Posts by Ryan McDonald

After nearly 30 years in the greeting card business, Jai Shim has mastered the lingo. The Hermosa Beach business owner peppers her speech with short, aphoristic bits of wisdom and emotion. But this week, even Jai was at a loss for words. This week marks the end of business for the Hallmark store located near…

Friday marks the beginning of a city-wide ban on single-use plastic bags in Hermosa Beach. The ban applies to retailers, restaurants and pharmacies larger than 10,000 square feet. Smaller stores will have until Oct. 1 of this year to comply, and customers will have the option of purchasing paper bags from retailers for 10 cents…

Political Vandalism An unknown artist became the latest to weigh in on Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump week with a graffito on a South Hermosa park. The words “Trump is the Antichrist” were found spraypainted in white lettering about 8 a.m. March 17 on the door of the former Prospect Heights School, now known as…

Anti-oil activist Chris Miller has settled her lawsuit with the city of Hermosa Beach and others, bringing an end to more than a year of legal wrangling, and closing a wound left by the battle over oil drilling in the city’s tidelands. Miller filed a lawsuit in federal court last October naming the city, Police…

A boy in first grade gets over excited on the playground, and gets called into the office. It happens in schools everywhere. But not in every school is a six-year-old student asked whether he was relying too much on his amygdala, and not enough on his prefrontal cortex. Such is life Hermosa View School, where…

Beach handball Hermosa Beach will host an international team handball friendly  on Saturday afternoon. U.S. handballers will square off against the Brazilians, current world champs, on the sand north of the Pier at 10 a.m. Beach handball is a fast-paced sport in which two teams of four players try to shoot a ball across the…

  The Hermosa Beach City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to oppose a planned ocean water desalination project, joining neighboring Manhattan Beach in opposing the project. Public comment on the proposal was overwhelmingly in opposition, with residents citing numerous environmental and financial concerns. The council made their decision over objections from the West Basin Municipal…

Amy MacConnell and Nicole Rijelle Thompson have crafted a consumer product with no glowing lights or Internet connection — a board game — and wedded it to an ancient discipline, yoga. You could call it old-fashioned. But the two Hermosa Beach yoga teachers believe that their game, Turasa, is more relevant than ever in the…

Community garden The sign-up process for for a plot in the forthcoming community garden at South Park begins Thursday morning. South Park, which reopened earlier this year after a multi-year redesign, features a community garden in the place of a former roller rink. Residents can obtain plots in the garden for growing their own produce.…

The Hermosa Beach Police Department is reaching out to residents living on the Strand in their continuing search for a man last seen on Pier Plaza almost two weeks ago. Michael David Vanzandt, a 36-year-old Lancaster resident, was last seen March 5 about 11:25 p.m. heading toward the Mermaid restaurant. Vanzandt had been out on…

Hermosa Beach moved one step closer to a ban on short-term rentals Tuesday night. Residents packed City Hall Chambers for the Planning Commission’s meeting, and 30 different speakers addressed the commission on the topic. Commissioners unanimously instructed staff to return with an ordinance that would ban temporary housing arrangements, like those organized through websites like…

  Officers with the Hermosa Beach Police Department are continuing to search for a man missing since last Saturday evening, and are seeking any information the public may have. Michael David Vanzandt, a 36-year-old Lancaster resident, was last seen about 10:15 p.m. March 5, leaving the line to enter American Junkie, heading west toward Roberts…