Most of Hermosa Beach's 2026 dining changes happened within a few hundred feet of where Pier Avenue meets Hermosa Avenue. Both sides of Pier Plaza have new operators. Two Hermosa Avenue spaces have new tenants, and the corner beside the plaza is now a brewery taproom. The two places with the most reason to change, Java Man and Ocean Diner, got new owners on October 5 and kept their names and their crews. That is what the sellers wanted from the sale.
Every new name on this year's list moved into a space someone else had left. The two breakfast institutions are the exception: their ownership changed, and the businesses stayed where they were.
Both sides of Pier Plaza
On the plaza, Bonaparte Bistro gave its space to Malendrina Wine Bar. Bonaparte's sister bakery café is still operating, according to Easy Reader's June 25 A La Carte column. By late July, Easy Reader reported that Chuck and Amanda Azar had opened Malendrina with Palestinian and Sicilian small plates and a deep wine list. Malendrina is at 36 Pier Avenue and is open daily from noon to 9 p.m. It takes reservations and also welcomes walk-ins.
Across the plaza, the former Playa Hermosa Fish & Oyster Co. space at 19 Pier Avenue is set to become Kasamar. WhatNow reported in June that co-founder Stephanie de los Santos expected an August 2026 opening. Easy Reader describes her as a José Andrés protégé who plans a seafood-centered menu shaped by her Filipino heritage, with backing from local industry veterans. August has passed. As of this week, Kasamar's website shows "Now Hiring" and "Hermosa Beach" but no opening date.
That same column pointed out that for a few years most of Hermosa's newer restaurant ideas had opened on Hermosa Avenue, so a chef-driven seafood room on the plaza is a change for that end of town. With Malendrina open and Kasamar in the works, both new plaza tenants are sit-down restaurants built around a specific point of view. Neither is a generic beach bar.
Hermosa Avenue, space by space
The other changes are close by. Here is what's in place this fall, roughly from the plaza outward:
- Los Angeles Ale Works took over the former Rok Sushi space at the corner of Pier and Hermosa avenues and was open by late May. In September the city installed seven new branded bike racks at the northeast corner of that intersection, next to the taproom.
- The Deck reopened after a remodel. As of early October, Chica's Tacos serves from its back patio, so you can now get tacos and beer right on The Strand.
- Good Neighbor at 113 Hermosa Avenue is a laundromat and coffeehouse in one, serving matcha and spam musubi.
- Mi Burrito opened at 1320 Hermosa Avenue.
- Kasai Records moved into the former Decadence space at 1332 Hermosa Avenue. It pairs DJ listening sessions with yakitori and Asian-fusion plates.
- Covinten Café at 87 14th Street, run by owner Mary Roy, added weekend dinner service after it got a beer-and-wine license in June. It soft-opened in the last days of 2025.
Further out on Pacific Coast Highway, Nan Yimcharoen opened Kinkan Market at 1200 PCH, Suite 105. It sells Japanese takeout and specialty pantry goods. Fusion Sushi, a longtime PCH restaurant, had closed by July, and Easy Reader called the rumors of a relocation unfounded.
Almost none of these is a brand-new building or a new storefront. In nearly every case a new operator moved into a space that someone else had held, often for years. The dining map changed only where a space came free.
Why so many spaces came free at once
Richard Foss, who writes Easy Reader's A La Carte column, offered an explanation in his June 25 column. He wrote that many South Bay restaurants are nearing the end of long fixed-rate leases and face rent increases of as much as 50 percent. He named moderately priced places without an alcohol license as the most exposed, since "you have to sell a lot of pizzas or omelets" to cover rising costs. He was writing about the region as a whole, not one Hermosa building. Still, Hermosa's new tenants fit his description. Malendrina is a wine bar by name, Los Angeles Ale Works is a taproom, and Kasai Records serves food with a music program. The newer places this year lean toward concepts that make money after dark, not on a breakfast check.
The same column suggests how long a familiar business can hold on. When signs went up offering the property under El Burrito Jr. and LBJ Burgers on PCH for sale, Foss reported that the tenants have at least two more years on their lease even after a sale. So a for-sale sign doesn't mean a closing date. What matters is how much time is left on the lease, and that rarely shows from the sidewalk.
A sale built around continuity
That brings us to Java Man and Ocean Diner, the most recent ownership change and the one most likely to touch a resident's weekday morning.
Java Man is at 157 Pier Avenue in a former beach house. Easy Reader describes it as a small red cottage built in 1929 and divided into small, semi-private rooms, and reports that Rick Hankus opened it in 1992. Ocean Diner is at 959 Aviation Boulevard. It began when Hankus bought Granny's Diner in 1986 and renamed it. Hankus and his spouse, Tim Biggs, ran both businesses for decades.
On October 5, Brian Eldridge and Patrick Mescall of South Bay Hospitality began operating both, according to the Daily Breeze. Biggs told the paper that he and Hankus had been talking with the pair about a sale so they could retire. What they wanted, he said, was clear:
"We ideally wanted to sell them both to the same person at the same time, keeping the name and the brand, because that's what obviously Rick worked for so hard for 40 years to establish, primarily keeping the staff."
According to the same Daily Breeze report, the new owners have no plans for substantial changes at either location. Mescall said the goal is to keep the "institutions alive." Eldridge said longtime employees, some of whom have been there for decades, are "teaching us for the next six months." That puts the learning period into roughly April 2027. Mescall also said they will look for ways to run the restaurants more efficiently without cutting quality of life for employees. Easy Reader's October 7 column added that the crews are staying, including Java Man's Nicolas Herriera and Daniel Nava.
The buyers have done this before. South Bay Hospitality already operates Tiki Kai in Hermosa Beach, along with Paddy O'Brien's and Eat at Joe's in Redondo Beach and The Hula Hula Room and The Bounty Room in Torrance. Easy Reader noted that the group has run Eat at Joe's for more than a year and has mostly left it alone. Foss called that "a good sign" for people who like Java Man and Ocean Diner as they are. The partners have a personal tie to the coffeehouse too. Eldridge told the Daily Breeze that their first meeting to buy Paddy O'Brien's took place at Java Man.
Of all the 2026 changes on this list, this is the only one where the space, the name and the crew carried over to the new owners.
What sits at the end of Pier Avenue next
The street that links Java Man, the new plaza restaurants and the Ale Works corner leads to the pier, and the pier is facing a longer timeline of its own. In March the City Council approved high-priority repairs but made no final decision on replacing the pier. The city's engineer described the pier as being in "poor to serious" condition, the Daily Breeze reported. The pier stayed open to pedestrians, with a five-ton weight limit for vehicles.
The repair package in the city's March 24 staff report calls for replacing four concrete deck panels and strengthening 14 more. At the time, construction was targeted to start as soon as October 2026 if final permits came through. If that schedule held, repair crews will be working at the far end of the plaza this fall while Malendrina settles in and Kasamar gets closer to opening. Java Man is a few blocks up the hill, still pouring coffee under its new owners.
If you're weighing what this year's turnover means for a property near Pier Plaza or along Hermosa Avenue, or you just want a second opinion on how commercial leases shape a downtown block, the team at GlobalPoint follows these corridors closely and is glad to talk it through. Let's Connect.
