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JOURNAL
LOCAL INTELLIGENCE
The courts along the sand through Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach are in use year-round by people who are very good at beach volleyball, and a fair amount of the sport's history was made on them. Each summer those same courts host tournaments that bring the best players in the country back to the South Bay. The Manhattan Beach Open, played beside the pier, is the oldest and most prestigious of them.
It does not work like a ticketed stadium event. The courts sit on the public beach, the seating is temporary bleachers plus whatever sand you claim, and most of the watching is free. You walk up, find a place on the berm above the main court, and stay as long as you like. Sponsor tents and food carts fill the sand nearby.
The tradeoff is the crowd. Manhattan and Hermosa are compact cities with a narrow strip of sand and very little parking, and a tournament weekend concentrates a large number of people into a few blocks either side of a pier. If you are staying nearby it is one of the best weekends of the year. If you are driving in, it is a project.
The Marvin Braude bike path, which everyone here calls the Strand, runs along the sand through all of the beach cities. On a tournament weekend it is faster than the road and it eliminates the parking problem outright. Bring or rent bikes, come up from Redondo or down from El Segundo, and lock up a few blocks away from the pier rather than at it.
If you drive, understand what you are dealing with. Beach-city streets near the water are permit-only, metered, time-limited, or some combination, with enforcement that does not pause for events, and the lots fill early. Manhattan Beach's downtown structures are the realistic option and they are small. Street sweeping days catch visitors out even on ordinary weekends.
Two more notes. Morning is the best viewing: the sun is not yet overhead, the crowd is thin and the play is already serious. Finals draw the largest crowd of the weekend by a wide margin. And rental homes in Manhattan and Hermosa book far ahead for summer weekends whether or not a tournament is on, so if a specific weekend matters, ask your local manager early. Confirm this year's tournament dates with the organiser before you build a trip around one.