La La Land’s favorite pier: Hermosa Beach
The Hermosa Beach Pier, from the Photowalks series
If you caught the free webcast of the Oscar winning “La La Land,” on Fandango’s Movieclips channel Friday, and you live in the South Bay, you might just be humming “City of Stars” and thinking about the Hermosa Beach Pier right now as we speak.
How many other movies featured Hollywood royalty dancing on our local piers?
(We’re stumped, but we clearly do remember “La La Land,” co-star Ryan Gosling hoofing and singing “City of Stars” on the far end of the Pier.)
Let us celebrate the Hermosa Pier for a moment and what may be the longest pier (at 1,000 feet) in Los Angeles County. The longest SoCal pier honor goes to Huntington Beach, at 1,850 feet, while the longest in the state is in Santa Cruz, where the Municipal Wharf is 2,745 feet. (Of course, it also includes a boardwalk/amusement park with ferris wheel, roller coaster and a fun house.)
The Hermosa Pier is closed now, along with the Strand, due to the COVID-19 crisis and we look forward to getting back out there soon, and experiencing the exhilarating feeling of being out on the water and the ocean under our feet. What difference does length make? In the case of Hermosa vs. Manhattan (928 feet) it’s just a little more room to keep walking out into the sea.
The original Hermosa Beach Pier was first built in 1904, per the Hermosa Beach Historical Society, and it was made out of wood. It washed away a few years later, and got rebuilt with concrete.
Photo of the Hermosa Beach Pier, circa 1920s, from the Hermosa Beach Historical Society
The Hermosa Beach Pier, circa 1930s, from the Hermosa Beach Historical Society
The Pier we see today was re-done in 1965 and is now the focal point of Hermosa Beach, at the foot of Pier Plaza.
“It’s like a testament to the human spirit how many times we build these, and then they get knocked down, but we build them back up,” says Jamie Erickson, the director of operations for the Hermosa Beach Historical Museum, at 710 Pier Avenue.
Historical photo of 1965 Hermosa Beach Pier re-dedication, from Hermosa Beach Historical Society collection
The Pier looks a little lonely today, all locked up, but luckily, a drone view from just outside Good Stuff (seen below) shows the beauty and majesty of the Pier, just waiting for visitors.
In my latest YouTube #Photowalks video, I explore the Hermosa Beach Pier, in video and photos. I hope you’ll click the link (above) and watch.
The Hermosa Beach Pier on May 1, 2020, from the Photowalks series
More Hermosa Beach videos:
Hermosa Beach Photowalk: https://youtu.be/AzFIER8ivQ8
Tour of downtown Hermosa: https://youtu.be/-qEgof5XpMk
Hermosa Beach waves: https://youtu.be/YBE5DZBvW4s