Learn more about in-home care options for your loved ones

Want to have a warm cup of coffee, take a morning walk on the beach or catch a wave? Doing so will now cost you more in Hermosa Beach.

The City Council, on a 3-2 vote this week, extended the morning hours of the 1,566 parking meters throughout the beach town, with motorists set to begin paying at 8 a.m. each day rather than 10 a.m. The meters will still stop at 2 a.m.

But residents could get a break with a proposed early bird pass that will allow purchasers to park from 8 to 10 a.m. The pass could potentially cost $180 a year, which averages out to less than 50 cents a day, according to Councilmember Justin Massey, who voted to extend the meter hours and proposed the annual pass for “early birds,” such as surfers and volleyball players or other groups that regularly arrive early to the city.

“We want to encourage people to come down and be active and use our beaches, while at the same time accounting for the fact that visitors do come,” Massey said. “Some of them not are not regular patrons, but it’s important for us to be able to recoup from those users some of the costs of making the city available, by making our public resources available to them.”

Besides Massey, Mayor Raymond Jackson and Councilmember Rob Saemann supported the extension. Councilmembers Mike Detoy and Dean Francois opposed it.

Detoy said he doesn’t believe a change in the hours was needed. He also said he was concerned about the impact on residents who want to visit the beach and don’t have a parking permit, as well as visitors who might have breakfast at Scotty’s on the Strand or grab coffee at Java Man. They might be deterred from visiting, Detoy said.

“Anything we can do to spur the livelihood of our downtown coffee shops and breakfast shops and our salons,” Detoy said, “and you know that 8 to 10 a.m. is a magical time in Hermosa Beach; (walk) around the community and you see all these young families out with dogs or strollers,” Detoy said.

That was also a concern for some business owners and residents who spoke at the Tuesday, March 28, council meeting.

“I do think it has the potential certainly to negatively impact our early morning businesses, and even our later morning businesses,” said resident Raymond Dussault, “if they are those people that are in the habit of coming here because they get that couple hours free, who then stay and patronize our retail establishments.”

The city currently raises $3.9 million in revenue from the parking meters while incurring $4 million in expenses, said Hermosa Finance Director Viki Copeland.

Hermosa Beach, Francois said, is “heavily metered” compared to other cities.

“I think the other cities realize that it’s not an income producing project,” Francois said. “We spend more on enforcing it than we do taking money in.”

But raising the meters to $2 and $2.5 an hour would create an annual revenue increase of more than $1.8 million, according to a staff report, while increase the hours of operation by two hours would result in a revenue increase of more than $815,000.

Coastal access, though, was also a concern for Francois.

“Every time we do something like this, we’re reducing coastal access,” Francois said. “People have the desire to be able to come down early in the morning and (be at the) beach until 10 in the morning without having to pay for it.”

During a previous meeting, the City Council raised parking meter rates to $2 per hour before 8 p.m. and to $2.50 an hour from 8 p.m. to 2 a.m. Previous rates were $1.25 to $1.50 per hour.

The last times rates were changed was in 2016, according to a city staff report, and the hike will bring Hermosa’s rates closer to neighboring cities.

Manhattan Beach charges $2 an hour at its on-street meters and $2.50 for meters in county parking lots, according to a rate comparison of neighboring cities by Hermosa staff.

Redondo Beach charges $1 per 40 minutes on its bike path, North Harbor Drive, George Freeth Way and the Veteran Parks lot, according to a staff report. It also charges 25 cents for every 10 minutes, 10 cents for every four minutes and 5 cents for two minutes.

Redondo Beach’s parking meter permits, which are numbered and require a California license plate, cost $110 annually per vehicle, with a four-hour limit.

In recent months, the Hermosa Beach City Council has been tackling parking issues in the town, including increasing the price of residential parking permits within the coastal zone and limiting how many a single household can have.

Though there is currently no timeline for when the meter hours will change, city staff said in a Wednesday email that they will let residents know before the new pricing goes into effect.

