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Text and photos detail bars, nightlife and activities in Hermosa and Redondo Beaches.

Hermosa Beach/Redondo Beach Bars & Restaurants

Palm trees ine the socially active Hermosa Beach Pier Plaza.

Hermosa Beach. [MAP]

– South Bay Holiday Events – 

Once a hangout for hippies, Harleys and hang-loosers, Hermosa Beach has transformed itself into a South Bay social mecca. All these spots are within walking distance with many are within sight distance.

A revitalized pier area has replaced cars with pedestrians, beach stores with bars, dives with dance spots. Because the places were originally grocery stores, local bars or tiny t-shirt shops, they are small and lines form quickly.

The one-block, pedestrian-only Pier Ave., posseses a plethora of places. And the ever-popular Sharkeez is the king of this beach town. Locals called Sharkeez the "Black Hole" because they go in for one cocktail in the afternoon and wind up staying all night. The "new" Sharkeez is nice with changing light colors inside and a open-air bar area at the front. It's like a beachy lounge. New to town? Sharkeez is the place with the big line.

There's a reason Sharkeez is the 'Black Hole;' it's fun with a fun crowd.

Sharkeez has also been selected as PubClub.com's Best Happy Hour Bar. Click here for the Best Happy Hour Bars in the South Bay.

Patrick Molloy's is a clean Irish pub that turns clubby on weekends with house music, lights and dancing. Daytime weekends are at a much more relaxed pace, especially on the patio when crowds gather for post-beach beers, cocktails, enticing appetizers and full lunches or dinners. A daily Happy Hour runs 3-7 with 2-for-1 and food specials.

The Hermosa Pier is the prime party playground in the South Bay.

Get a bird's eye view of the Pier action from Fat Face Fenner's Fishack. Its second-floor balcony provides the only elevated view of Pier Ave and a rustic back bar has live music on weekends. The front has Juan, the Best Bartender in the South Bay. However, getting to Juan is a a challenge because the doormen are creating artificial lines and then blatantly announcing that greasing their palms will speed entry.

Right along the beach, within a shot of the Strand, is Hennessey's. This Irish bar is a long-standing beach tradition. Quieter than its neighbors and never with a line, it's a sit-down alternative to the rest of the Pier. You can't miss this place on St. Patrick's Day.

The Best Tropical Drink in the South Bay is the mango margarita served at Cantina Real. It's frozen and delicious, best enjoyed in the daytime on the outdoor patio overlooking the Strand and pier.

In the middle of the new, "revitalized" Pier Ave., sits a local icon that refuses to change. The Mermaid is like time standing still from the 50s. The owner has turned down lucrative offers to sell, move or upgrade, but it's dark wood interior and high-back booths remain firmly in place. It is filled with the kind of people who would have been hanging out in Sharkeez 30 years ago. And in what might seem a surprise considering it's an aging dive is the fact that it's one of the Beach City's best restaurants. Those sautéed mushrooms are orgasmic!

Dragon is has undergone a change. The city made the owners re-design the place to be more of a restaurant, took out the dancing and made it close at midnight because it's not a "family atmosphere." But what families are out at midnight, anyway!?

Another long-standing establishment is the Poop Deck. Directly on The Strand, it's a dirty dive best during or after one of the many volleyball tournaments or beach events.

Hermosa Ave. Bars & Lounges

The perfect pub club – Underground (below) and Cruise Room (top).

There may be no life east of PCH as longtime locals like to joke, but there sure is plenty of it east of Hermosa Ave. In fact, this two-block area around the bend from the Pier has become a party playground.

Led by the slick and sexy Blue 32, there are five bars, and that's not counting the sushi resturant on the corner. Crowds come in from Thursdays-weekends and anyone out on party patrol Tuesdays and Wednesdays won't be hurting for activity.

The seductive Blue 32 is Hermosa's South Beach meets the South Bay.

Blue 32 is a club, er, lounge, er, bar. It's a hot place with a finely-dressed mainly mid/late 20s crowd, hip music, go-go dancers and a couch area that can be closed off with metal "drapes." Kind of South Beach meets the South Bay. It has an excellent menu and a good vibe, even go-go girls dancing above diners and almost on top of drinkers in rather regal setting. Lines start to form here by 10, so arrive by 9 to slip in and await the action. To get into this cool club on busy weekends, be there by 10. Because by 10:30, the line swells like the winter surf in El Porto.

