parking and traffic nightmares in the 21st century. Parking
anywhere near the beach is metered, and subject to limits and restrictions
strictly enforced by a squadron of ruthlessly efficient parking
officers. The restrictions and aggressive enforcement are about the only
way the cities can fairly ration a very inadequate supply of
parking in summer and on weekends when demand is high. But the officers
are just as busy at other times, as the cities rely on revenue from
parking citations for a significant portion of their budgets.
If you’re aware and prepared, you can enjoy a nice visit to the beach without finding an unpleasant souvenir under your windshield wiper. Bring plenty of quarters, since many meters accept no other coins. If you’re fortunate enough to find an empty parking spot, carefully read all nearby signs to make sure you’re actually allowed to park there. Some street parking is reserved for residents with permits; and there are numerous other arcane restrictions that parking officers eagerly exploit to trap their unwary quarry. Make sure the meter works— parking at a broken meter will guarantee you a ticket!— and feed it generously. Then set the alarm clock on your watch or cellphone to make sure you get back to your car in time. Remember, you might have a very long walk to and from the beach on a summer weekend.
If you’re visiting Redondo Beach during the summer, you can avoid
stress and expense by parking at the Del Amo Fashion Center mall in
Torrance and riding a Torrance Transit bus (Route 3) directly to the pier.
There are no similarly convenient mass transit options for the other beaches.
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