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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

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…

Read More

Best of the Beach 2022: Car Wash, Auto Repair

Car Wash Rock-n-Roll Car Wash The full service washing and detailing by Rock-n-Roll Car Wash, just like Madison WI car detailing, harkens to an era “when service was exceptional and quality was standard.” Throw in a fun and friendly atmosphere and nostalgic décor with memorabilia on the walls and rock on the box, and the…

Read More