Manhattan Beach Pier

Manhattan Beach is a city in southwestern Los Angeles County, California, United States, on the Pacific coast south of El Segundo, west of Hawthorne and Redondo Beach, and north of Hermosa Beach. As of the 2020 census, the population was 35,506.Manhattan Beach is one of the three Beach Cities, along with Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach within the South Bay region of Los Angeles County. The community is known for a long beach stretching approximately 2.1 miles (3.4 km) and roughly 450 feet (140 m) wide. The climate is unusually moderate because of Manhattan Beach's proximity to the Pacific Ocean, with an average year-round high temperature of 69.1 °F (20.6 °C) and an average year-round low of 56.4 °F (13.6 °C).

Bruce's Beach was an African-American beach resort at Manhattan Beach in Los Angeles County, California. The property, which was located at 26th Street and Highland Avenue, was owned and operated by Charles and Willa Bruce for the benefit of the black community when racial segregation prevented them from enjoying opportunities provided at other beaches in the area. After it opened in 1912, it became a successful and popular visitor destination for African Americans. In 1924 the city of Manhattan Beach council used eminent domain to close it down as the area proposed was to be redeveloped as a public park. The property, acquired from the Bruce family and other owners, remained undeveloped for decades. Part of the site was eventually turned into a park in the 1960s and renamed Bruce's Beach in 2007. A lifeguard facility and parking lot were constructed on the beach parcels. In 2021, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to approve returning the county land to the heirs of Charles and Willa Bruce. The complex process of transferring the parcels to their great-grandsons was completed in 2022. In January 2023 the Bruce family announced their decision to sell the beach back to the county for $20 million.

Sand Dune Park is an area of public sand dunes partly on a steep slope that is used for exercise in Manhattan Beach, California. The area has been used by amateur and professional athletes and has been featured in fitness magazines and newspaper accounts as a great workout spot.The park around the dune was built on a converted dump site by local residents in 1964. It was "just a little patch of grass and sand to enjoy when the area was still mostly small beach cottages" and remains one of the last "remnants of a time when much of the South Bay landscape was sand dunes", according to local historian Jan Dennis. Its popularity has grown and fencing, parking restrictions, and closure are being considered.

Peck's Pier was a wooden pier in Manhattan Beach, California, constructed in 1908 by George H. Peck, for whom it was named. Peck was a wealthy real estate developer who owned a lot of property in the area. The pier was located in the area of 33rd and 34th Street and was the only pier in the area open to African Americans.Peck's Pier and Pavilion was a "promotional attraction" for dances, parties, picnics, and roller skating. According to the city's website, it was destroyed in a 1913 storm, and the pavilion was destroyed in 1920 due to "timber rot". Another source, however, suggests Peck's Pier was torn down by "a combination of storms and social injustice", the same injustice that also put a stop to Bruce's Beach, a nearby black-owned beach resort, and chased off black residents.The town's first pier, which was conceived to attract new home buyers, above a "newfangled machine to convert the power of the waves into electricity to light the pier", was built in 1901 (Center Street pier, where Manhattan Beach Pier is now located) on what became Manhattan Beach Boulevard. Another wooden pier on Marine Avenue was also built in 1901.

El Porto is a beach community that is part of northernmost Manhattan Beach, a city in the South Bay area of Greater Los Angeles in Southern California. The boundary of El Porto is 45th Street on the north side, which is the border with El Segundo, and its Chevron oil refinery, to 38th Street, which was the old border with Manhattan; the east-west boundary is Crest Drive, next to the fence of El Segundo's oil refinery, to El Porto State Beach and the Pacific Ocean. The commercial section of El Porto is along Highland Avenue, which is its only main thoroughfare. North of 45th Street, Highland becomes Vista Del Mar Boulevard, which runs along the coast to Playa del Rey. Residents of El Porto are currently zoned to Grandview Elementary School by the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. Fire and Police Services are generally provided by the downtown police and fire facility.

El Porto Beach is a California public beach managed by the County of Los Angeles, located in Santa Monica Bay beside El Porto, which is now part of the City of Manhattan Beach, between the beaches of El Segundo Beach and Manhattan Beach, and is protected under the state park system. The entrance to El Porto's large parking lot, which has meters, is at the west end of 45th Street from Highland Avenue. El Porto is one of the most popular beaches in the South Bay area with surfers from near and far because of an underwater canyon that creates waves usually larger than those at neighboring beaches. These swells have lefts and rights that break over sandbars and are consistently big when other beaches are flat. The breaks can hold waves up to double overhead. El Porto is very close to the Chevron oil refinery and a private corporate Electricity-producing facility for Edison that uses natural gas. Also very close are two city of Los Angeles industrial facilities, namely Hyperion sewage treatment plant and Scattergood Electricity Facility that uses natural gas to produce the electricity. Volleyball courts are located throughout the El Porto beach area. Roller skates and bicycles are rented out at the snack bar for recreation along the bike trail. There are restrooms with showers located throughout; and lifeguards are on duty. No fires are permitted on the beach; dogs are not allowed.