While Blue 32 is for clubbers, the Underground Pub (the main entrance is actually behind Hermosa Ave., at 15th St.) is for pubbers. And lately it's become one of the top bars in Hermosa; the lines form later than for Blue 32, say 11 as opposed to about 10. The Underground Pub is not underground as in an underground dance club, but underground as in the London subway system. This is actually two bars in one – a sports-themed pub with a pool table and plenty of plasmas one one side and a newly-remodeled lounge called the Cruise Room on the other ($5 weekend cover here). The pub is cozy but can get quite crowded on Fridays and Saturdays. The lounge has large booths and couches with dancing to hip Euro-style music that's subtle enough to be able to carry on a conversation. Walk between the two for the true pubs and club experience without leaving the building!

The pub the same awesome tacos on Tuesday as its sister place, OBs in Manhattan Beach and on Wednesday adds free comedy. Look for nightly food and drink specials. With its trio of huge plazmas, great food and hearty breakfasts, it's a good place to start or finish the day.

The crowds gather at the friendly and lively Underground Pub.

That roar you hear is coming from The Shore, a new bar on Hermosa Ave., owned by longtime local Joe Middler. For years, his Joe's Band was known as the South Bay party band. Joe doesn't crank up signature songs like "Hot, Hot, Hot" in The Shore often, but his casual presence is evident. The one-room bar has a beach feel with in a lounge-type environment. Sunday is the best night – the 2-for-1 drinks are brining in the locals and the live Brazilian band adds punch to the party. It's starting to bring on some 12th Street flashbacks (and people who have been around long enough to know what that means).

Farther north on Hermosa Ave. is a round building called The North End. This is fast becoming a hot hangout. Several people, tired of the downtown scene, are enjoying The North End's lack of lines, cheap drinks and super casual atmosphere. They are joined by neighborhood residents who want a few drinks but don't want to walk the extra blocks to downtown. Wednesdays feature $1 tacos.

Dance Clubs

Hermosa – and the entire South Bay, for that matter – does not have a true dance club, certainly not anything approaching to the mega clubs of Hollywood or Vegas. Instead, it has Sangria (Pier Ave.), Saffire (Pier at Valley/Ardmore, next to Von's) and the new Union Cattle Co., which serve to satisfy the clubbers.

A sophisticated and well-dressed crowd adds some club culture to the beach.

Sangria attracts its share of the best-looking of the good-looking South Bay. The dress is certainly more upscale than many of the other places (which means guys might actually be wearing something other than shorts). It is the biggest of the seaside clubs with a large outdoor patio area and an indoor bar and dance floor. It makes an intoxicating sangria – ask for the "special" which is topped with spiced rum – and is not elbow-to-elbow crowded. There's a $10 weekend cover (no band). The lines are huge on weekends, so it's best to go for dinner or tasty tapas before 9.

Flashback! It's the 1980s and John Travolta is winging Debra Winger around a mechanical bull at Gilley's in Houston. Union Cattle Company has brought back the bull but this is no bull: The joint is jumping on weekends. Dancing, a downstairs patio and upstairs deck and second dance area compliment the cow.

The area's top live music spots are Cafe Bugaloo and the Lighthouse. Bugaloo is a A ragin' cajun place, featureing New Orleans-style bands; it often attracts big-name talent. A much more casual spot is the Hennesssey's-owned Lighthouse. The world's top jazz club in the world during the 40s and 50s,

Live Music

Jeremy Buck bangs it out at local music bars.

There are, at long last, enough quality live music venues in the area now to qualify for a separate heading. In fact, with the addition of two new places, the South Bay has become almost – almost – a mini Sunset Strip for hearing bands. While national acts are booked, it provides opportunities for locals to pleast the home crowd, bands like Jeremy Buck and the Bang and Shari Puorto Expect to pay covers of $10 on weekends, a difficult concepr for many South Bay'ers to accept, but remember its for the entertainment.

A fairly new player in town, so to speak, is Saint Rocke. A bit off the beaten path on PCH and 2nd Street, it's really an entertainment lounge, conisting not of tables but elegant couches looking toward the stage. Excellent acoustics make one think of an intimate House of Blues. There's an appetizer menu which leads to one of the place's shortcomings – even those who go early and fill up on the likes of bbq pizza and crab dip are requested to pay the cover after 9. Yet all is not perfect; read here about a bad night in a good bar.

PubClub contributed heavily toward the building of Cafe Boogaloo, started by a bartender from tips he received during his days at 12th Street. He created a New Orleans-style small club and brings in blues, zydeco and jazz. However, Steve recently sold he bar and locals are anxious to see whether or not the owners keep the live music. So far, they have, but what about special events like Fat Tuesday?

