Long before social media, influencer culture and beach restrictions, America’s great beach towns had quirky traditions that brought communities together. One of the most unforgettable was margarita wrestling, a wonderfully ridiculous event that captured the carefree spirit of a lost beach culture.
By Kevin Wilkerson, PubClub.com Editor & Publisher
In this series called PubClub classics, I look back at places, events and traditions that helped shape nightlife and lifestyle. Some have disappeared. Others still exist but have been watered down by changing times. Some are part of a lost beach culture that survives only in memories – and here on PubClub.com.
Take this one in Hermosa Beach, CA, for example.
In all the mayhem that was the 4th of July “back in the day” there was one event that even manage to stand out on a crowded party day: margarita wrestling on the sand.
I kid you not. After the Hermosa Beach Ironman (which ended with contestants slamming a 6-pack of beer before the watchful eyes of judges), a beach volleyball tournament and big house parties all up and down the bike/walking path known as The Strand, there was a margarita wrestling contest.
Participants, some of whom were bikini-clad beauties, stepped into a round inflatable normally associated with being in the backyards of families and wrestled in a pool of margaritas. Well, I don’t know for sure if it was margaritas but it was green and looked like margaritas. Hundreds of people formed large circle would cheer from the sand. I am positive that some (most!?) of them were consuming margaritas. There was even a referee in a zebra uniform.
Once a winner was declared, the contestants stood up, hugged and washed off with a water hose. Then they drank margaritas. This was in the mid-90s to sometime around the 2000s up until about 2010 or so and as you can imagine it was quite the scene.
So, too, was the entire 4th of July in Hermosa Beach to the point locals had a “routine.” It went this way: get to the Ironman on 28th Street at about 9 in the morning, leave after the moshpit punk band (Pennywise, which is from Hermosa, played couple of years) finished at about 11:30 (yes, spectators had beers too, tho the Hermosa Beach Police kept a very close eye on everyone to make sure there were no idiots in the crowd, then hustle down to 2nd and The Strand for the margarita wrestling and, if still standing later, start patrolling The Strand to observe the house parties.
The house party hosts would invite friends over and the unwritten rule was you could go to any of the parties as long as you knew someone at it. Of course, girls of a certain look were always welcome and they received several invitations to them as they walked along The Strand.
Those lucky enough to know the host and owner of “the 90210 house” (the one used in the TV show) would wind up there late afternoon. This stretched from 2nd to 35th Street, or basically the entire two-mile stretch of sand in Hermosa Beach. After sunset and the fireworks show from neighboring Redondo Beach people would gather on The Strand and the beach in front of a house to watch an incredible show by a Michael Jackson impersonator.
Today, the Ironman is still going strong, the 90210 4th of July house party still exists and there’s a few other house parties, tho most of the activity takes place in and around the bars on Pier Plaza.
Now if you think this was a wild-out-of-control party day you would be quite wrong. It was adults having fun and behaving responsibly. Oh sure, we got pretty buzzed but people did not get in fights, destroy property or do other things that would make the city look bad. Heck, we lived there and would be back at the beach the next day. We also wanted to do it all again the next year.
There were no TikTok “teen takeovers” then like the ones that destroyed the 4th of July in Newport Beach and in other cities across the USA.
Margarita wrestling eventually disappeared, but what really vanished was something bigger: a uniquely Southern California beach culture built on neighbors, house parties, local traditions and people who knew how to celebrate without ruining it for everyone else. Those of us who experienced it are lucky we were there.
Do you have a lost beach culture event to feature on PubClub.com? Leave a comment!
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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