A Surfer’s Haven Hangs On In LA’s South Bay Beach Cities
I had lunch in El Porto the other day.
It was a beautiful and sunny afternoon and I had just dropped off a friend after running and errand with him. I had a sandwich with me and was trying to figure out where I would eat it on my way to a meeting when I noticed an open parking spot, and I instinctively pulled into it.
El Porto is not a small port city in Portugal or Spain, as you imagine. At least not this one. In fact, it’s not a city at all. It’s part of a town, Manhattan Beach, which is part of a large city, Los Angeles. Only long-time locals to the area even call it El Porto. It’s called this because several decades ago it was being considered as the location for the Port of Los Angeles, which instead landed down the Southern California coast in San Pedro.
And that’s for the better, for El Porto – for many years an unincorporated part of Los Angeles County between Manhattan Beach and El Segundo – has become a surfer’s haven. It has the second-best break in LA County (Malibu being the first, tho some would justifiably argue that the LA-Ventura County line is better) and is the only place in the South Bay that has not been overrun by high-prices housing and retail development.
Downtown Manhattan Beach has become to ritzy that some have begun to refer to it as “Beverly Beach.” Hermosa Beach, just to the south, is one big construction zone of traditional houses and apartment complexes being town down and replaced by $10 million homes and overpriced condos. For the life of me, I can’t figure out where all the money will come from for people to live in those places. The house I’ve been renting the past few years is the next one scheduled for demolition and that will be half dozen houses rebuilt within a one-block area.
That’s why I enjoy El Porto so much. It has, for the most part, been able to withstand the changed happening around it. That morning, when I was driving to pick up my friend, I had to stop three times to let surfers in wetsuits, holding surfboards under their arms, go through the crosswalks.
When I sat on a bench to have my lunch, I looked out over a group playing beach volleyball and others looking to catch a wave in the Pacific.
It was so peaceful, so nice.
And that’s El Porto. For now anyway.
Cheers!
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