Manhattan Beach

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This is my blog. I used to hate the word "blog", but this is pretty sweet I gotta say. My first entry is a few days late, but on Sunday I had a few extra hours so I decided to make the trip to Manhattan Beach.

Upon arriving in the city I first saw malls and shopping centers that could pass for Florida and I was unimpressed. After a turn down Manhattan Beach Blvd I thought I had arrived in a different country. Houses tightly packed on moderately steep hills right up to the beach front are all that exist as far as the eye can see. After driving around for 20 minutes not knowing where to park I was once again impressed by the underground metered parking garage I found which ended up costing me one dollar for 2 hours of parking.

The center of town is a little over the top with a tacky-yet-charming tourist trap feel. The shops were generally all local businesses with the exception of Starbucks which actually seemed really out of place yet was surprisingly busy. The town striked me as the type that would be largely anti-Starbucks and Wal Mart. On all streets running perpendicular to the ocean there is a perfect view of the Pacific down the hill. The beach front has two wide sidewalks, one exclussively for bikers. They seemed to stretch for miles and the houses are packed right up against the upper sidewalk with the wide beach immediately on the other side. Volleyball courts are abundant all the way down the beach but there's still plenty of room closer to the ocean for people to lay around and do nothing. There is also a pier which continues out a few hundred feet or so into the water on the path of the main street.

The experience left me expecting to return again in the future, and I had some excellent banana pancakes to boot. On top of that I received a free sparkling green tea from a promotion. Definitely a good weekend afternoon destination.

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