Best of the Beach 2022 Art Gallery: Mind surfing with Bo Bridges
A mural by Bo Bridges of a duck diving surfer was recently unveiled by the City of Manhattan Beach on the side of a downtown parking structure. Another Bridges mural is to be installed on the side of the nearby city hall. Around the corner, on Manhattan Beach Boulevard, the newly opened Esperanza restaurant streams […]
911 “swatting” in North Redondo, origin unknown
A text to 911 Redondo Beach emergency reporting shots fired at a residence, with injuries, proved false, officers learned upon arriving on scene last Friday, March 4, about 9:30 p.m. An online gamer, said to be a professional, was live-streaming a game at the house in the 2600 block of Vanderbilt Lane when they received […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Wine Shop, Flower Shop
Wine shop Uncorked The Wine Shop Uncorked has become a wine lovers dynasty. It started out 11 years ago as a humble little shop on the corner of Pier Avenue and Monterey in Hermosa Beach, expanded to the Pacific Ocean in the form of The Deck down on the Hermosa waterfront, and then took over […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Grocery Store (Independent)
Best grocery store (independent) GROW Once upon a not-so-distant time, Grow South Bay was the little shop that could. The store packed a lot into its humble 2100 sq. ft. confines on Sepulveda in Manhattan Beach, with an emphasis and extraordinarily fresh fruit and produce and, for lack of a less hip word, a carefully […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Meat Market (Independent), Meat Market (chain)
Meat Market (Independent) Manhattan Meats Jacob Walsh started working as a cleaner at Manhattan Meats when he was in high school. Right after graduation, his boss, longtime owner Dean Trimble, asked him if he wanted to work full time. “As long as I don’t clean,” Walsh said. “No,” Trimble replied. “I’m going to teach you […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Surfboard Shaper (underground), Youth Club Sports
Surfboard shaper (Underground) Andy Prunauer Andy Prunauer was given his first blank to shape when he was 15, by underground shaper Mario Ciari. Prunauer surfed with Ciari’s son on the South High surf team, coached by former pro Greg Browning. Prunauer credits Browning with insisting he spend as much time surfing as he did shaping, […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Bike Shop, Camera Shop
Bike Shop Hermosa Cyclery The building used to be a candy store. It still is for the four owners of Hermosa Cyclery, who loved their jobs at the bike shop as teenagers, and inherited it as adults. Founder Harold Schumaker surprised them in his will, bequeathing the four the business. This year is the 20th […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Listing Realtor, Sellers Realtor, Commercial Realtor, Escrow Office, Home Staging
Listing Realtor Amy Cimetta Amy Cimetta offers four strong skills to sellers who list for her, during this time of historically low inventory: Knowledge of the local market, based on her 16 years in real estate; story telling to differentiate her client’s property from other sellers’; professional videos because most buyers are searching for homes […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Electric Bikes
Electric Bike Shop Strand Electric Bikes It started with a cancer diagnosis. After Geoffrey VanSickle had his prostate removed at age 51, amidst a couple other health issues during the same six months, he found he could not handle the exertion of riding a bike. So the former stock car and dirt-bike motorcycle racer converted […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Real Estate Law, Trust Law
Real Estate Law Baker Burton & Lundy For a small town law firm, Baker Burton & Lundy deals with huge numbers, having negotiated nearly a billion dollars in real estate transactions last year. “Our real estate department is led by Kent Burton, who has more than 40 years’ experience,” said Clint Wilson, a partner in […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Gift Shop, Kids Boutique, Jeweler
Gift Shop Gum Tree Gum Tree owner Lori Ford survived the pandemic by pivoting. When she was forced to close her Hermosa Beach and Manhattan Beach stores, she moved her merchandise online. Her husband drove around town delivering orders. “It was a pretty scary couple of years,” Ford said. Her 13-year-old business survived and customers […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Men’s Fashion, Women’s Clothes
Men’s fashion Spyder Surf The fashion industry has long recognized Beach City surf shops as leading trend indicators. So it’s not a surprise that over the years, surf shops have increasingly expanded their clothing lines. Nowhere is this more evident than at Spyder Surf in Hermosa Beach. The south wall of the 100-foot deep store […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Door and Windows
Doors and window Cooks Doors and Windows It all started with Uncle Ed back in 1920. He was the first of the Cook family to leave Cedar Rapids, Iowa and try his hand in the South Bay lumber business. His company Tri Cities Lumber was located on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach, where Learned […]
Best of the Beach 2022: Personal Trainer, Martial Arts, Neighborhood Gym
Best Personal Trainer Lou Sidella Body One Fitness bodyonefitness.com 201 Herondo St. #100 310-807-2737 Lou Sidella knows what it takes to help people transform their bodies as they push through obstacles, stay motivated, visualize success and expand their capabilities, because he’s done that for himself. Sidella had spent most of his life uncomfortable with his […]
Best of the Beach: Dog Walking, Dog Grooming, Veterinarian Hospital, Pet Store
Dog Walking Fancy Tails If you watch the reality TV show ‘Vanderpump Dogs’ on the Peacock Network, and you think you recognize a certain dog walker, she’s Tracy Robinson of the wildly popular Fancy Tails, locally owned and operated since 2003. Perhaps more importantly, Robinson is a celebrity in the Beach Cities, through customers’ word […]
Best of the Beach: New Electric Car Dealer
New Electric Car Dealer E3 Vehicles First there was the pandemic. Then war. Both were bad for most businesses, but not for E3 Vehicles, which sells electric LSV (low speed vehicles). According to owner Amy Errett, her sales have benefited from people working, and not needing a car to drive to work. Gas prices topping […]