Sign up for The Localist, our daily email newsletter with handpicked stories relevant to where you live. Subscribe here.

It was just around the time Italian food was starting to gain popularity in the United States after World War II when Michael Angelo “Mickey” Mance decided to head to the beach and start serving pizza, spaghetti and sandwiches to the surfers and residents of Hermosa Beach.

Obviously the locals loved it as Mickey’s Italian Deli & Pizzeria is celebrating seven decades in business this month.

“This community made us,” said 65-year-old Paul Mance, the current deli owner and son of Mickey Mance, who opened the business at 101 Hermosa Avenue in 1953. “We are here to feed people … and we wouldn’t be who we are without them.”

The pastrami deluxe sandwich, shown here on Friday, Mar. 31, 2023, is a customer favorite at Mickey’s Deli in Hermosa Beach. (Photo by Howard Freshman, Contributing Photographer)

Paul, along with his son Mickey Mance — who is named after his grandfather and helps run the business — will be celebrating the milestone anniversary from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. on Saturday, April 8 with raffles that include prizes like a free pizza per week for an entire year and a free sandwich once a week for a year. One lucky person will even win a new TV and others will get meal deals as the deli rolls back the price of their famous sauce sandwich and the Mickey’s Combo to just .70 cents.

“I think this is a place where people can just come and feel like family,” said 33-year-old Mickey, who started working at the deli as a teen before heading off to college and returning about six years ago to help run the place.

The senior Mance was just 22-years-old when he decided to open the joint, during a time when Italian cuisine wasn’t nearly as popular as it is today.

“At that time nobody really knew what pizza or lasagna, meatballs, spaghetti was,” Paul said. “It was very uncommon in the ’50s. If you were Italian, you knew that, but as a whole, not a lot of people knew.”

Some of Paul’s earliest memories include his dad, uncles and grandfather all hanging at the deli, cooking and just being part of the neighborhood.

“It was really cool,” he said. “Mickey’s has always been known as a place of community. There were always moms, kids, everybody coming here. It was like they were our family. We were their family and they were our family.”

He also remembers the story behind the sauce sandwich, one of the eatery’s staple dishes.

It was created back in the 50’s shortly after the deli opened when surfers would come into the place with about 5 cents looking for something to eat, Paul said.

So his dad grabbed a roll, added marinara sauce and served the simple, but tasty sandwich for a nickel.

“My dad would see these kids coming off of the beach freezing, so he would be like ‘Here, eat something hot,’” Paul said.

Sporting a surfboard-shaped sign out front and neon signs on two windows that read “Mickey’s” on one side and “Sandwiches, Catering, Pasta” on the other, not too much changes through the years when it comes to the old school feel at the deli. People order at the counter and can also do a bit of shopping since the establishment also serves as a small market selling marinara sauce, pastas and other items. A mural on the patio depicting Mickey Mance senior sitting alongside Frank Sinatra and Marlon Brando was added a few years ago and has become a popular selfie spot.

“Not only is it generations of our family coming here, there are generations of our guests’ families coming here,” Mickey said. “We have people coming in with their grandchildren that are telling us stories about when they came in when they were five-years-old.”

While Mickey’s may be well-known to the locals, those visiting from out of city, state or country should definitely try these five menu items, according to Paul and Mickey.

The Sauce

This is one of the original sandwiches at the deli. It’s just basically marinara sauce on a French roll. It’s simple, delicious, hot and filling.

Mickey’s Combo

This meaty beauty is one of their best-sellers and is made with cotto salami, chopped ham, bologna, Swiss cheese, plus mustard, mayo, lettuce, tomato, pickles, pepperoncinis and red onions on a roll.

Italian Combo

This is their fancy combo and the top-selling sandwich. It’s made with imported meats like Buon Gusto salami, plus mortadella, capicola, provolone with lettuce, tomatoes, pepperoncini, onions and it’s doused with oil and vinegar.

