The South Bay’s official start to the holiday season — the mayor flips the switch to light the Manhattan Beach Pier in the evening, while downtown shops, restaurants, and carolers fill the streets for a single combined evening.
On a November evening each year, downtown Manhattan Beach closes for the Pier Lighting & Holiday Open House — the South Bay’s official start to the holiday season. The mayor flips the switch on the pier lights in the evening, the living trees along the pier railing come on with them, and the moment marks the unofficial green light for every neighborhood, school, and shop in the city to start its December.
The Open House piece runs alongside the lighting itself. Downtown restaurants, boutiques, and retailers stay open late, often with their own seasonal offers and treats. Carolers move between blocks, and live music turns the few square blocks of central downtown into a single open festival. It’s deliberately walkable — the whole event lives between Highland Avenue, the pier, and the surrounding side streets.
The city also runs a community tree-decorating session a few days before, when residents help string lights on the living trees along the pier in preparation for the lighting. Both events are free. For families along the Strand and through the rest of the South Bay, this is the night the season starts.
At the Manhattan Beach Pier itself, at the end of Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The surrounding downtown blocks host the Holiday Open House at the same time.
The mayor flips the switch in the evening. The Pier Lighting & Holiday Open House runs for a few hours each year, typically on a Wednesday evening in mid-November – check the official page for this year’s times.
Downtown Manhattan Beach is tight on the night of the lighting. The city lots a few blocks back from the pier fill first; expect to walk in. Many families bike or walk from nearby neighborhoods.
Yes. The city runs a community tree-decorating session in the days before the lighting where residents help string lights on the living trees along the pier railing. It’s free and a great low-key warm-up for younger kids.
No — those are separate Manhattan Beach holiday traditions. The Pier Lighting opens the season in mid-November; the Holiday Sand Snowman Contest is its own community event later in December, on the beach.
The Manhattan Beach Pier sits at the foot of Manhattan Beach Boulevard, extending 928 feet into the Pacific. Built in 1920 and now on the National Register of Historic Places, it’s the South Bay’s most iconic landmark — a Spanish Mediterranean Revival Roundhouse caps the end and houses the Roundhouse Aquarium, a free aquarium open to the public. The pier anchors downtown Manhattan Beach, which runs along the bluff to the east through walkable blocks of restaurants, boutiques, and the city’s beach-town commercial heart.
A 35-plus-year-old afternoon-to-night festival at the Manhattan Beach Pier — snow play, live music, carolers, Hanukkah programming, and a beachfront fireworks show — drawing roughly 40,000 attendees each December.
Brian J. Cook
Manhattan Village’s afternoon kickoff to the holiday season — a 41-foot tree lit by Santa in the open-air plaza, with live music and magic snow.
Brian J. Cook
Hermosa Beach’s coastal twist on a winter classic — families gather at 15th Street and the shoreline each early December to build sand snowmen with shovels, scarves, and imagination. Judged in categories from Most Traditional to Funniest.
Brian J. Cook
Thousands of red-suited Santas take over The Strand in Hermosa Beach for the California Great Santa Stroll — a 5K fun run/walk that benefits Mychal’s Learning Place.
Brian J. Cook
Southern California’s holiday lights and festive outings are pure magic — but nothing compares to Santa Claus himself stepping through your own front door. House of Kringle brings a real-bearded, professionally trained Santa to homes and gatherings across SoCal for an intimate live visit your family will treasure for years.
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