Lobsters, Beer, Bands, Pirates, Wenches and Lots of People In a Sunny Seaside Setting at Ports O’Call
- The Bar Blogger found a bar with beer at the Lobster Festival, and thus was happy.
If there’s one thing that excites the Bar Blogger, it’s being outside in a sunny setting drinking a good, cold beer.
Festivals are particularly engaging because they involve bands and lots of people, many of whom also enjoy being outside in a sunny setting drinking a good, cold beer.
And that’s exactly what I experienced at the Port of Los Angeles Lobster Festival in 2011. It was my second time at the annual event, which is the second weekend in September each year, and this one was no different than the first.
- Some 40,000 people go to the San Pedro Lobster Festival and here are a few of them.
- The stars of the festival: lobsters and beers.
Well, there was one difference: Pirates and wenches. That’s a nice addition, especially since I have a bit of pirate in me and I like wenches. The wenches were actually on stilts and they were impressively steady on those tall sea legs.
For most, the main attraction of the event were the lobster dinners ($18, includes two sides and bread). Organizers go through 30,000 in three days. But a friend and I felt our time was better spent with beers in our hand by the water and stage than waiting in the fairly long line for one (you can see our priorities!). After all, there were big signs that said BAR, and that was too much for us to pass up on a gorgeous Sunday afternoon.
- The big BAR sign proved to be an attraction to the Bar Blogger.
- We’ll take two: Beers served with a smile at the San Pedro Lobster Festival.
We opted for Landshark Lager, which I feel is an ideal beer for sunny days. It’s light but also flavorful. Other choices were Budweiser, Bud Light, Michelob AmberBock and Shock Top, the wildly popular Belgian wheat ale. Can’t complain about the $6 price, either, not at a festival.
The beers, along with the music and the location on the water near the Port of Los Angeles, made for a very pleasant afternoon. We walked around the grounds, which are sizeable but at the same time quite manageable. The pirates and wenches were putting on a show, there were remote-controlled race cars, a second band on a smaller stage, a vending expo and carnival area.
- The Lobsta truck lobster rolls were good, but small and pricey at $12.
- The hush puppies from the Rajun Cajun food truck made the Bar Blogger’s day.
Eventually, we gave in to our stomachs, as well as being around so much lobster. The line for the dinners was still long but we noticed there was none at the Lobsta food truck, so we had a lobster roll. It was most definitely tasty and worked perfect with the Landshark Lager, but it was small and at $12 hardly left us feeling like we got a good deal (that’s only a few dollars less than the full dinner).
Still feeling hungry, I noticed Rajin’ Cajun had a food truck. That was one of my favorite restaurants in Hermosa Beach until it was shoved aside so the property owner’s son could open Rockefeller’s. We got an order of hush puppies for $5, and that turned out to be the call of the day at Ports O’Call. The Bar Blogger is from the South, and hush puppies are a rare treat in Los Angeles.
There were about 10 of them in the order and they were as delicious as I remember from the restaurant and they worked perfectly with the beers. It was such a good match, in fact, that we went back for more beer and another round of hush puppies.
People all around us were enjoying their lobster dinners and their beers, but we could not have been happier with our food and drinks.
For more on the San Pedro Lobster Festival, click here.
SAN PEDRO PORTS O’CALL LOBSTER FESTIVAL PHOTOS
- A beer on the grass with a live band providing music makes for a good day.
- A beer and a band, Sunday afternoon at the Lobster Festival.
- People proudly pose with their catch of the day: Lobster dinners.
- A linup of bands provides constant music for the festival’s three days.
- This wench on stilts is actually dancing to the band’s music.
- Not sure how the wenches kept their sea legs steady on those stilts.
- This acrobatic pirate performs a stunt with the harbor as an appropriate backdrop.
- All the wenches in a row at the 2011 San Pedro Lobster Festival.
- The San Pedro Lobster Festival is on the water with sailboats in the harbor.
- The Bar Blogger is happy with his “friends,” the Budweiser kegs.
- The event goes through 30,000 lobsters in three days.
- People fill the tables to eat their lobster dinners wash them down with cold beers.
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