An historic journey of Hermosa Beach’s Pier Plaza through photography and firsthand experiences.
All Photos And Video Are Copyright © PubClub.com. Unauthorized Use Or Reproduction Is Prohibited
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Hermosa Beach Blogger
Many people may not know it, but there was once no Pier Plaza in Hermosa Beach. Instead, the block between Hermosa Ave., and The Strand was simply the end of Pier Ave. Cars drove on it and there was parking on both sides of it.
Many of the bars and restaurants you see today were not there. Sharkeez, for example, was a dive biker bar called Pier 52. It was called that because that was its address – 52 Pier Ave. Hennessy’s was there, but it was not the two-room, two-level restaurant/bar is is now. It was tiny one-room bar. On Sunday afternoons, a guy by the same of Wade Preston would play and people would pack into the small space. He was a one-man band kind of guy; he played several instruments, some of them at the same time. Because of this, he was a South Bay legend.
Perhaps the most intriguing place was the Chicago Bears bar. It was the Bus Stop or the Bus Station if memory serves me correctly (this was in my very early years living in Hermosa Beach and even pre-dates PubClub.com) and whenever the Bears played, all the WACCOS would go there to watch the games. The WACCOS – which stands for Western Association of Crazy Chicagoans and Others – were transplants from Illinois who moved to the Beach Cities because of jobs.
But the real redeeming quality of the place was that it was often filled with Swedish girls on vacation. They stayed at the hostel (still there) and were too young to get into anywhere else. One of them figured out that if they showed the doorman their bus pass, which resembled and i.d., and of course was written in Swedish, that it could fool the doorman. Now that was in the days with the police did not send undercover cops into bars to bust bars and and bartenders for serving minors, so it was fine at the time.
American Junkie was a restaurant called Sangria that held legendary post-AVP parties after the pro beach volleyball tournaments in Hermosa and Manhattan Beach. The Mermaid – ahh, the Mermaid – is where Vista is now. Playa Hermosa Fish & Oyster was a Mexican restaurant of dubious food quality but with a fantastic mango margarita and a selection of tequilas that got your’s truly and a friend pretty hammred one night when the owner asked us to try a few because she had not done so and wanted our opinion.
In 1997, the city closed off the lower part of Pier Ave., to traffic and created Pier Plaza.
Through the years, I have taken lots of photos and have lots of memories of Pier Plaza, so this article showcases historical pictures from the 20+ years of this website and the changes to this spot in Hermosa Beach. I have already published an article about how Pier Plaza has changed through the years and how it is now including bars that are still there and some that are not, but this one actually shows those changes through photos and videos.
One thing that has not changed is that Pier Plaza was and still is the heartbeat of Hermosa Beach’s nightlife. There is more dining now than before but it is still where people go off the beach for afternoon beers and at night to take part in Hermosa’s lively singles scene.
So enjoy this trip down memory lane of Pier Plaza as it leads into today.
Then & Now: Is Pier Plaza Better Today?
Well, I’m a bit nostalgic, so I would say it was better then but the real answer, in my opinion, is that it was at its peak in the 2000s-2010 or around that timeframe. Pier Plaza was more of a bar scene then; now somewhat expensive resturants have crept into the area.
The population is also a bit different. Then it was almost all single people and they were looking to meet other single people. That still exists but today there are more families. You used to never see a stroller on Pier Plaza; that is not the case today. Finally, the Hermosa Beach City Council was more bar friendly then. Today, it wants Hermosa to be a “family beach” which is pretty silly in my opinion because Pier Plaza was and will always be a place for South Bay singles and single people go to bars.
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Kevin Wilkerson is the founder of PubClub.com, an award-winning journalist and former South Bay resident who spent years living in Hermosa Beach and covering its nightlife scene. He has covered destinations, events and entertainment for more than two decades and received an Associated Press award for investigative journalism while working as a newspaper reporter.
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