Hermosa Chicken Sandwich

This hot sandwich comes with a grilled chicken breast, mayo, Swiss cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, avocado and alfalfa sprouts.

Pastrami Deluxe Sandwich

“There are a ton of people that come in for this one,” Mickey said. “We grill the pastrami on a flat top griddle, so it kind of gets a little but of crispiness.” Besides pastrami, it includes mustard, mayo, provolone, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles and pepperoncini.

For more information, call 310-376-2330 or go to mickeysdeli.com.

by Bethany Willetts and Kevin Cody

Monday morning, The Spot restaurant owner Tonya Beaudet emailed her loyal customers: “As most of you know, we have been struggling since COVID began. Today will be our last day to be open. Thanks so much for 43 years of food and fun. Love Tonya.”

“It’s time,” she said in a phone interview from her home that day. Though the restaurant was so busy it ran out of food, she did not want to go into work.

When Beaudet, and her late husband, Maurice, took over The Spot in south Hermosa Beach in 1981, it was one of three vegetarian/vegan restaurants in Los Angeles. The other two were The Golden Temple in the old Farmers Market, and Follow your heart Cafe, in the Valley.

In recent years, the choice of vegetarian/vegan restaurants in the Beach Cities, alone, has expanded to include lil’ Vegerie, Green Temple, Pura Vita, Veggie Grill, and Grain Cafe.

But despite the competition, The Spot continued to attract old and new customers with Beaudet’s original menu, based on her Southern grandmother’s use of beans, collard greens, and whole grains.

Customers spoke reverentially about The Spot’s savory sauce, served generously over the savory spud, presto pasta, and steamers (vegetables and brown rice.) The Spot Veggie Burger was featured in the Travel Channel’s “Hamburger Paradise Round-up.” Their mainstay comfort food, the Mushroom Walnut Loaf, was Sir Paul McCartney’s go-to take-out order.

McCartney became a Spot regular when the Beatles performed at the Forum, and Beaudet would hang out backstage with McCartney’s son James.

When the pandemic hit in 2020, The Spot, like other restaurants, survived on take out and government subsidies.

Last spring, as the pandemic receded, and her business began to recover, she received a $30,000 utility bill. She had thought the bill, accrued during COVID, would be forgiven, but subsequently learned the forgiveness applied to homeowners, but not business owners.

The repayment program, coupled with her regular utility bill, totaled $4,000 a month.

“I started to fall behind on rent. When you have to choose between keeping the power on or paying the rent, you pay to keep the power on,” she said.

“My landlords are kind people. They gave me so many breaks. My rent was already ridiculously low. They deserve the opportunity to remodel and get the same rent other Hermosa landlords get,” Beaudet said.

Beadeut was 26 in 1981, when she and her husband bought The Spot. They planned to keep the restaurant until its lease ran out, in three years. Her chef Louis has been with her 39 years.

“My staff is like family, and I love my customers. But it’s time to move on,” she said.

Beaudet said she’d like to open another restaurant, but has no immediate plans. ER

9 comments so far. Comments posted to EasyReaderNews.com may be reprinted in the Easy Reader print edition, which is published each Thursday.

HERMOSA BEACH, Ca. — Trevor Crabb doesn’t do guarantees anymore. After a spur-of-the-moment, poorly-planned guarantee heading into the 2022 Atlanta Gold Series — which followed, of course, a third consecutive guarantee come true with a win in Fort Lauderdale — Crabb retired from the guarantee game. In the lead-up to this weekend’s AVP Hermosa Beach Open, however, he did offer up a prediction, which is sort of the politically correct version of a guarantee.

“I’m predicting a Crabb vs. Crabb final,” he wrote on social media, a post which was followed, appropriately, by a pair of videos produced by the McKibbin Brothers labeling him as the villain of beach volleyball.

