by Laura Garber
Underground Pub & Grill, Hermosa Beach’s only British-style pub, was at its 338-person capacity on Wednesday, June 17, for the 1 p.m. World Cup match pinning England against Croatia.
The bar opened early, at 10 a.m., for the Portugal and DR Congo game. But the line to get in began forming at 7:30 a.m. with English fan and San Pedro resident Jo Schrank.
“Ive been here for about 30 years,” Schrank said. “Every time it’s the World Cup, we come here.”
The bar traces its soccer roots to 1976 when legendary Manchester United’s George Best moved to Los Angeles to play for the LA Aztecs. In 1977, he bought what had been Brughella’s Greek restaurant, and opened Bestie’s, making the South Bay pub a soccer watch-party destination.
Current owner Seth Weiss renamed the pub Underground, but kept the public house theme and soccer fandom at the pub’s core.
Gerardo Somers, a forty-year Hermosa Beach resident from Tlaquepaque, Mexico has been coming to this spot for World Cup matches since the Best days.
On Thursday, June 11, Somers was at Underground with his wife Rhonda and son Austin to watch the first match of the World Cup; Mexico versus South Africa.
“A family that watches soccer together, stays together,” Somers laughed.
Mexico beat South Africa, 2-0 advancing to play South Korea on Thursday, June 18.
“World Cup is hands down the busiest we get,” said Kody Davis, an Underground bartender for eight years, who has worked two World Cup competitions.
“England and USA are our two biggest draws,” Davis said. “Surprisingly, last week South Korea was a big draw.”
During the 2022 World Cup games in Qatar, Underground opened at 5 a.m. with lines starting at 4 a.m. down to Pier Avenue.
Davis says an influx of transplants to the South Bay, a better national soccer team on the international stage, and the popularity of premier players from England like David Beckham joining Los Angeles teams have helped Underground’s popularity for soccer watch parties.
“We have a running joke; prepare for it and nothing will happen,” Davis said. “You have to fly by the seat of your pants.” ER
