Los Angeles & Southern California - Andrea Schulte-Peevers [84]
Most boats, including a daily ferry to Catalina Island, leave from Fisherman’s Village (off Map; 310-823-5411; 13755 Fiji Way), a cutesy strip of candy-colored Cape Cod–style cottages filled with tacky gift shops and forgettable restaurants. North of here, the small Burton Chace Park is a good spot for a picnic, flipping a Frisbee, flying a kite or watching the parade of boats sailing through the Main Channel. In July and August, there’s a free concert series on Thursday and Saturday evenings Click here.
The same months also see the WaterBus in operation, a fun way to get around the Marina. It makes six strategic stops, including at Fisherman’s Village and the park, and costs $1 per boarding or $5 for a day pass.
Just south of Marina del Rey, the Ballona Wetlands (off Map) are the last remaining wetlands in LA County and are home to hundreds of bird species, including the great blue heron. Their habitat, however, has shrunk significantly since construction began on Playa Vista, a custom-planned luxury community for about 11,000 residents.
There’s free and metered street parking throughout the Marina.
South Bay Beaches
South of LAX, Santa Monica Bay is home to a trio of all-American beach towns – Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach – far removed from the grit and velocity of urban LA. Lovely if not lavish homes come down all the way to the gorgeous white beach, which is the prime attraction here. The beach is paralleled by the South Bay Bicycle Trail.
Tourism has been filling local coffers since land baron and railroad tycoon Henry Huntington connected the beach towns to LA with his Pacific Electric Railway in 1905. Even today, attractions here are recreational rather than cultural.
MANHATTAN BEACH
The birthplace of surf music and beach volleyball, Manhattan Beach has gone chic, hip and happening. Its downtown area along Manhattan Beach Blvd has seen an explosion of trendy restaurants, boutiques and hotels. Many of them cluster in the new Metlox Plaza (Manhattan Beach Blvd & Valley Dr), a small and upscale outdoor mall built on the site of a former pottery. Besides the Greek restaurant Petros and a True Religion premium denim flagship store, there’s Shade, the South Bay’s first designer boutique hotel whose bar often spills over with starlets streaming in from the nearby Raleigh Studios where Boston Legal and CSI Miami are shot.
Still, even with this Hollywood-ification, Manhattan is still undeniably a seaside enclave with plenty of beach and surf action around the pier. Every August, thousands of babes in bikinis and hunks in trunks park themselves in the sacred sand to cheer on the pros during the Manhattan Beach Open (www.avp.com), the world’s oldest and most prestigious volleyball tournament (played since 1960). Go to Marine Ave to see them practice year-round.
Family-fun awaits at the compact Roundhouse Marine Studies Lab & Aquarium (Map; 310-379-8117; www.roundhouseaquarium.org; suggested donation $2; 3pm-sunset Mon-Fri, 10am-sunset Sat & Sun; ) at the end of the 928ft-long pier. Pet a slimy sea cucumber, see Nemo the clownfish up close and check out the new deep-ocean tank with its sheephead, anemones and sunflower starfish. The upstairs Kids’ Kelp Corner is stocked with games, books and playthings. Storytelling and crafts sessions are held at 11:30am on Sundays.
There’s metered parking at the base of the pier for $1 per hour and a public parking garage on Valley Dr between Manhattan Beach Blvd and 13th St.
HERMOSA BEACH
Strolling down Hermosa Beach’s Pier Ave on a summer weekend,