Every sport has its villain, its foil. How many have a villain with the eerie prescience of Trevor Crabb? Eleven days after Crabb predicted an all-family final, the beach volleyball world was treated to exactly that, as Crabb and Theo Brunner met Taylor Crabb and Taylor Sander in front of a packed stadium court whose line to get in snaked all the way to the Hermosa Beach strand.

Per usual, the Crabb feast delivered, as Crabb and Brunner won, 19-21, 21-13, 15-10 in an excellent final.

The victory was a significant one for a number of reasons.

Brunner has now won three consecutive Hermosa Beach Opens in which he’s played, dating back to 2018 when he and John Hyden beat Billy Allen and Ryan Doherty in a tremendous final. He skipped 2019 to play the Vienna Major, and it would be Chase Budinger and Casey Patterson who took victory in his absence. Last year, however, he and Chaim Schalk won their first and only AVP as a team in Hermosa, knocking off — guess who? — Taylor Crabb and Sander. One season later, Hermosa would again prove to be the grounds on which Brunner won his first event with a new partner.

“We live in Redondo Beach, and we train here every day, so these are our conditions, this is our sand, this is our wind,” Brunner said. “To be able to play and compete at the high level, like we train every day of every year for the last ten years is awesome.”

Brunner was, statistically, playing at as high of a level as possible. He led the tournament in hitting percentage (.633) by nearly 14 percentage points, finished second in blocks per set (2.57), and hit just 2 errors in 49 attacking attempts. It was his blocking, which was uncharacteristically quiet all tournament, that turned the final.

Crabb and Sander navigated Brunner’s block well in the 21-19 opening set win, hitting .536 as a team while only getting blocked a single time.

“I tell you what happened,” Brunner said. “I guessed wrong every time in the first set and then I began guessing right in the second and third sets.”

Trevor Crabb wasn’t amused by his partner’s notorious streak of self-deprecation. He knows guessing had nothing to do with what happened next: two blocks and a pair of soft blocks in the second set, five more stuff blocks in the third. The hitting percentage of Crabb and Sander dipped from .536 to .250 to .125 as Brunner adjusted and the Taylors failed to readapt.

“I think he had a good read on the little bro,” Trevor Crabb said. “He took over the game, all I had to do was keep the side-out at a good number and I think I did that.”

Indeed, Trevor Crabb led all players with a .600 hitting percentage in the finals, killing 20 of 30 balls with just two errors.

It was, as the results indicate, the best Crabb and Brunner have performed all year. They lost just two sets all weekend, both to Crabb and Sander, once in the quarterfinals and the other in the finals. It’s a type of performance they’ll need to sustain, as Hermosa is only the beginning of a crowded stretch of tournaments for every player aspiring to qualify for the Olympic Games.

Crabb and Brunner, as well as Tri Bourne and Chaim Schalk — who finished third — Taylor Crabb and Sander, Miles Evans and Chase Budinger — who finished fifth — Troy Field and Evan Cory — who finished ninth — and Tim Brewster and Kyle Friend — who also finished ninth — will be boarding a flight tonight for Portugal, bound for next weekend’s Espinho Challenge.

Corinne Quiggle, Sarah Schermerhorn win first AVP title in Hermosa Beach

While Trevor Crabb must be given significant credit for his correct — again — prediction of the men’s final matchup, not even the most prescient of prognosticators could have foreseen the anarchy that occurred in the women’s field. With the top four teams gone competing in the Gstaad Elite16, parity was the word of the weekend for the women.

Chaos predictably ensued. The 16 seed, Jaden Whitmarsh and Devon Newberry, claimed the opening set off top-seeded Kelley Kolinske and Hailey Harward. While Harward and Kolinske would wind up winning, the tone for the weekend had been set. In that first round alone, the 12 seed, Macy Jerger and Megan Rice, beat the five, the 13, Savvy Simo and Megan Rice, stunned the four, and the 14, Carly Kan and Lexy Denaburg, nearly toppled the three in Zana Muno and Deahna Kraft.

