Things to Do in Manhattan Beach, California
Manhattan Beach's attractions center on a small number of genuinely significant, well-documented places and activities rather than a sprawling list of tourist sites -- the pier and its Roundhouse Aquarium, The Strand, downtown, and the city's deep beach-volleyball culture. This page covers what's real, current, and worth knowing.
The Manhattan Beach Pier and Roundhouse Aquarium
The Manhattan Beach Pier, designed by City Engineer A.L. Harris and built 1917-1920 with a distinctive rounded end engineered to withstand Pacific wave action, is the city's central landmark and survives as Southern California's oldest reinforced-concrete pier. At its end sits the Roundhouse -- originally an 1922 pavilion, converted into a marine-science teaching aquarium by the nonprofit Oceanographic Teaching Stations in 1979-1981, and reopened in 2018 after a roughly $4 million interior renovation funded partly by the Harrison Greenberg Foundation. It remains a genuinely operating public aquarium with updated exhibits, not a historical curiosity, and is a real, currently visitable attraction for families and visitors of all ages.
The Strand: Walking, Running, and Cycling the South Bay Coast
The Strand -- officially part of the Marvin Braude Bike Trail, a roughly 22-mile paved coastal path running from Torrance Beach north to Will Rogers State Beach in Pacific Palisades -- is Manhattan Beach's other defining piece of public infrastructure. Since 2013, the stretch through Manhattan Beach restricts the paved bike path itself to bicycles only (cyclists must walk their bikes for a short stretch near the pier), with pedestrians using a separate, parallel walking path a few feet further inland. Whether walking, running, or cycling, this corridor is a genuinely major, heavily used piece of daily and recreational life connecting Manhattan Beach with neighboring Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach along the coast.
Downtown Manhattan Beach
The walkable downtown core around Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Highland Avenue is the city's restaurant, boutique-retail, and general foot-traffic hub, covered in more depth on this site's dining page. It's the natural gathering point before or after a pier visit or Strand walk, and hosts many of the city's recurring public events, covered on this site's seasonal-recreation page.
The Roundhouse's Ongoing Educational Programming
Since converting from a public pavilion to a dedicated marine-science teaching facility in 1979-1981, the Roundhouse Aquarium has operated under a stated mission -- per its own site -- of fostering public study of and interest in the oceans, tidelands, and beaches of Southern California, the marine life within them, and the impact of human populations on that environment. That mission continues today through the facility's exhibits and, per multiple visitor-review platforms (Yelp lists it as a currently operating, actively reviewed attraction as of mid-2026), ongoing public and school-group educational programming -- a genuinely substantive, currently operating community and educational resource, not just a scenic photo stop at the end of the pier.
Live Oak Park and General Green Space
Live Oak Park is cited in multiple lifestyle and senior-living sources as a popular local green-space destination for dog-walking, picnicking, and general outdoor time away from the beach itself -- a real, currently used community park rather than a beach-adjacent afterthought. This page did not compile a comprehensive list of every Manhattan Beach park and green space; check the City of Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation Department's own site for a complete, current listing.
Beach Volleyball: Watch It or Play It
Manhattan Beach's beach-volleyball identity, covered in depth on this site's community-lifestyle and seasonal-recreation pages, is a genuine, currently active thing to do here, not just a spectator-sport fact. The City of Manhattan Beach's own Parks and Recreation Department runs public beach-volleyball programming, and public courts along the beach are available for casual play beyond the tournament schedule -- a real, accessible activity for a visitor or resident who wants to participate rather than just watch the AVP Manhattan Beach Open each summer.
Downtown Shopping and Manhattan Village
Beyond restaurants, downtown Manhattan Beach's boutique-retail scene along Manhattan Beach Boulevard and Highland Avenue offers a genuinely walkable shopping experience distinct from a standard American shopping district, while Manhattan Village -- the mall-anchored district east of the Tree Section that opened in 1981 -- provides the city's larger-format, more conventional retail option. Both are real, currently operating commercial areas covered in more detail on this site's neighborhoods page, and represent two genuinely different "things to do" depending on whether a visitor wants a boutique, browsing-focused afternoon or a standard mall-shopping trip.
Beyond the City: The Broader South Bay
Manhattan Beach's small size (roughly 3.9 square miles) means many visitors and residents naturally extend a day out into neighboring Hermosa Beach and Redondo Beach along The Strand -- both are separate cities with their own distinct attractions (Hermosa's own pier and downtown, Redondo's King Harbor waterfront) not covered by this page, since this page family is specifically about Manhattan Beach. Treat a visit to either neighboring city as a genuinely separate destination worth its own research, not an extension of Manhattan Beach itself.
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Get a Free Agent Referral →Independent research. No ads. No sponsored listings. Manhattan Beach Pier construction details (1917-1920, engineer A.L. Harris, reinforced-concrete construction) and the Roundhouse's history (1922 pavilion, 1979-81 aquarium conversion by Oceanographic Teaching Stations, 2018 ~$4 million renovation funded partly by the Harrison Greenberg Foundation) are drawn from Wikipedia's "Manhattan Beach Pier" and "Roundhouse Aquarium" entries and the Roundhouse's own site (roundhouseaquarium.org). The Strand/Marvin Braude Bike Trail's ~22-mile Torrance-to-Pacific-Palisades route and the 2013 bicycle-only restriction through Manhattan Beach (with a separate pedestrian path) are drawn from westsidelosangeles.com and TrailLink's Marvin Braude Bike Trail pages. Live Oak Park's popularity as a local green-space destination is drawn from senior-lifestyle sourcing describing Manhattan Beach, detailed further on this site's retirement page. Beach volleyball programming and public court access are drawn from the City of Manhattan Beach's own Parks and Recreation/Beach Volleyball page, detailed further on this site's community-lifestyle and seasonal-recreation pages. Manhattan Village's 1981 mall opening is drawn from Wikipedia's "Manhattan Village" entry, detailed further on this site's neighborhoods page. This page does not provide a comprehensive citywide park directory or current hours for the Roundhouse Aquarium, since these change; confirm current hours and programming directly with the City of Manhattan Beach and roundhouseaquarium.org before visiting. Nothing on this page is a paid endorsement.