Redondo Beach 10K, Hermosa Beach Pier Bar Specials & Beach Volleyball
This is truly one of the most fun days of the year in the South Bay. If you do it right, it’s one of those “beers well before noon” days that starts with the 10K beer garden, continues with a dive bar crawl and finishes either at bars or house parties. Or both!
BUT FIRST, A THURSDAY MIXER
Warm up for Super Bowl Sunday with the excellent 310YP mixer at Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach. It goes from 6-8 and these First Thursday mixers are free to attend.
POLAR BEAR VOLLEYBALL COED 4s TOURNAMENT SATURDAY
It’s kind of ironic that something called the Polar Bear Coed 4s tournament is taking place in weather more associated with Smackfest but who’s going to complain about summertime weather in February at the beach!? This is put on by 33 North Productions and here’s deets:
SPEAKNG OF BEACH SPORTS, SMACKFEST EVENTS START SOON
Smackfest Events 2016 is underway, having started with the creative and interesting Bay Club Olympics a couple of weeks ago. Next Thursday it continues with the first of its monthly “2nd Thursday social,” at Sharkeez HB. This involves Flip Cup, Bud Light beer specials, games with prizes and a lot of fun people. It starts at 7:30, then moves over to Fenner’s at 10.
Smackfest Events beach volleyball Saturday classes start on Feb. 13, Thursday nite volleyball classes start March 24, the coed kickball league kicks off on March 30, the Cinco de Mayo coed 4s tournament is April 30, the debut of the South Bay Beer & Wine Festival is May 14 (yes you saw that right, a kind of pre-Trump wine & beer festival!), and Smackfest is July 16 OR 23.
Signup for any and all these events here at Smackfest Events: www.smackfestevents.com
SATURDAY UFC FIGHT
It’s Werdum vs. Velasquez, starting at 5 p.m. Many local bars will be showing it, including Sharkeez (22-ounce Bud Lights for $4.50).
REDONDO BEACH SUPER BOWL 10K & BEER GARDEN
Exercise & socialize! This is where it all begins on Super Bowl Sunday in the South Bay, the lively, festive and fun 10K in Redondo Beach. The 10K run starts at 8:30 a.m., and the 5K walk is at 7:30 (see why I always do the 10K; not only do I prefer the longer run but I need the extra hour of sleep!). Some 7,000 people do this run, several of them in costume.
There’s tons of single people and the highlight is the post-race beer garden. Yes, there’s a beer garden! How better to start your Super Bowl Sunday than in a beer garden!? You do need to be registered to get beers, by the way.
It’s going to be a perfect beer garden day, sunny and highs reaching into the 70s by beer garden time. Here’s all you need to know about the race, the route and the beer garden.
Link: Super Bowl 10K Guide & Beer Garden
HENNESSEY’S MID-RACE BEER STOP TBD
Just three weeks ago, I had a strained knee ligament that caused the joint to get so swollen, the doctor said I set a new clinic record for fluid drained out of a knee.
Hey, I don’t do things halfway folks! I’ve only been able to really start running last week so my pace is off and as a result, I don’t know if I’ll be making my annual beer stop in Hennessey’s in Riviera Village during the race.
I hate to end the tradition but I don’t want to be missing key party time in the beer garden. This will be a game-time decision, tho anyone running with me could perhaps persuade me to veer off the course for the traditional pint.
WHERE TO GO AFTER THE BEER GARDEN
This is our traditional timetable and bar-hopping schedule:
• 9:30-ish-11 – Beer Garden
• 11ish-12:30ish – VFW (it’s just up on Catalina Ave., a 5-minute walk from the beer garden)
• 12:30ish-1:30ish: HBYC (66 Hermosa Ave., the blue awning across from Mickey’s Deli)
• 1:30ish to & thru the game – House party (or parties) and/or bars TBD on the fly
HERMOSA BEACH PIER BARS SUPER BOWL SPECIALS
Here’s food and drink specials at a few Hermosa Beach Pier bars for the Super Bowl. There’s no true Broncos or Panthers bar in the area, but of course there are several transplant fans of both teams, more for Denver than Carolina.
• Fenner’s (starts at 2 p.m.)
– Drinks: 22-ounce drafts for the price of a pint ($5-7), 1/2 off beer bottles & cans, shots & wines, double-sized mixed drinks for the price of a single
– Food: Half off all appetizers, free popcorn
– Games & Prizes: $3,000 in raffle prizes
• Patrick Molloys
– Drinks: Happy Hour until 3 p.m., rotating beer bucket specials during the game
– Food: 25-cent wings
– Games & Prizes: Hot-wing eating contest, beer stein holding contest, raffle & prizes every hour during game
– Post-game the usual Sunday Happy Hour, $3 domestic draft beers, $4 imported draft beers and live music
• Sharkeez (starts at 2 p.m.)
