Manhattan Beach club party and cocktail bartender guide for nightclubs
and bars
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NO
LAST CALL! 
THE
SOUTH BAY: L.A. CITY
GUIDE: While in the South Bay, ride with Kenny, the Rock 'n Roll cab driver: SOUTH BAY SITES: Bars, restaurants
and activities with photos and text written by a local in the know.
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Manhattan Beach
Longboarders have long known Manhattan Beach to be the center of surfing in the South Bay. Yet it is also the birthplace of beach volleyball and represents the true culture of a Southern California beach city. Manhattan Beach Party Events
The place is full of history. The Beach Boys lived here and many actors, actresses and athletes come to the legendary bars. It is, first, foremost and forever, a casual surf community with a Bevery Hills budget.
Manhattan has two bar areas, downtown and the north end (also referred to as El Porto in recognition of its colorful past). Downtown used to the THE party spot in all of California, but when neighboring Hermosa opened up Pier Ave., the heavy party crowd headed to HB. Manhattan may be a bit more mellow than it's sister to the south, but the crowd is local and kicked-back. And they can definitely party, especially after one of the major downtown events (Manhattan Open AVP, the Surfest and Christmas fireworks).
Downtown Nightlife [MAP] An intoxicating mix of bars greets Pubclubbers in downtown Manhattan Beach. From seaside dives to restaurant/bars and upscale lounges, this four-block area looking down on the Manhattan Beach Pier is dynamically diverse. It's a friendly place, laid-back and slam 'em back, as comfortable as the crowd primarily in shorts, sandals and tees would indicate.
Where are all those passersby heading to on Manhattan Beach Blvd? To Shellback Tavern, of course! The first bar off the beach, Shellback is a rustic dive that is much a part of the landscape and culture of downtown at the beach. It's where tired and thirsty volleyball players go on Saturday and Sunday afternoons, joined by equally thirsty rollerbladers and bike riders. They enjoy thermostat-controlled chilled beer (oh so nice after a day on the volleyball courts) and "beach pours" on cocktails. After the sun sets over the Pacific, this classic pub with the best jukebox in town can become an all-night party. Lately, it's been the roaring 20s on weekends; that is, people in their 20s are packing the place. With its motto of "No Bad Days," Shellback can help start those days with the Best Bloody Marys on the Beach, ideal with a noontime breakfast. Food and drink specials include $1.25 chicken or beef tacos – mahi mahi is $1.75 – on Sundays and Wednesdays; Prime Rib and NY Steak dinners are $10.99 on Tuesdays and on Monday Night Football it features giveaways, 1/2 price wings and $3 off premium pitchers and more specials for those wearing an official Shellback shirt. www.shellbacktavern.com. Locals often become human pinballs between "the Shell" and another local landmark just around the corner. Ercoles, our vote as L.A.'s Best Dive Bar, serves cheap drinks, has a classic jukebox, wooden booths and a pool table. This cozy atmosphere picks up at midnight and goes to closing at 1:30. Both here and at the Shell, the crowd is comprised fun people who like to drink, mingle and meet in a shorts and sandals casual climate (Erc's is now mainly a 30s crowd). The hamburgers, so juicy it takes a stack of napkins to stay clean, are unarguably the Best in the World. The best drink in town is The PubClubette at the small bar of the nice Italian restaurant, Mangiamo. Created by bartender Ben as a tribute to PubClub.com's PubClubettes, it's a potent and unique martini. Mangiamo is a small, quiet bar popular among some locals who call it home. It's sometimes called the "fish bowl," because of its big window that looks out over Manhattan Beach Blvd.
Just up from Shellback on Manhattan Beach Blvd., Rock 'N Fish is a terrific seafood restauran with a bar that is often as popular as the food. After about 10, the diners give way to drinkers and this has become one of the beach's best "upscale" hangouts (keep in mind, it's the beach). The part-owner is also involved with the Manhattan Beach Brewing Company next door as well as Shade (keep reading). The Brewing Company has local-brewed beer and good pub grub. Some say when you live in Manhattan, you have it made in the shade. Well, now that's where many are hanging out, in the lobby bar of the new upscale hotel Shade. The bar, being new, is bringing in the nicely-dressed crowd, and not always from the South Bay. If there's ever been a celebrity hangout in the South Bay, this is it. The space is well designed, comfortable and offers couches for seating and places for leaning. Drinks are pricey ($7 for beers, $11 for some martinis) so the clientele is often more mature than anywhere else in the predominately mid-20s beach cities bars. In fact, there's more cougars prowling in Shade than in the Santa Monica mountains. Shade, which by archaic Manhattan Beach liquor laws for new bars must
give last call by 11, is in a newly developed section of downtown Manhattan.
