Beach Cities of Southern Los Angeles County

If you want a beach away from the crowds--even in the summertime--you should consider Dockweiler State Beach and/or the beaches of the adjacent tiny village of Playa del Rey. Dockweiler Beach is at the end of the Los Angeles International Airport runways, and there are plane take-offs every few minutes overhead. Okay--so that's the downside. But, the up side is that many people leave this beach alone. I say, WHY? The chance of a plane crashing onto you is much less than the chance of your getting into an accident in your car on the way to the beach! This fine beach has clean, white sand---and it's nice and wide, so it never fills up, even on the busiest summer afternoons. There's plenty of free on-street parking, and there are also large parking lots.

Other than restrooms, there aren't many facilities, but that too keeps the crowds away. The wide stretches of sand are punctuated by green oases of grass and tall stands of palm trees. The beachside bike path splits into two separate lanes here, so there's plenty of room for your sports activities and not a lot of onlookers either, if you're self-conscious about your performance! The little residential village of Playa del Rey, adjacent to the north end of Dockweiler Beach, also has fine sand beaches that are generally only used by the town's residents, and the planes don't fly directly overhead there. The town has several restaurants in it's little business district. (There's no food available at the beach there.) You'll also find a large, grassy park with play equipment for the kids not far from the beach in Playa del Rey.

Hermosa Beach has a problem with not enough parking on busy summer days. Other than that, it's a handy beach with shopping and restaurants adjacent to the central pier area. The town's business district parallels the beach, as well--so even if you're not near the pier, you have access to a various stores and dining opportunities. A wide, concrete path for biking, jogging, skating and strolling extends the entire length of Hermosa Beach. This path gets a bit crowded at times--and not just with tourists on the weekends, either. The local residents love their recreation path, and it's especially busy in the mornings before work, and in the evenings when the people get home. Hermosa Beach has a funny little pier. It's a modern, concrete pier, but it's rather short, and there's no restaurant at the end of it, like most of the metro area piers have, nor is there a restroom on the pier.

On the beach near the pier are numerous, permanently-set-up volleyball nets--Hermosa Beach is a big "beach volleyball" town, and both pro and amateur tournaments are held here from time to time. The beach itself is wide, and its sand is white and clean. It's a fine beach for swimming, as well. You can stroll onto the plaza across from the beach and pier areas without having to cross a busy street. The plaza is wide enough to accommodate a crowd of visitors in the summer, and even an occasional band playing a concert. Several restaurants are located on this plaza, including the casual Cantina Real, which serves reasonably priced Mexican food. There are parking lots behind the buildings of the plaza, which serve both the businesses and the beach. These lots are quite adequate most of the year, but fill up quickly on busy summer weekends. The parking lot situation is the reason that I prefer to visit Hermosa Beach during the off-season.

Three beach cities--Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach, and Redondo Beach--blend from one to the other without any noticeable break. If you did't see a sign, you wouldn't know when you leave one city and enter the other. And yet, the three beach cities are different from one another too. The main street which runs by the beach in Hermosa is flat--even with the beach and ocean. In Manhattan Beach, the roadway rises onto a bluff. Eventually, you must look down long, steep streets to see the ocean. To me, the geography seems reminiscent of San Francisco. The steep streets don't make getting around in Manhattan Beach an easy thing to do. Actually, I don't spend time in Manhattan Beach--other than to drive through it--because of the terrain.

But the beach itself in Manhattan is just as fine a beach as any in the metro area. It has a wide swath of clean, white sand. Many permanent volleyball nets are set up, and beach volleyball is VERY big in Manhattan Beach. It hosts various pro tournaments. The pier is an attractive, modern concrete pier, which features a restaurant at the end. A bike/jogging/skating path runs the entire length of the beach in this city. As in Hermosa Beach, the recreational path is much-loved by the city's residents, and can get crowded during the popular morning before-work and the evening after-work exercise times. The city's business district runs parallel to the beach, although several blocks away from it. You will find a variety of shops and restaurants along the business district's street, but because of the terrain, you'll have to walk up steep hills from the beach in order to get to them.