When Harvelle's opened up on the Redondo Pier, it not only raised the bar of the live music scene it gave the Redondo Pier some much-needed nightlife. Now it's changed its name to Brixton but it sitll focuses on live music. Walking downstairs give the initial impression of a dive, but upon entering it's a relative palace – nice booths surrounding a large open floor for dancing to the various acts. It's classy and sophisticated and a new management team is looking to add a neighborhood hangout bar, as well, with pool tables, TVs, etc.

Then there's the Lighthouse Cafe. Once considered the top jazz club on the West Coast, it maintains its musical roots with reggae, rock and more, mainly from local or LA bands. The Lighthouse is dark and dingy, and while that's not necessarily a bad thing, it's well-worn walls are showing their age, especially compared to it's spiffy counterparts. ($5 cover most weekend nights).The energetic, entertaining Jeremy Buck no longer plays Friday Happy Hours, though. Look for him at Saint Rocke instead,

Several other established places in the South Bay feature long-playing house bands – Pancho's, Naja's, the total dive Starboard Attitude near Harvelle's (talk about a contrast!), Shark's Cove in Manhattan Beach on weekends and The Shore on Sunday nites with no covers.

– BAR LOCATIONS ON LOWER PIER AVE (310) –
• Sharkeez, 52 Pier Ave. (310) 374-7823
• Cantina Real, 19 Pier Ave., 372-3454
• At Face Fenner's Fishhack, 53 Pier Ave., 379-5550
• Hennessey's, 8 Pier Ave., 372-5759
• Mermaid, 11 Pier Ave., 374-9344
• Patrick Molloy's, 50 Pier Ave., 798-9762
• Poop Deck (1272 The Strand), 376-3223
• Sangria, 60 Pier Ave., 376-4412
• Club Saffire (705 Pier Ave.), 372-9705

– BAR LOCATONS ON HERMOSA AVE. –
• Underground Pub. 1332 Hermosa Ave. (Entrance in the alley), 318-3818
• Blue 32, 1332 Hermosa Ave.
• The Shore, 1320 Hermosa Ave. 376-0414
• Untion Cattle Co., 1301 Manhattan Ave., 798-8227

– LIVE MUSIC VENUES –
• Cafe Boogaloo.1223 Hermosa Ave. 318-2324
• Havelle's, 100 Fisherman's Wharf, 406-1931
• The Lightouse, 30 Pier Ave., 372-6911
• Saint Rock 142 S. PCH, 372-0035

Redondo Beach
About two miles south of Hermosa is the pier area of Redondo Beach. Hardly as happening as the northern neighbor and the crowd is not as polished and not nearly as young as the rest of the South Bay, but it does have a few places of note.

If you REALLY want to get a quick buzz, go to Old Tony's on the Pier. No, it's not the 360-degee view of the ocean from the upstairs bar that does the trick, it's the South Bay's Strongest Drink that's responsible. It's called a Fire Chief and while one of these rich rum mixtures will set your mood en fuego, two will set off the alarm

On the lower part of the Redondo Beach Pier is Naja's. It's a kick-back place, has a view of the boats docked in the harbor, regular appearances from a gypsy dancer and enough beers – 777 in bottles and 77 on draft, to be exact – to make the live band sound actually sound good. The Land Sharks, as they are called, play mostly ol' time R&R (and really, they are pretty good even without all the beer). The crowd is mainly middle-aged men out for a few brews but it can also haul in the much younger and livelier Hermosa-Manhattan revelers. It's best on Sunday afternoons.

If you're hungry beforehand or afterward, Lou E Luey's next door is an oustanding Mexican-style restaurant.Upscale offerings such as crab & corn bisque and sizzling sea bass make this a great find. (entrees $8.95-$14.95) . It's an excellent spot for Sunday brunch (menu items, not a buffett).

Definitely off the beaten path but ideal for a casual cold beer with a view is Rocky Point. Nothing more than a very clean bait shop, it serves ice-cold beer for $1.50 and the outdoor picnic tables are an ideal place to watch the boats maneuver in and out of the harbor. BOYT (tunes, beachy music only). It's located at the far end of the Potofino Hotel parking lolt.

 • Harbor Drive, 655 North Harbor Dr., 379-2900
• Lou E Luey's, 160 S. International Boardwalk, 937-7044
• Naja's Place, 154 S. International Boardwalk, 376-9951
• Rocky Point, 310 Portofino Way, 374-9858
• Tony's, 122 Fisherman's Wharf, 374-1442

• South Bay Guide

• Manhattan Beach Guide

• Surfest Manhattan Beach (watch the video)

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