| I love South Bay and can't get it out of my mind. I
always think that it offers the view to Orange County beach
dwellers of what their future will bring. Like
Newport,
Laguna or
Huntington, the
beaches in the South Bay that include Hermosa and Manhattan are
just so hard to visit because you can barely find parking on
busy summer days.
When you arrive to town and notice the steel blue, sparkling
ocean down the hill, you just feel frustrated that you can't be
there right now sinking you toes into the soft, mellow sand. And feeling that
ocean breeze against your skin.
So how does a tourist survive the mad rush to park and get to
these treasured beaches. In a word, perseverance....and patience
are key ingredients.
Like the OC beaches, Hermosa and
Manhattan beaches are
parking meter feed systems costing about $0.25 for 10 to 15
minutes of time. You kind of watch your savings click to the
time when you feed the meters along the oceanfront, and city
streets. Traffic jams are normal, traffic lights and just
sitting in your car are all part and parcel of this crap shoot
to visit the cool L.A. beaches.
On a study we did of beach parking for a downtown business
association that wanted to analyze the beaches in Southern
California and their parking needs, we found that the parking
dilemma exists throughout Southern California, but is especially
a challenge in Manhattan and Hermosa.
While there's a parking garage at Hermosa Ave. and 13th St.,
like everything else, it fills up fast. There are ways to
maximize your beach play in the South Bay. Redondo Beach does a
better job of providing beach parking. Load your bike onto the
back of your car, park there and take a ride along the beach
path to the other beaches.
When visiting for an overnighter, the
Beach House is the closest hotel to the beach. It's pricy
but very nice, and located in the heart of the action.
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