Beach Cities is a nickname for the coastal area of Los Angeles County comprising the oceanfront cities of Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach, and Redondo Beach, located on the south end of the Santa Monica Bay west and south of downtown Los Angeles, north of the Palos Verdes Peninsula on the Pacific Ocean in Southern California. Neighboring Torrance also shares a strip of beach property in the South Bay, but is generally excluded from the group. The three cities share public agencies including the Beach Cities Transit District (with El Segundo) and the Beach Cities Health District.All three are known for their beaches and municipal piers. They are popular with swimmers, surfers, bodyboarders, and other beachgoers. The Strand runs along the beaches and is used for cycling, running and rollerblading.

Hermosa Beach (Hermosa, Spanish for "Beautiful") is a beachfront city in Los Angeles County in the U.S. state of California, United States. Its population was 19,728 at the 2020 U.S. Census. The city is located in the South Bay region of the Greater Los Angeles area; it is one of the three Beach Cities. Hermosa Beach is bordered by the other two, Manhattan Beach to the north and Redondo Beach to the south and east. The city's beach is popular for sunbathing, beach volleyball, surfing, paddleboarding, bars, cycling and running. The city itself extends only about 15 blocks from east to west and 40 blocks from north to south, with Pacific Coast Highway running down the middle. Situated on the Pacific Ocean, Hermosa's average temperature is 70 °F (22 °C) in the summer and 55 °F (13 °C) in the winter. Westerly sea breezes lessen what can be high summertime temperatures in Los Angeles and elsewhere in the county and help keep the smog away 360 days of the year. A paved path, called The Strand, runs along Hermosa's beach from Torrance Beach in the south approximately twenty miles north to Santa Monica. The Hermosa Beach Pier is at the end of Pier Avenue, which is one of the beach community's main shopping, dining and entertainment areas.

The Beach Cities Greenway in Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, California is a 3.9-mile (6.3 km) rail trail. The greenway is a linear park on the median between Valley Drive running along the west side and Ardmore Avenue on the east. Northern trailhead of the Beach Cities greenway is Sepulveda Blvd. and Valley Drive opposite the Manhattan Village shopping center in Manhattan Beach; southern trailhead is Herondo Street and Valley Drive at the Hermosa Beach-Redondo Beach municipal boundary. (Note: Manhattan, Hermosa and Redondo are collectively called the Beach Cities.) Hermosa's section is officially named the Hermosa Valley Greenbelt. Manhattan Beach's section was called Manhattan Parkway until 1988 when was renamed Veterans Parkway. The Manhattan Beach section is approximately 21 acres (85,000 m2) in area and 2 miles (3.2 km) long. The Hermosa Beach section is approximately 19 acres (77,000 m2) in area and 1.9 miles (3.1 km) long. The boundary between the two municipalities is approximately the 1st Street crossing but technically occurs “mid-block.” Popular with joggers and dog walkers, amenities along the trail include quarter-mile markers, outdoor fitness equipment, public art installations, benches and drinking fountains. For those who seek an extended workout, two blocks from the southern terminus of the greenway, down Herondo Street, is the Strand, part of the larger 22-mile (35 km) Coastal Bike Trail along the Pacific Ocean. Bicycles are not permitted on the greenway. The route is unpaved; locals sometimes call the route “the wood-chip trail.”

The Hermosa Beach pier is located in the Southern California community of Hermosa Beach. It extends into the Pacific Ocean. In 1904 the first pier was built. It was constructed entirely of wood even to the pilings and it extended five hundred feet out into the ocean. The pier was constructed by the Hermosa Beach Land and Water Company. In 1913 this old pier was partly washed away and later torn down and a new one built to replace it. This pier was built of concrete 1,000 feet (300 m) long, and paved with asphalt its entire length. Small tiled pavilions were erected at intervals along the sides to afford shade for fishing and picnic parties. A bait stand was built eventually out on the end. Soon after, about 1914, an auditorium building was constructed; it has housed various enterprises and at present the public rest rooms, the Los Angeles Lifeguard Service, and the local branch of the LA County Library occupy rooms in the building. This pier is municipally owned. The pier's frontage has changed in appearance over the years and electric train lines used to run along the coastline.

Mira Costa High School (MCHS, "Costa") is a four-year public high school located in Manhattan Beach, California that first opened 1950. It is the only high school in the Manhattan Beach Unified School District. The school's athletic teams are known as the Mustangs and the school colors are green and gold. Mira Costa is located on the corner of Peck Avenue and Artesia Boulevard.

The Manhattan Beach Botanical Garden (.66 acres (0.27 ha)) is a botanical garden located within Polliwog Park in Manhattan Beach, California. It is open daily with free admission. The garden was first envisioned in 1992, with garden construction starting in 1994. In 1997 the garden became a nonprofit organization, and its grand opening was on Earth Day 2001. It consists primarily of plants native to California.