Mermaid restaurant to reopen on the weekends [HERMOSA BEACH]
The legendary Mermaid restaurant and cocktail bar has been shuttered for three months pending a sale of the property, but Saturday night it will reopen.
Property manager Diana Albergate closed the Mermaid July 30 with the expectation that the sale, which includes the next door businesses, would be finalized quickly. The real estate closing has been delayed repeatedly, however. The prospective owners plan to keep the current businesses at the corner of the Strand and Pier Plaza while they pursue approval for a hotel, a process that figures to take several years.
Albergate said the property remains in escrow and she expects the sale to be finalized in about a month.
The 62-year-old Mermaid will be open on Fridays and Saturdays from 6 p.m. to midnight, and from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. on Sundays, Albergate said. There will be a limited menu and a short staff, she added.
The property was owned by Albergate’s step-father, the late Quentin L. “Boots” Thelen, and has been for sale since his death in 2007.
On Friday evening, Alberagate was making preparations inside the Mermaid while former customers stopped in the doorway and asked about plans for the place.
“We’re reopening on a limited basis,” Albergate said. ER