Pier Plaza, Replanned: A Local's Guide to Hermosa Beach This Summer

If you have lived in Hermosa long enough, you have a summer autopilot. Walk The Strand, grab a beer at a Pier Avenue standby, block off Memorial Day for Fiesta, maybe catch a Sunday concert if the schedule crosses your feed. That autopilot has quietly gone out of date. The three blocks between the sand and Hermosa Avenue have absorbed a run of chef-driven openings in the last eighteen months, and the civic rituals around them are hitting anniversary-scale years at the same time.

The thesis for this summer is narrow and worth saying out loud: Pier Plaza is now two towns stacked on the same weekend. One is a tasting-menu, omakase, tiki-cocktail food corridor that would have felt out of place here in 2019. The other is the free, folding-chair, 1970s-descended beach fair that still owns the calendar. Locals who plan around only the new operators miss the traditions. Locals who plan around only the traditions have not walked Pier Avenue recently.

The Pier Avenue you stopped noticing

Start with the corner that changed most visibly. Tiki Kai is now open at Pier Plaza, from the hospitality team behind The Hula Hula Room, Eat at Joe's, Paddy O'Brien's Irish Pub and The Bounty Room. The address is 73 Pier Ave., with 4 p.m. daily opens and closes at 11 p.m. Monday through Thursday, midnight Friday and Saturday, and 10 p.m. Sunday. The entrance is unmistakable: a 14-foot tiki mask door hand-carved by Peter Asmar of Asmar Studios, with an interior by Davis Ink. If you have not walked past it after dark, do that first. Lunch and brunch are on the way.

A block inland on Hermosa Avenue, the food gets quieter and more deliberate. RYLA, at 1220 Hermosa Ave., is helmed by husband-and-wife chefs Ray Hayashi and Cynthia Hetlinger, with a contemporary Japanese-leaning menu that includes local white seabass steamed in lotus leaf and Peads and Barnetts pork tonkatsu. Two doors down at 1238, AttaGirl LA runs a coastal Mediterranean menu of mezze, wood-grilled skewers, handmade pastas, spicy whipped feta with pita, charred octopus, spiced lamb bolognese, and rosemary-marinated beef tenderloin. A short walk away, Baran's 2239 sits inside a small mall near the beach, founded by Jonathan and Jason Baran, with more than 100 wines by the bottle and 40-plus beers, and a scratch kitchen led by executive chef Tyler Gugliotta.

None of this displaces the standing anchors. Martha's has been in the community since 1984, at the corner of Hermosa Ave and 22nd Street, still doing champagne brunch and the fan-favorite Breakfast Burrito and Top Dish White Corn Scramble. The reason to name it in the same breath as the new operators is that the mix, not any single opening, is the story. A Saturday can now legitimately run breakfast at Martha's, mezze at AttaGirl for lunch, a mai tai at Tiki Kai at sunset, and omakase-adjacent plates at RYLA after. That itinerary did not exist here two years ago.

What is landing next

Two more openings are worth watching before Labor Day.

The first is Kasamar. Co-founder Stephanie De Los Santos has told What Now Los Angeles the project is expected to open in August 2026. The branding points to coastal dining with approachable seafood and drinks in a relaxed tavern setting, on Pier Avenue in one of Hermosa Beach's most active dining corridors. The concept is expected to replace Playa Hermosa Fish & Oyster Co.

The second is Sushi Bar. In the former Slay Hermosa location, an elevated omakase concept known for tightly curated tasting menus of premium seasonal seafood is planned, which continues a clear trend toward chef-driven dining in Hermosa. Between Sushi Bar and RYLA, Hermosa Avenue will have two serious Japanese-forward rooms inside a five-minute walk. That is a first for this town.

Here is the block-by-block picture, if it helps you re-plan a Friday:

The civic calendar still sets the clock

For all the new operators, the biggest crowds on Pier Plaza this year will still come from the free events the Chamber of Commerce has been running since Nixon was in office. Fiesta Hermosa has been produced by the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce since 1972, billed as the largest arts and crafts fair in Southern California, and it takes place every Memorial Day and Labor Day weekend in downtown Hermosa Beach.

The Memorial Day run this year fell on May 23, 24, and 25, with carnival rides and kid-friendly activities, live music on the beach, shopping booths, food and beverage vendors, and promotions from neighborhood shops. If you missed it, the Labor Day round is the one to circle: Sept 5–7, 2026. A recent layout change is worth knowing about before you head down. There is now live music at the beach as one of four stages, the proper carnival is inland at Pier and Monterey Boulevard, and the beer-and-wine garden closer to the beach has its own music lineup with a $10 cover.

A logistical note that separates residents from day-trippers: on a typical summer Saturday parking is already tough, and during Fiesta it is scarce, so remote free shuttle parking is offered and public transportation is highly recommended. ADA parking is available at the USPS lot at 565 Pier Avenue, with entry via Valley for those with a valid placard. If you live inside the walk-in radius, this is your competitive advantage. Use it.

After Labor Day, the quieter half of the civic calendar kicks in. The Hermosa Beach Concert Series takes place annually south of the Pier on the two Sundays following Labor Day weekend at 3:00 p.m. Two Sundays, free, beach chairs, sunset. If you have never gone because you assumed it was a summer-long thing you would eventually catch, this is the correction: it is two dates, and if you miss them, you wait a year.

"We hope Tiki Kai can be a place where locals walk in to find friends waiting to greet them," co-owner Brian Eldridge said of the new Pier Plaza opening.

That framing, whether or not you drink tiki cocktails, captures why the summer feels different. The new operators are being built for the people who already live within walking distance, not for the weekend day-trip. The Chamber events are still built for everyone. Both can be true on the same block on the same Saturday.

A local's summer, replanned

A short prescription, if the autopilot needs updating:

• Before Labor Day: Walk Pier Avenue once at dusk without a destination. Note which storefronts have changed. Kasamar's construction on the old Playa Hermosa Fish & Oyster space is the tell that the corridor is not done evolving.
• Labor Day weekend, Sept 5–7: Fiesta Hermosa. If you have kids, the inland carnival at Pier and Monterey is the anchor. If you do not, the beach stage and The Garden are the reason to go.
• The two Sundays after Labor Day, 3 p.m.: the Concert Series south of the Pier. Beach chairs, no ticket.
• Any weeknight: RYLA or AttaGirl for the seated meal, Tiki Kai for the after. Martha's for the recovery breakfast.

The reason any of this matters beyond a night out is small and cumulative. Downtown Hermosa is being reshaped by operators who think this town can support serious cooking, and by civic organizers who have decided the summer traditions are worth doubling down on. Both bets change what it means to own a home a few blocks from the sand. Walkability to a food corridor that has genuinely leveled up is a different amenity than walkability to a bar district. The block-by-block picture is the one that tells you which you have.

If you are weighing what these changes mean for a Hermosa Beach property you own, or considering a move within walking distance of Pier Plaza, The Zebrowski Group tracks this corridor block by block. Request a private market valuation and we will walk you through what the new operator mix and civic calendar are doing to demand on your specific street.