Welcome to Fiesta Hermosa 2013!
A Guide to the Bands, Booths and Beer Garden

This is service with a smile – and more – in the Fiesta Hermosa beer garden.

As if a holiday weekend in lively beach town is not exciting enough, the city of Hermosa Beach, CA makes it more of a festival atmosphere with Fiesta Hermosa.

Held each Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend, the three-day event features local arts and crafts booths, food booth, live music in two locations and, of utmost interest to the many singles of this South Bay part of L.A., a beer and wine garden.

Memorial Day weekend 2013 is May 25-27, and Labor Day weekend is Aug. 31-Sept. 2. Keep reading for the list of bands for Memorial Day.

People crowd around the main stage at the Pier for Fiesta Hermosa.

The party place during the day is the happening beer garden.

Look at all that shrimp on the grill at Fiesta Hermosa!

Local blues singer Shari "El" Puroto plays the beer garden this Labor Day.

The good-looking crowd in along the Pier for Fiesta Hermosa.

Thousands turn out each day, crowding lower Pier Ave., which runs right into the Pacific Ocean, and for five blocks along Hermosa Ave. Vendors hawk jewelry, clothes, photography, wall and house decorations.

In addition to the festival itself, several more people are participating in local beach volleyball tournaments, are cruising along The Strand – a sidewalk that runs parallel to the Pacific – on bikes and rollerblades or are enjoying the ocean, wide beach.

"You can feel the excitement," one resident says. "It just says: celebration!"

The crowd along lower Pier Ave., during Fiesta Hermosa.

That's not REALLY David Lee Roth in the beer garden (but don't tell him).

The crowd in the beer garden for Fiesta Hermosa.

That's certainly evident at the intersection of the Strand and Pier Ave. It's the focal point of activities. The centerpiece is a stage featuring live music and along the sides are the restaurants and bars of downtown Hermosa, their patios filled with pacified patrons.

There are families and couples, to be sure, but the place is also swarming with singles. They patrol the crafts and eventually head to the food booths, which are located in a parking lot just south of Pier Ave., Grilled meats and shrimp, Thai, Mexican, corn on the cob and other tasty treats are sold, for prices in the $4-7 range.

This is a necessity for those who spend their afternoons in the beer garden, And several people do, enjoying the rotating bands, the beer (of course) and the boys and babes that comprise the crowd.

There's a lot of people at Fiesta Hermosa, but you can still move about easily.

Looking to Pier Ave., from the parking lot of the Mermaid during Fiesta Hermosa.

Strolling between the booths along lower Pier Ave.

It's such a popular destination that there's always a line, and while it tends moves fairly quickly it's also evident it's time for a small beer garden expansion. This could be accomplished by relocating three food booths next to the beer garden's entrance.

The beer garden lines require some planning and perhaps planting, as it's difficult to check out the bands here and also at the Pier. And those bands are one of the key draws of Fiesta Hermosa. Organizers bring in great music.

Many are cover bands of popular acts – Fan Ha len (Van Ha len), Led Separating (Led Zeppelin) and The Long Run (Eagles) – along with bands playing classic rock and local musicians such as Hermosa Beach's own blues rocker Shari Puroto. Fan Halen is particular popular and has closed out the last two beer gardens on Mondays.

Fiesta Hermosa runs Saturday, Sunday and Monday, with bands playing from 11 a.m.-6:30 p.m.

– Fiesta Hermosa Memorial Day Bands Schedule – 

Girls in the beer garden for Fiesta Hermosa.

Locals travel to Fiesta Hermosa on bikes.

The Strand is also crowded for Fiesta Hermosa on Labor and Memorial Day weekends.

The patio of Hennessey's is a popular spot to park bikes.

Beach signs are a natural item to be sold at Fiesta Hermosa.

There's all kinds of crafts for sale in the booths at Fiesta Hermosa.