Posts by Ryan McDonald

  Ill-timed power outages in Hermosa Beach earlier this month prompted renewed concern over a local utility’s reliability and reimbursement for outage-related expenses. The blackouts, one of which lasted for nearly 24 hours, inconvenienced residents and cost local businesses thousands of dollars, according to comments at Tuesday night’s City Council meeting. Officials from Southern California…

  Hundreds of residents gathered in South Hermosa Saturday afternoon for the grand opening of South Park. The South Park Universally Accessible and Natural Playground debuted to excited children and relieved adults, the latter who recalled the lengthy process of finishing the park. “It’s really a testament to what happens when people persevere,” said Mayor…

It’s not quite “Field of Dreams” yet, but it’s getting there. Upgraded baseball facilities are planned for Hermosa View School to serve the burgeoning Hermosa Beach Little League. Improvements to the backstop, fencing, dugouts and benches are in the works for the East Hermosa campus, with plans to install them during the President’s Week holiday…

South Park re-opening After years of construction and improvements, South Park will reopen to the public this Saturday. The ribbon cutting ceremony will begin at 3 p.m. at 425 Valley Drive. The park, which formerly housed a roller-hockey rink, blends natural features with recreational equipment to create a “universally accessible” playground for people of varying…

Vehicle Burglary A thief broke into a car in downtown Hermosa last Wednesday and stole several items within, including a pair of children’s shoes. The victim reported the break-in to police about about 2 p.m., police said. The car had been parked near the intersection of Pier and Hermosa avenues. It was not immediately clear…

The release of new renderings for a large planned development has eased residents’ concerns about the fate of Hermosa Beach’s most fabled crossroads. Strand & Pier, the project slated for the northwest corner of Pier Plaza, will include a 100-room hotel, multiple restaurants, and new retail. Previous plans, calling for the hotel to reach 45…

Hermosa Beach may soon be feeling even more connected to the rest of the world. With the release of a Draft Environmental Impact Report last week, the city moved closer to serving as the landing site for a set of undersea cables connecting the United States with the other side of the Pacific Rim, ideally…

Landlord suspected A landlord is suspected of entering her tenant’s South Hermosa residence last Wednesday morning and stealing property, police said. A suspect entered the property at the 900 block of 5th Street and took several children’s toys, police said. The tenants were not at home at the time of the theft, but a subsequent…

Temporarily posted on the wall of the Hermosa Beach City Council Chambers last week were a series of pictures of classrooms through the decades. The transformation — from little red schoolhouse to airy lab-space — underscored the way in which campuses have reflected broader changes in technology and society. Hermosa Beach City School District officials…

The Hermosa Beach City Council confronted a traffic problem of a different sort Tuesday evening: people wanted things to slow down. Confronting what they described as an increasingly dangerous streetscape, residents came before the council petitioning for the installation of two speed cushions along a stretch of 16th Street between Pacific Coast Highway and Prospect…

Apartment Burglary Multiple suspects broke into an apartment near downtown Hermosa last Tuesday morning and took an assortment of valuables, police said. The suspects used a pry bar to open the locked front door of an apartment in a complex in the 1600 block of Monterey Boulevard, according to police reports. Once inside, they took…

Schools Meeting The Hermosa Beach City School District will host a special meeting tonight. The meeting, which will begin at 7 p.m. at City Council Chambers, will gather community input on educational priorities for the city’s schools, and collect residents’ perspective on how those priorities should affect capital projects in the district. is one of…

A knock at the door of Randy and D’Marie Chambliss’ south Hermosa home might go unanswered. It’s not that they’re shy. They just might be in a rather unforgiving corner of the world. The Hermosa couple are members of Saddleback Church, and frequently volunteer on aid missions through the ministry, and through Samaritan’s Purse, a…