Hermosa Beach Rated Best Place in U.S. for Singles (Davis: middle-class, 2009)

[TheRealAngelion]

According to Money Magazine, Hermosa Beach is the best place for moneyed singles.

Best places for the rich and single - Hermosa Beach, CA (1) - Money Magazine

My take on this is that HB is ideal for people who are looking for an overwelmingly white, mostly straight environment with a surfer, frat boy like culture.

Not at the top of my list personally. But to each his own.

[BayAreaHillbilly]

Thus proving that David Lee Roth was correct when he touted the praises of Hermosa ... LOL!

[MtnSurfer]

Originally Posted by TheRealAngelion

According to Money Magazine, Hermosa Beach is the best place for moneyed singles.

Best places for the rich and single - Hermosa Beach, CA (1) - Money Magazine

My take on this is that HB is ideal for people who are looking for an overwelmingly white, mostly straight environment with a surfer, frat boy like culture.

Not at the top of my list personally. But to each his own.

Man this is funny. Hermosa has changed big time over the years. When I grew up there in the 60s and 70s it was a great middle class type beach town. The pace was slower than LA proper and it was the great escape from the city. Thats not to say there weren't rich ppl living on The Strand back then. But the vibe was completely different. Now it could be any other snobby beach town where very few families live. One of my grade schools (South School) was leveled and replaced with overpriced condos.

For the 20/30 something single crowd it is probably fine or the swinging divorced 50 y/o driving his Lexus or Mecedes. But it doesn't offer anything for the majority HB locals who grew up there and had families. This includes Manhattan Beach as well.

This is not to say the surf doesn't still get good or it isn't a fun place to visit. But its certainly not the fun beach town to live in for families it once was. Its always been a cool place for singles. I guess as a single person you have to ask what other kinds of singles you really want to meet and associate with? Materialism has definately gotten more intense there. And this doesn't create any kind of meanginful basis for a longer term relationship if that is what one is ultimately looking for. But the same applies for most SoCal overpriced beach towns now. The value system is pretty wacked out IMO. Thats not to say having $$ is bad in and of itself. Its the emphasis placed on it that breeds shallow relationships.

But Best Place for Singles I really have to question. Of course look who the authors are. I guess it really depends on what one values.

All that said I still love HB and it will always be my hometown. It was really a fun place to grow up way back when.





Derek

[Bruin5]

My mother is a native of Hermosa Beach, born in 1946 and lived there until the early 1970s. We walked around her old neighborhood (5th and Strand to the pier) and she wasn't afraid to hide her disappointment on how things have changed. For her, Hermosa was a tightnit community of hard-working, mostly middle-class residents. Seeing the construction of these obnoxious three story housing structures jocking for ocean views, increase in the yuppy population, and other changes has made her even happier for having moved up to the Central Coast. The South Bay for me is a place to surf or do other aquatic activities, nothing more then that. The Pier Ave. nightlife scene (the way I have experienced it) is nothing more than a place for ex-fratboys in their late twenties to do much of what they did when they were in college. Fine for some, but not for me. The Lighthouse (former residence of jazz greats such as Miles Davis, Mingus and others) was the only the that compelled me to go out there. The scene definitely gets hopping, if you like that kind of atmosphere, then by all means it should be a good place for you./ Great pic., MtnSurfer.