“What’s Redondo Beach?” I’ve asked that question into the void for nearly 5 years…

..see, I had to come up with an response, I was the brand manager the city’s Visitors Bureau…

Here I was, reaching out to people all over the US and throughout the world, enticing them to choose this cozy coastal community over Santa Monica or WeHo, which wasn’t hard in theory…

I mean, it was/is perfectly clear why someone/anyone should visit Redondo – it’s “LA Waterfront Playground”.

• Not to brag, but I coined that term.

Total honesty, no other place in LA can compare to the all the ways Redondo Beach has to experience the ocean; a miles long ocean front, a massive Marina, along with the horseshoe pier & the seaside lagoon. Oh, and – since fishing boats launch from the marina – it’s hard to rival Redondo’s fresh seaside seafood. Sure, some cities can offer a few of the things that Redondo has, but no where else has it all in one place. Which means, there’s no other place in LA where you can SUP, kayak, peddle-boat, surf, whale watch, fish and sail (just to name a few things) in the same day.

That – all that amazing outdoor adventure – was my pitch to sway tourists away from LA proper. It’s 100% true and pretty remarkable…but I still had a problem really selling people on RB over Hollywood. Because I couldn’t…no one can.

• The beach, LA’s coast, it’s just part of the iconic vision-of-LA, it’s not the whole thing. In raw numbers, out of the the 50 Million people who visit LA each year, less than 15% visit Santa Monica (the most well-known and accessible beach city) and less than 8% continue down to the heavily photographed Manhattan Beach. Just a fraction of visitors go to the beach.
• To visitors in LA – the beach is just *one part* the experience – it’s not even a main attraction. So, sorry Hermosa, Marina Del Rey, Redondo but the majority of US and International Tourists aren’t going to rush to fill the rooms in your city…

Still though, all of Redondo’s amazing beach-play stuff, great walkability & the fresh seafood…it’s awesome. It sets the city apart, and makes the LA waterfront accessible in a way that just doesn’t happen anywhere else.

I didn’t know how to balance these two opposing sides for a long time : A place that isn’t great for tourists but at the same time is the best waterfront to visit in LA. It’s the destination equivalent of that ‘really cool shirt’ that you don’t want to get rid of, but never chose to wear.

Then we got a hyper local perspective…

We moved to Redondo Beach a little less than a year ago, and the city hit me in a way that it never had before. Right away, the highlights from back when I worked here took on a new shine and the low-points sorta became quant. It wasn’t that I was viewing the town through rose-colored-glasses, it’s that – all of it – the Redondo Experience just made more sense…but I still couldn’t put my finger on what that meant…

…until a few weeks ago.

We had some friends over from the valley and walked from our place down to the boardwalk. No plans, nothing special. We happened to stop in at a dockside brewery and sipped pints while listening to the sea lions bark across the marina. It was then, sitting is jogging shorts, watching Augustine play with chalk and making plans to casually paddle out sometime soon, I was able to put it together.

Redondo Beach is the Best Beach for LA Locals.

Oh man, ‘locals’ is a loaded term

…but maybe not so much for people in LA.

Look, if you grew-up in LA or have grown old(er) in the city, you understand the difference between going somewhere to be seen and going somewhere to be you. Here, when I say ‘local’ what I’m referring to the second type of place…somewhere you can just ‘be’. A place where things are all within reach and approachable. You know, one of those spots where things are enjoyable (unique, totally California & memorable) but don’t require just-the-right-look or an extrovert’s-wide-open-attitude to fit in. I mean, that’s the definition of an LA locals spot…

…that’s Redondo Beach.

There’s no pretense in RB. Actually, it might be LA’s last vestige of that 60’s era “simple beach life” that so many people moved here trying to find. You remember – the idea that living with your toes in the sand, salt spray filling the air, all within walking distance of a great cafe or dive bar is attainable…where a day out doesn’t have need to involve any primping, advanced reservations or a glance at your bank account…where that free life out West mantra originated. 

That’s still alive in Redondo.

For visitors, that means – the lifestyle here is easy to access and accepting. It’s the kinda of place where sweatpants and flip-flops are more than appropriate. Families fit in just as much as solo-day-trippers. Also, almost every single thing here is under-the-radar, which means no one is crowding the city ‘just for the ‘gram’.

Redondo is not Manhattan Beach or Malibu, and it’s not trying to be. The combination of aesthetic flaws alongside modern dining spots and local institutions keeps this place LA cozy – somehow a relic while at the same time embracing the modern pallet – which might be the hardest sort of place to find in the city…. 

After years of not being sure what Redondo Beach actually is or who it’s for, I now tell everyone I know to come down for a casual beach day. It’s not a great date spot or place to show-off-to-clients. It’s LA’s beach spot where you can show up to with messy hair or a wagon of toys or just a beach towel and jean shorts (hey – you do you). That’s the magic of the city.