Hermosa was never expected to be a chalk walk on the women’s side. But the mess that ensued this weekend was wilder than anyone could have predicted, resulting in a semifinal that featured the 13 playing the 14 and the seven playing the six.

Through it all, Corinne Quiggle and Sarah Schermerhorn emerged unscathed, dropping just two sets en route to their first win as a team and as individual players in one of the wildest AVP tournaments in recent memory.

When all was said and done, and all 29 matches were played, there were a total of 16 on-paper upsets, including Kan and Denaburg, the 14, beating the 11, 1, 10, and 2, all in a row; Newberry and Whitmarsh, the 16, beating the 8 and the 3; Katie Horton and Brook Bauer, the 9, beating the 8 and the 1; and, most surprising of all, Savvy Simo and Megan Rice, the 13 haphazardly thrown together after Toni Rodriguez pulled out with a knee injury, stunning the 4, 12, and 9 to make the semifinals, where they’d meet, of all teams, 14th-seeded Kan and Denaburg.

Sheesh.

Take a breath.

In the end, it seemed, team chemistry prevailed. Schermerhorn and Quiggle have played in more tournaments as a team than every other pair in the field. Rice was playing in the first main draw of her career, after losing in qualifiers in New Orleans, Huntington Beach, and Denver. Her and Simo had never once stepped on a court together. (Note: Rodriguez is fine; she was being cautious with the Espinho Challenge this weekend and opted to rest instead of pushing it)

The honeymoon effect can only extend a team’s run so far, and Quiggle and Schermerhorn put on a convincing display in the finals, winning 21-15, 21-16.

“It feels absolutely amazing,” Quiggle said. “One for one in the finals. Just super excited to be here on the beach we practice on every single day. It feels like home here.”

“It feels really good,” Schermerhorn added. “I’m really happy to have done this with Corinne. It’s paid off.”

It is notable that they did it together. This year has not been kind to Quiggle and Schermerhorn. They’ve lost in three Challenge qualifiers in three times trying, watching as their entry points disappeared, to the point that simply getting into an event is difficult. They dropped consecutive matches in Huntington Beach and needed to qualify for the Atlanta Gold Series via a semifinal finish in last weekend’s Denver Tour Series.

Hermosa was the right result at the right time — a time when some teams would consider splitting. They remained a team through it all, and the payoff is a massive one: a win in one of beach volleyball’s most popular locations, $14,000 to split, and the intangible morale boost when it was needed most.

“It’s very much a marriage of partnership,” Schermerhorn said. “I live in Florida, my husband is in Florida, so it can be emotionally hard to be out here, but Corinne and her family have been so supportive. We’re just proud to be a part of this environment, the volleyball culture out here, and to be able to compete against some really great players.”

Like the men, a cavalcade of women are also heading the LAX, boarding flights to Portugal, including Betsi Flint and Julia Scoles, Simo and Rodriguez, Emily Stockman and Megan Kraft, Horton and Bauer, and Kraft and Muno.

Hadley Hill has several roles in "Masters of Movement: Ballet Through the Centuries."

Westside School of Ballet, Brand Partner

|Updated Fri, May 26, 2023 at 6:23 am PT

This is a paid post contributed by a Patch Community Partner. The views expressed in this post are the author's own, and the information presented has not been verified by Patch.

A cast of over 80 student dancers — including Hadley Hill from Hermosa Beach — are preparing to perform this weekend in Westside Ballet of Santa Monica's “Masters of Movement: Ballet through the Centuries,” returning for the ninth year at The Eli & Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center.

On Friday, May 26, the five-decades-strong nonprofit performance company will host its annual Soirée special event, including cocktails, appetizers, awards, and one-night-only guest artist performances. Andrea Laššáková and alumnus Adrian Blake Mitchell will dance Westside’s Premiere of “After the Rain” by acclaimed choreographer Christopher Wheeldon; and Maté Szentes and alumna Lyrica Woodruff will perform George Balanchine’s dazzling “Stars & Stripes”. Repertoire also includes a suite from Marius Petipa’s “Raymonda” and a newly commissioned contemporary work, “Color of Spring” by Vanessa Van Wormer. Both contemporary works feature live music.

