Manhattan Beach Movers

Getting to Know Manhattan Beach

How Manhattan Beach Is Laid Out

Manhattan Beach is its own city, one of the three South Bay Beach Cities, set on the coast about 19 miles southwest of downtown LA. It is small and dense: just under four square miles of land holding about 35,000 people, with 2.1 miles of beach along its western edge. As its own city, it sets its own rules on parking, permits, and oversized vehicles, separate from the City of Los Angeles. It is also one of the most expensive places to live in the country, with some of the highest home prices per square foot in LA County.

The city breaks into clear neighborhoods. The Sand Section, near the water, holds the walk streets and the Strand, the beachfront path lined with oceanfront homes. The Hill Section rises just inland, its steep streets giving panoramic ocean views from high-priced homes. The Tree Section and Manhattan Heights, east of Sepulveda Boulevard, are leafier neighborhoods with more standard lots. Downtown, near the pier, is the commercial heart, and El Porto sits at the north end by the dunes. Hermosa Beach lies to the south, El Segundo to the north, and Redondo Beach and the rest of the South Bay nearby.

From Sand Dunes to the Beach Cities

The coast here was home to the Tongva people, who passed through the dunes from their village of Chowigna, and later became part of the Mexican Rancho Sausal Redondo. The town grew up as a seaside resort on shifting dunes. Two developers, George Peck and Stewart Merrill, owned the north and south ends and could not agree on a name. They flipped a coin, Merrill won, and he named his half Manhattan after his old home of New York City.

The town incorporated as a city in 1912, after a vote of its roughly 600 residents. In the early days, wooden planks were laid over the sand on Manhattan Avenue for cars and along the Strand for walkers. So much of the local sand was hauled away over the years, some of it shipped to Hawaii to build up Waikiki Beach, that the dunes largely disappeared. After World War II, the South Bay aerospace boom brought a wave of new residents, and Manhattan Beach grew into the affluent beach city it is today, known for its pier, its surf and beach-volleyball culture, and some of the priciest real estate in the country.

What a Manhattan Beach Move Really Involves

Manhattan Beach runs its own affairs, so the rules that shape a move come from the city, not from Los Angeles. For bigger moves, the city issues temporary no-parking permits that reserve space directly at the address, and those have to be arranged and posted in advance. Near the beach, parking is tight and tightly enforced, so the permit and the parking plan matter more here than in most places.

Access is the real Manhattan Beach challenge. In the Sand Section, many homes sit on walk streets with no road to the door, and Strand homes face the beach path, so a truck cannot pull up to either. The crew parks at the nearest street and hand-carries everything in, which takes more people and more planning. We measure out the carry and choose the staging spot well before the day of the move. The Hill Section adds steep grades and stairs, where we size the truck to the street and plan the climb.

The rest of the city is more straightforward. The Tree Section and Manhattan Heights have normal streets and driveways, and downtown buildings run their own access rules. We line up the permits, the parking, the carry plan, and a properly sized truck beforehand, so nothing stalls the move once the crew is on site.