Alumni Of Arizona, Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon And Virginia Tech Watch Games Here And Underground Pub

College football season is upon us and it’s one of my favorite times of the year.

And not just because I love college football – I’m from the South, where the colleges outrank the NFL in terms of passion and importance – but because I love watching it in sports bars in the South Bay Beach Cities of Hermosa and Manhattan Beach.

That’s because Los Angeles is the king of the transplants, meaning people from all over the country move to this area. And they want to see their team play and they do it in big groups of fellow alumni. To be sure, they do it for their hometown NFL teams, as well, but this post is just about college football.

I used to go to Sharkeez Hermosa for the 12:30 SEC game on Saturday and stay there until the last game was finished. My friends and i knew that there would be fans of each and every game in Sharkeez because it was the central gathering place in the South Bay. Still is, I must mention, but now alumni groups are fanning out and going to other bars.

There’s Sharkeez for Wisconsin, American Junkie for Michigan and Arizona State,  Silvio’s for Penn State and Mr. Pockets (that’s on PCH, by the way) for Texas.

 

 

 

But the bar that moves the chains the most is Chelsea Pub. That’s the nice lounge on Hermosa Ave., and 15th Street. It’s connected to the Underground Pub and between the two places, this is your one-stop shop for college football in the South Bay.

Four alumni groups officially gather here, and two more also go there for their games. Chelsea/The Underground is the home to alumni for Nebraska, Notre Dame, Oregon and Virginia Tech. And you’ll also find a lot of people from Arizona and Arizona State when their teams play games.

And, because the South Bay is so diverse, friends of those alumni groups usually have a few friends from other schools with them, and they also are watching their games. So you’ll likely find people from Alabama, Florida, U-Dub and good ‘ol State U.

The places are fun and relaxed, there’s a Georgia peach of a waitress at Chelsea, PubClub’s super-friendly waitress friend Denise at Underground and a combined English type of pub (Underground) with a Vegas-style lounge sporting a Beach Cities attitude (Chelsea).

The fact you can freely roam from one to the other means you don’t feel, as you are in your second game on a sunny Saturday, that you are cooped up inside the same place all day.

So here’s a cheers to the Chelsea Pub and the Underground Pub, Hermosa Beach’s top sports bar when it comes to college football.

But I also like American Junkie ($3 beers and drinks 3-7 on Saturdays!) and Sharkeez. Oh, and Waterman’s, Fenner’s and Barnacles.

Cheers!