On Saturday, May 27, the festivities continue with repertoire featuring the Westside Premiere of George Balanchine’s “Emeralds Pas de Trois”; excerpts from “Sleeping Beauty”; “Handel Dances” by resident choreographer Sophie Monat; and concluding with audience favorite “A Chorus Line”. Saturday’s pre-professional showcase includes divertissements from Marius Petipa’s “Raymonda”, as well as Ms. Wormer’s piece, again with live music.

Hadley (15), a freshman at Da Vinci Connect High School, will be showcased in the Corps de Ballet in “Ramonda”. She also will perform in “Color of Spring” and “A Chorus Line”.

“Through ballet, I have learned that to achieve your goals you have to be determined, dedicated, and work as hard as you can,” Hadley says. “To become good at something you have to strive for greatness and take all the opportunities that are given to you. This not only applies to ballet but also to school and many extracurriculars or jobs as hard work leads to growth and improvement. By putting effort into something, once you get the envisioned outcome, you feel amazing and that you really earned what you have accomplished.”

Contemporary Ballet & Jazz Pieces

For the second consecutive year, Westside's advanced pre-professional dancers will perform Van Wormer's original work to live music. Ms. Van Wormer has choreographed her piece to music by Manuel de Falla, “El Paño Moruno, Canción Asturiana,” performed by two sopranos (Brenda Osorio and Angela Rhodes) with guitar by Ken Rosser.

Concluding the Saturday performance is Jazz Director Ms. Bachar Mendicelli’s staging of the Michael Bennett classic A Chorus Line, a sensational audience favorite.

“I grew up dancing in the 1970’s and 80’s, so it was really fun bringing back some of those classical jazz steps from that era,” shares Mendicelli. “That choreography always looks best when using dancers with a solid foundation in classical ballet, which we pride ourselves on giving to our students.”

Performance and Ticket Information

Friday, May 26, 2023, 6 pm Soirée reception and awards, followed by the 8 pm “Masters of Movement” with special performances; -and- Saturday, May 27, 2024, 1pm and 5 pm shows of the “Masters of Movement” pre-professional Spring Showcases. Both at The Eli and Edythe Broad Stage at the Santa Monica College Performing Arts Center, 1310 11th St, Santa Monica, CA 90401. Saturday Showcase tickets are $45. The Soirée Friday reception and special performance are $100-300. Tickets for this must-see dance event of the season may be purchased online at westsideballet.com/springtix or by phone (additional fees apply) at (800) 595-4849 (4TIX).

About Westside Ballet of Santa Monica

One of the nation's premier pre-professional ballet training companies, the nonprofit organization’s mission is to give promising young dancers the performance opportunities crucial to their development and make dance more accessible to local children and families. Westside Ballet of Santa Monica was created by Yvonne Mounsey (New York City Ballet) and Rosemary Valaire (Royal Ballet) in 1973. Westside Alumna Martine Harley (Houston Ballet) took over as Artistic Director in 2013. Based in Santa Monica, California, the company comprises approximately 80 dancers, ages 8 to 18.

The sister entity, Westside School of Ballet, distinguishes itself as a non-audition dance academy where all are welcome to study ballet and train to the most refined pre-professional level. Nearly all the artistic staff are graduates of the school, bringing a consistent approach to the school’s classical ballet training. Ms. Mounsey and Ms. Valaire opened the school in 1967, six years before founding the performance company, and have produced many of classical ballet's luminary performers known worldwide.

For more information, visit www.westsideballet.com

This post is an advertorial piece contributed by a Patch Community Partner, a local brand partner. To learn more, click here.