The area includes an upscale Greek restaurant, a bakery, deli and the
kinds of eclectic shops that make one wonder how the heck they stay in
business (though $500 tables and chairs at the furniture store could explain
a lot). What it might do is have a ripple-down effect to give neighboring
bars like Shark's Cove and Hennessey's a spillover business. Shark's Cove is the best set up to handle a nightlife type of setting. A classy sports bar, it puts a small band in on weekends, has plasma TVs everywhere – even at some of the booths – and behind the bar is a really cool blue light panel that, at first glance from a distance, appears to be an aquarium. This gives the place a club-type feel but it's still casual and comfortable. Hennessey's is a California beach town tradition. It's more of a quiet pub than roarin' Irish bar but does have nice, small patio for peaceful drinks. The downtown dance bar is Beaches. We call it a dance bar and not a club for a very good reason: There's no cover, rarely a line (weekends aftter 10 being an exception) and doesn't play hard-pumping "groove" tunes. It's dominated by a bar area with a dance floor that's more of an alcohol-inspired impulse than a direct destination. The crowd is a good-looking, almost a flat-out 50/50 mix of mid-20s girls/guys. Oddly, a place called Beaches does not allow shorts in the summer after 9 p.m.! Two high-end bars (for the beach anyway) are across each other on Manhattan Ave. It's only about the size of your living room, but The Side Door is as popular as your best wine party. The crowd and atmosphere is upscale but it pulls it off without pretension. It's best to get there by 9 or 9:30 to avoid the inevitable line (and, often, a $5 cover charge). Lucky girls who arrive early get a seat on the cozy blue couch. But for best results, try it on an "off" night, like Sunday or Tuesday. El Porto [MAP]
Once a town of it's own identity, the north end of Manhattan Beach is known to locals as El Porto. It runs from just south of Rosecrans to 45th Street. The focal point is Sharkeez. The parent of the Hermosa establishment, this is the original location (others are in Newport Beach, Huntington Beach and Santa Barbara). It features a tropical decor, potent drinks and the same festive atmosphere as its siblings. The crowd is mostly locals who walk in and stagger home. There's almost always something going on there – a birthday party, work celebration or bachelor or bachlorette bash. Happy Hours featuring 2-for-1s until 6:30 and until 8 on Thursdays, are a post-work highlight.
When the sorority girls from Loyola Maramount come in for their regular socials– which is nearly every Thursday – it's like walking into a beer commercial.
No lines, no cover but a crowded bar can be found across the streets at Pancho's. A Mexican restaurant with an upstairs cantina, it has had hot live music on weekends with young, hip crowd. Lately, Pancho's has become a rock n' roll All-Start show with bands featuring, among others, the guitar player from Tom Petty, the drummer from Styx, a bass player from Kenny Loggins, you name it. Sometimes, they just blow the roof off the place. The bar is small and it's often shoulder-to-shoulder but for up-close live rock it's an "in" place to party. After Taco Tuesday at OB's, many people then go to Pancho's for karaoke, their inhibitions largely removed by those OB's drink specials. It's been Pork Chop Brows, the ill-fated Reactor and the legendary Harry O's. And now the spot next to OB's – rich in local party history – is Upper Manhattan. Upper not just as in the name but in its style. This is an upscale lounge with $13 martinis (draft beer is much less, $6 for an import0 and occasional go-go dancers. And while this could mean uppity, it's still the beach and still brings in good 'ol Joe's band for a Manhattan party flashback. Okay, it's a dive – but a friendly dive – and it's open later than any other bar in Manhattan. This makes Summer's, located at the neon sign behind the parking structure, the late-night call of the North End. By 1:30, all of Harry O's, Sharky's, Pancho's and OB's storm the place. • Hermosa
Beach/Redondo Beach Bars & Restaurants Bar & Restaurant Resource Guide
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South Bay's Top Taco Tuesday © 2000, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007. All rights reserved.
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OB's
is a pub for local dwellers who like the 50 bottled and 10 draft beer
selections. On Tuesdays, it's SRO for the South Bay's Best Taco Tuesday.
Be patient and grab a drink while waiting for a table to clear; it's worth
the wait. The tacos – chicken, fish and marinated beef – are
huge; two is plenty even for big appetites (scarf down 10 and earn your
name on a plaque). This is complemented by $1 domestic drafts and margarita
specials. On other nights, OB's huge bottled beer selection is a draw,
as is the varied menu. Wednesday is stirfry night and it's an awesome
meal and Thursdays' "Burger and beer" night is also popular.
The BBQ sandwich is so good one might think they are in Texas (except
the hot waitresses are not in cowboy hats and just about everyone is wearing
sandals). This is a pub-type place, great for watching sports and hangin'
loose, like the surfboard logo indicates.