Redondo Beach has an interesting and unusual pier. It's unusual because rather than being straight, it forms a complete loop, so you can walk its entire length without ever having to see the same sight twice. It's interesting because it has a variety of attractions to appeal to people's differing interests. A large parking lot is adjacent to the pier, which makes it easy to enjoy the attractions. As you step onto the pier, you first pass a row of businesses: restaurants, fish market, and tourist-oriented shops, such as a colorful kite store. You could easily spend hours in this area alone.

If you walk on past the shopping end, the "fishing" section of the pier begins. Folks stand by the railings with their poles, hauling in their catch from time to time. Seagulls perch nearby, looking wistfully at the captured fish. At this point, the pier is parallel with the land. You can stand on one side to look out to sea, and on the other to watch the shore. The concrete of the pier is stamped with cute figures of various types of marine life, as you'll see in one of the photos below.

Walking on, you'll loop back towards the land and end up in the marina area, where beautiful, small craft bob gently at their moorings. At this point, the pier-side buildings have a "downstairs," and if you explore there, you'll find an ugly, but quaint, old-fashioned boardwalk-type amusement center. It features carnival games and even a ride or two.

Driving south from the pier, the swath of sand becomes narrower. Eventually the sand ends into the abruptly rising mountain of the Palos Verdes Peninsula. This peninsula offers an ocean-side drive high on a cliff that is, in my opinion, worth your time to explore. I like to make the peninsula drive at least once a year. It's out of the way, but that means few crowds. The view is spectacular.

The Palos Verdes Peninsula is in an out-of-the way and still PARTLY undeveloped section of southern LA County. The spectacular ocean views from its miles-long cliffside drive are worth the effort to find and explore. Plus, since much of the scenery is still native plantlife, you'll get a rare (for Los Angeles!) "country-in-the-city" feeling! The drive runs from Redondo Beach on the north, to San Pedro on the south. There aren't many services or attractions along the way, but the view is really all you need.

For the tourist, San Pedro's Ports o' Call Village is the major attraction, along with its neighbor, the cruise ship docks. From here, you can catch a 3- to 7-day cruise ship down to Cabo San Lucas or Mazatlan.

Ports o' Call Village is a cute shopping/strolling/dining area, modeled after a New England fishing village. There are both casual and formal restaurants, a variety of wares--from trinket shops to fine art galleries, and even a chance to cruise! Well, it's just a one-hour tour of the port of LA, but it costs a lot less than the cruise liner to Mexico! I need to warn you about this tour, though. If you want to see ritzy yachts moored in an attractive marina, or high-end, waterfront homes, this isn't the tour for you. (For scenes like that, I recommend the Newport Harbor tour in Newport Beach down in Orange County.) THIS tour shows you the gritty scenes around the port of Los Angeles. You'll see boats arriving from Asia, laden with boxcar-shaped loads of merchandise. You'll see tall cranes, used to unload the ships. You'll see the San Pedro waterfront...which is in the middle of a 30 year re-development plan, but that doesn't mean it's the world's most scenic waterfront YET. I enjoyed the tour myself, though. It was like a "factory tour" but on the water---you'll learn how the nuts and bolts of international trade really happen. A real plus about the tour is that it's all behind the giant breakwaters used to eliminate waves (to make it safe for all the cargo ships coming and going.) Even those who get seasick easily (like me!) won't have that trouble here.

As far as the restaurants go, other than to grab a soda or an ice cream cone, I've only eaten in one of them. That was "Acapulco", a Mexican restaurant. The entrees were in the $9--$15 dollar range. I had the shrimp enchiladas. I was afraid all the sauces would hide the shrimp flavor, but they didn't--I could really taste the seafood. I was pleased and would order it again. The Ports O' Call Restaurants is one of the ritziest restaurants in this area, with elegant decor and place settings, along with a Continental and seafood menu. Conversly, the Fish Market Restaurant is one of the most casual. You eat your food on outside tables while staring at lobster tanks and sniffing the decidedly fishy odor of the seafood market.