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Review of the best live music in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and the South Bay in Los Angeles.

Best Live Music Bars in the South Bay
Top Venues and Bands in L.A.'s Beach Cities

LIttle Jimmy rocks Pancho's, a small cantina in north Manhattaan Beach.

There are, at long last, enough quality live music venues in the South Bay part of Los Angeles to make it almost – almost – a mini Sunset Strip for hearing bands.

There are bars featuring national touring bands but there's also an explosion of local performers. The bars are set up to showcase the music and locals are enjoying the experience.

Expect to pay covers of $10 on weekends, a difficult concepr for many South Bay'ers to accept, but remember its for the entertainment.

Jeremy Buck and his band bangs it out at local rock houses.

The primary live music player in town 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.

There's more than music at Saint Rocke in Hermosa Beach.

Excellent acoustics make one think of an intimate House of Blues. The crowd is mid-20s to mid-30s, loves good music and the place is often packed to capacity. Before the bands Saint Rocke has one of PubClub's Best South Bay Happy Hours.

The Marshall Tucker Band on stage at Brixton.

Another music-first venue is Brixton on the Redondo Beach Pier. This gets touring bands, cover bands, original bands, you name it. It's downstairs, actually underneath the Pier, which gives is a real rock band kind of feeling. There's an ample dance floor, which often turns into the equivalent of a big concert venue's orchestra pit. Big leather booths frame one side of it and people can reserve those booths for a fee (say $100), which then becomes credit from the bar.

The band Barley Legal gets people going at Brixton in Redondo.

And that's not all – there is another, separate and smaller live music venue. It's in the back and it's called The Dive at Brixton (which is not a dive at all). This is a smaller version of Brixton but no less energetic. Local bands play here a lot and ones like Barley Legal pack the place.

This is a slam-down-the-Buds fun kind of place where the patrons are so close to the action they are almost on the stage themselves.

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 sold he bar and lwhile there are still bands, it becomes a DJ club type of venue after 10 p.m. The crowd gets a lot younger, too! The palce is casual and fun, and bartenders pour strong drinks. The food is New Orleans good and the weekend mimosa brunch is awesome, and it's good Saturdays and Sundays. Happy Hour is M-F, two-for-one drinks, 2-8 p.m.

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, its 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 one might hear the Greateful Dead cover band Cubensis.

Little Jimmy wtih of Chris Frazier Whitesnale and Tood Sucherman of Styx.

One of the best live music venues in the South Bay is Pancho's. It's a Mexican restaurant – excellent setting but somewhat overpriced – with a small but wildly popular cantina. It's more of a bar, and for locals in El Porto a regular late-night weekend stop, that has bands on Thursday, Friday and Saturday from 10-1:30.

And what bands, mostly playing popular rock covers. Sometimes it's Little Jimmy, whose mastery of the lead guitar is something to behold. He's emotional, passionate and so talented one wonders why he's not on tour. The sax player, Jim Wheeler, has toured with Kenny Loggins and Coco is the funky bass player. The drummer could be anybody – Todd Sucherman of Styx, Simon Wright of AC/DC – and there have even been appearances by keyboardist Jay Spell and harmonica player FIngers Taylor, original members of Jimmy Buffett's Coral Reefer Band.

In other words, you never know what – or who – you may get but it's always awesome. The drinks may be a bit pricey – go for the potent Dirty Maggy margarita at about $12 – but there's no cover and while the cantina can get packed there's rarely so much as a line.

Sharks's Cove in Manhattan Beach is a bar turned band bar.

Several other established places in the South Bay feature long-playing house bands, The total dives Naja's Place (Saturday and Sunday afternoons( Starboard Attitude on te Redondo Pier, Shark's Cove in Manhattan Beach on weekends and The Shore on Sunday nites with no covers. Across from Panchos's is the area's Best Taco Tuesday location, OB's, which sometimes features the lovely and talented Addy Lane.

These girls are getting down 2nite to the Funky Hipeez at Upper Manhattan.

Next to OB's, the uber-lounge Upper Manhattan, features bands on occasion and is considering live music on Sunday nights during the summertime. It's in the same building as a previous bar, Harry O's, that once commanded Sunday nights in the South Bay with the sounds of bands like the M80s.

Addy Lane (top) at OB's and the always popular party band Joe's Band.

Local bands to watch out for are Joe's Band (lontoime South Bay party kings), Jerremy Buck and the Bang and blues babe Shari Puorto. Here are links to Jeremy Buck and the Bang and Shari Puorto.

– LIVE MUSIC VENUES (310) –s

• Brixton, 100 Fisherman's Wharf, RB, 406-1931
ª Cafe Boogaloo.1223 Hermosa Ave. HB, 318-2324
• Naja's Place, 154 International Boardwalk, RB, 376-9951
• OB's, 3610 Highland, MB, 546-1542
• Pancho's, 3615 Highland Ave., MB, 545-6670
• Saint Rock, 142 S. PCH, HB, 372-0035
• Shark's Cove, 309 Manhattan Beach Blvd., MB, 545-2683
• Starboard Attitude, 202 Fisherman's Wharf, RB, 379-5144
• The Lightouse, 30 Pier Ave., HB, 372-6911
• The Shore, 1320 Hermosa Ave., HB, 376-0414
• Upper Manhattan Lounge, 3600 Highland, MB, 545-2291

• South Bay Guide

• Manhattan Beach Guide

• Surfest Manhattan Beach

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