By 4:30 on a Sunday in July, the amphitheater bowl at Polliwog Park is already three-quarters full. Blankets overlap. A picnic tote from a restaurant that did not exist last summer sits on the grass. The crowd did not drive in from downtown. It walked over.
That last detail is the whole story of Manhattan Beach this season.
The shift worth naming
For years, a Manhattan Beach summer meant the pier, the Strand, and a slow drift down Manhattan Avenue at dusk. It still can. What is different in 2026 is that the east side of the city, anchored by Polliwog and the Sepulveda corridor, has finally assembled the three pieces it was missing: a real anchor restaurant near Sepulveda, weekly programming that pulls people out of their houses, and enough smaller additions to make a walk feel worthwhile. All three are now in place.
The rest of this guide is what to do with that fact between now and Labor Day.
What arrived on Sepulveda
Saint & Second
Saint & Second opened its new location in Manhattan Village on July 21, bringing its signature blend of American cuisine to the South Bay for the first time. The restaurant is owned by the Hofman Hospitality Group, which also has locations in Long Beach and Topanga. The address, 3160 N Sepulveda Blvd, Suite S100, matters more than it reads. It puts a proper late-evening operator inside walking range of most streets east of Sepulveda for the first time in a long while.
The hours are the tell. The kitchen runs Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Saturday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to midnight, with a weekend brunch from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a weekday social hour from 3 to 6 p.m. Midnight is not a Manhattan Beach number. That alone changes the geometry of a Saturday.
Great White at Metlox
Great White, an all-day cafe that first opened in Venice Beach in 2017, is preparing a new location in Manhattan Beach at 401 Manhattan Beach Blvd. The company's sixth location is set to move into the former home of Pitfire Pizza. That puts a daytime tenant into the Metlox courtyard that has needed one, and it does so with a menu the neighborhood already knows from the original Venice room: grain bowls, fish tacos, seasonal plates, and the kind of unhurried breakfast that a Sepulveda-adjacent Sunday now supports.
Downtown is not standing still
Two additions are worth watching on the west side of the city.
The first is Coucou, the French bistro concept already running in Venice and West Hollywood. It is landing in the former Nando Trattoria space on Manhattan Avenue, known for blending classic French bistro favorites with a California coastal influence and a strong aperitif and cocktail culture, with dishes like steak frites, oysters, and elevated French comfort classics. Downtown regulars have been watching this one for months.
The second is Bread Head, at 1116 Manhattan Avenue in the former Tacolicious space, known for focaccia sandwiches layered with high-quality meats, cheeses, and flavor-packed spreads. Neither opening is trying to unseat Fishing With Dynamite, which remains the oyster bar and coastal seafood spot chef David LeFevre built into a local institution at 1148 Manhattan Ave, listed in the 2025 Michelin Guide USA with multiple appearances on OpenTable's 100 Best Restaurants in America. They are filling different rooms on the same street.
Read together with the east-side moves, the pattern is what the dining coverage has been circling all spring: a city traditionally known for more conservative upscale dining is taking meaningful risks, with newer openings reflecting a crowd that is younger, more food-curious, and willing to support chef-driven concepts, from Persian food to inventive tacos to Michelin-pedigreed sandwiches to French aperitif culture.
Sunday at Polliwog
The reason the east-side dining shift feels different from a normal restaurant news cycle is that a piece of park programming is doing half the work.
Concerts in the Park returns to Polliwog Park for the 2026 season, bringing free live music every Sunday from July 5 through September 6, 5 to 7 PM, presented by Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation in partnership with the City of Manhattan Beach and sponsored by Chevron. Ten Sundays, ten bands, no ticket. The 2026 lineup:
| Date | Act |
|---|---|
| July 5 | The Satin Dollz |
| July 12 | Las Chikas |
| July 19 | The Amplified |
| July 26 | Elton: The Early Years |
| August 2 | Jimmy's Buffet |
| August 9 | Cobra Cowboy |
| August 16 | Gypsy Dreams |
| August 23 | The Police Academy |
| August 30 | Stone Soul |
| September 6 | ABBA LA |
Lineup as posted by Local Anchor. If you have never done a Sunday at Polliwog, the etiquette is worth knowing before you unpack the cooler. Bring a low chair or a blanket. High chairs get you side-eye. Show up earlier than you think you need to for a spot near the amphitheater bowl. Eat first, or bring the food with you. The picnic culture is the point.
No dogs, barbecues, or wheeled vehicles in the concert area at any time. Umbrellas and pop-up tents can be used before and after the show but must come down during the concert, and parking can be difficult around the park during the series. The workaround is the same one your neighbors are already using: walk.
The park itself is worth using more than one Sunday a week. The lake loop is a legitimate short walk for anyone trying to avoid the Strand crowds in July, and the playground is one of the few in the South Bay large enough to absorb a birthday party without the whole thing feeling stacked on top of a stroller line.
The other summer fixtures
A quick calendar of what is still on the board between now and Labor Day, worth planning around if you have not already.
- Charlie Saikley 6-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament, near the pier. The mix of serious competition and laid-back beach personality is what makes it work. Teams of six compete on the sand, and the tournament is also known for its costumes, team themes, and lively crowd atmosphere.
- Jr. 6-Man, August 2.
- Manhattan Beach Open Tennis Tournament, July 16–19 at Live Oak Park Tennis Courts and Mira Costa Tennis Courts.
- Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race, Sunday, August 23, 2026, with paddlers tackling the 32-mile open-ocean course from Catalina Island's Isthmus Cove and finishing at the Manhattan Beach Pier. The finish line at the pier late morning is one of the best free spectator moments of the summer.
- Metlox Music, the quieter counterpart to Polliwog. Every Sunday afternoon from 2 to 4 PM, Downtown Manhattan Beach fills with free live music as the Metlox Music concert series returns to the area near the Manhattan Beach Pier, hosted by the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professional Association with a rotating lineup of local and regional performers. The series runs June 7 through August 30, 2026. If you want live music without the amphitheater crowd, this is the alternative.
Looking further out, Pier Lighting on November 18, 2026 from 6:00 to 9:00 PM in Downtown Manhattan Beach and at the pier is when the calendar tips into the holiday season. But that is a separate post.
A template for the Sundays that matter
The pattern that has emerged on the east side this summer, if you want a working template:
- Late brunch at Saint & Second on Sepulveda, or a bowl at Great White once the Metlox room opens.
- A mid-afternoon lake loop at Polliwog, timed so anyone in the group under ten is done before the amphitheater fills.
- Chairs and a picnic on the lawn by 4:30. First downbeat lands at 5:00.
- Walk home at 7:00 in the shoulder of the light. That last part is the only part that used to require a car.
East Manhattan Beach used to borrow its evening from downtown. It now generates its own.
That is the shift. Downtown will still own the special-occasion table and the sunset walk, and Coucou will pull downtown regulars back the way a well-run bistro always does. But the residents who have quietly been asking whether the east side would ever get a real evening rhythm have their answer this season.
If a Sunday at Polliwog has been an occasional thing for your family, this is the summer to make it a standing appointment. Bring the low chairs. Leave the coolers at home. Walk if you can.
If you already live in Manhattan Beach and are thinking about what a move within the city might look like, or what the shift between the Tree Section, the Sand Section, and the streets east of Sepulveda actually means for daily life, Azure Hynes is happy to talk it through. You can read more about the city on the Manhattan Beach neighborhood page, or start a conversation when you are ready.