– Drinks: 25-ounce tallboys of Budweiser & Bud Light $5, 22-ounce schooner drafts $4.75-5.75, 100-ounce “tailgate towers” $25 & $28, buckets of 4 beers $14.50 & $16.50, 64-ounce pitchers $15-18, 22-ounce double-shot schooners of cocktails $7-14.50.
– Food: Buffalo wings $4:25 & $4.99, fajitas $5-99-10.75, tacos $2.99 & $3.99, street dog $3.49, beefy bacon sliders $4.25, mini-Mex 3-item combo $4.49.
– Games & Prizes: $500 spicy wing challenge, more than $5,000 in raffle prizes (surfboard, beach cruiser, TVs, GoPros & more)
• The Deck
– $20 NFL towers (96 oz.)
– $20 bucket of Bud Light aluminum and Coors Light aluminum bottles
– $10 domestic pitchers
– Free Coors light Super Bowl glass with pint of Coors light (first come first serve), $7 for 22 ounces and $6 refills
– Tacos, burgers, pepper bellies and hot dogs, all from Hector’s Taco’s
TUESDAY IS FAT TUESDAY!
Yes – Fat Tuesday! If you’re planning on going to San Diego for it’s awesome parade in the Gaslamp, know that it’s Saturday this year. Locally, Saint Rocke is having a free show from Alligator Beach, a band with a good Cajun name. They take the stage at 8 o’clock (band time, of course).
SWEPT AWAY, BLOWN AWAY & WHISKED AWAY ON A SUPER WINDY LAST SUNDAY
I would love to hear your stories about last Sunday’s winds. Check out these photos and video taken from the deck of the King Harbor Yacht Club, where waves were slamming into the jetty and the spray was leaping over the roof!
Link: Heavy Winds & High Surf Hit The Beach Cities
Sunday turned out to be a really fun day; after the Yacht Club a group of us went to the Hermosa Beach Yacht Club, which was debuting live music on Sundays, along with $3 mimosas and champagne (6-8).
Frankly, I wasn’t expecting much but was blown away by the music – it was not one guy on a guitar as I had suspected but two guys belting out the blues. I was also impressed with the quality (and quantities of the pours) of the champagne.
And then, what better way to close the day than seeing Elvis! Graceband performed at Saint Rocke; I just wish I had on some Blue Suede Shoes!
Here’s a post I did on this unexpectedly fun day in the South Bay:
Link: Another Sunday FunDay In The South Bay
THE PIGSKIN PROGNOSTICATOR – THE SUPER BOWL WINNER PREDICTION!
As you know, the Pigskin Prognosticator is a college football guru and stays away from the NFL. But since this is the Super Bowl, here’s a college take on the biggest professional game of the year.
It’s the quarterback who could never beat Florida – and even lost the Heisman Trophy to a defensive back – against a quarterback who was once thrown out of Florida for academic fraud and then was tossing stolen laptops out of his dorm window only to be rescued by Bandit U.
It’s not exactly the setup for the most riveting Super Bowl matchup but then again Super Bowl 50 isn’t really in its host city, either.
It’s interesting to note that the offensive coordinator of the Panthers is former Alabama quarterback and pre-Nick Saban coach Mike Shula. One of Shula’s big problems while coaching the Tide was that he too often played not to lose rather than to win. Keep that in mind if it’s a close game.
Carolina will win because it has two more SEC players – 12 to 10 – than Denver. There are 22 SEC players on the Super Bowl rosters, more than any other conference. The Pac 12 has 12 players, one from USC and none from UCLA.
Here’s another nugget: Manning’s school, Tennessee, won the National Championship the year AFTER he left the Vols. The quarterback of the title team was Tee Martin, who is now USC’s offensive coordinator.
Speaking of college football, National Signing Day was Wednesday. When I covered this, recruiting was an inexact science. It still is, to a degree, but with all the clinics and scouting services, it’s about 75% accurate, which frankly is remarkable. Both USC and UCLA finished somewhere between 10th and 12th in the various scouting service rankings and the #1 team, for the sixth consecutive year, was the University of Al-a-BAM-A!
That’s it for the PubClub.com South Bay Party Report. For this and more, go to PubClub.com where the South Bay – and also the world – Goes To Party!
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