Beach 2016: Hermosa Beach short-term rental debate persisted during 2016
No issue galvanized Hermosa Beach this year like short-term vacation rentals. Throughout the year, it pushed City Council meetings into the wee small hours, generated at least two lawsuits, and loomed over the pending approval of important city planning efforts. A practice that had occurred periodically over the decades became impossible to ignore in recent […]
Beach 2016: Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach pass school bonds
Two local districts passed school facilities bonds in 2016. In Manhattan Beach, voters approved measures C and EE, which will provide more than $150 million to improve school safety and upgrade the deteriorating Fisher Gym at Mira Costa High School; both measures cruised to victory, each garnering at least two-thirds of ballots. And Hermosa Beach […]
Beach 2016 Surfing: Big waves, in and out of the water
by Ed Solt After a lackluster XXL swell-starved 2015 winter season, El Nino brought back The South Bay Big Wave Challenge in 2016. “Catching the biggest wave of the winter, it’s a punch chance — there’s so many great surfers in the South Bay, it depends on being at the right place at the right […]
Beach 2016: The Battle of the Redondo Beach Waterfront
The story of the Redondo Beach waterfront was in 2016 the same as it’s been for decades: A desire to move forward is being met with an equally strong push to throw the current plan into the garbage and put a new framework in place that proponents hope would be more in keeping with […]
New Year’s Eve: where to go to celebrate in the Beach Cities
HERMOSA BEACH LOU GIOVANETTI AND HIS BIG BAND ON PIER PLAZA Lou Giovanetti and his Big Band help turn Hermosa Pier Plaza into the South Bay’s answer to Times Square. The East Coast disco ball drops at 9 p.m. But the real New Year’s Eve celebration will begin when the clock strikes midnight, California time. […]
Beach 2016: Developing tensions in Redondo Beach
After years of fits and starts, the saga of the Legado Redondo project seems to have an end in sight. But the legacy of the project, fought over by many members of the South Redondo community who felt most negatively impacted, may ripple throughout Redondo Beach for decades. In its wake, the City is […]
Beach 2016: Stage set for Redondo’s Election Ballot Battle Royale
The June resignation of Redondo Beach District 1’s City Councilman Jeff Ginsburg was a surprise to all, but it was hardly the first shot fired towards the 2017 election season. That honor goes to Mayor Steve Aspel, who went public with his plans for reelection last January. Aspel’s announcement came during a “Mayor’s Reception” held […]
Beach 2016: The Year In Dining
It seems strange to say it, but 2016 was a comparatively quiet year in much of the South Bay dining scene. This isn’t because few places opened, because over fifty did, but because after several years in which outrageous and eccentric concepts were brought to the market, this year was relatively sane. Perhaps the high […]
South Bay Art – 2016, a year in review
She Doesn’t Look Anything Like Her Picture Whether art is a forest fire or a candle flame, the person who creates it has to be something of a matador where the result can be dance-like poetry or a trip to the morgue. But either way, art by its very nature has to push boundaries, take […]