Manhattan Beach August Weekends: Events, Eats & Local Tips
August 6, 2026
August 6, 2026
If you have lived here for more than a summer, you already know August in Manhattan Beach has a shape. Sunday belongs to a blanket at Polliwog. Saturday morning belongs to the pier. And somewhere between the two, you end up trying whatever just opened where the old place used to be.
What is different this year is how much of the dining map has quietly shifted at the same time the calendar is at its busiest. Three of the buildings you walk past every weekend now have new tenants. The concert series is running its longest 2026 stretch in August. And the Catalina Classic finish line is landing on the pier the same weekend a lot of families are trying to steal one last coastal Saturday before school prep starts. This post is a local's map for the next four weekends, not a visitor guide.
The one commitment worth building your August around is the free Sunday concert series at Polliwog Park Amphitheater, 1601 Manhattan Beach Boulevard. Concerts in the Park returns to Polliwog Park for the 2026 season, bringing free live music to the South Bay every Sunday from July 5 through September 6, from 5 to 7 PM, presented by Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation in partnership with the City of Manhattan Beach and sponsored by Chevron.
Here is what is left on the August calendar, pulled from the published 2026 lineup:
| Date | Act | Style |
|---|---|---|
| August 2 | Jimmy's Buffet | Margaritaville tribute |
| August 9 | Cobra Cowboy | Country-rock |
| August 16 | Gypsy Dreams | Fleetwood Mac era |
| August 23 | (see full lineup) | — |
The 2026 series features 10 bands ranging in styles from Big Band to Motown and the hits of the 70s, 80s and 90s. If this is your first summer on the block, a few unwritten rules matter more than the setlist. Bring a low chair or a blanket, since high chairs earn a look. Show up earlier than you think for a spot near the amphitheater bowl. Eat first, or bring food with you, because the picnic culture is the point. The lake loop is a legitimate short walk before the music starts if you want to burn off the drive over.
Two pier events anchor the month, and they draw very different crowds.
The first is the Jr. Charlie Saikley 6-Man Volleyball Tournament on August 2, the youth precedent to the adult 6-Man weekend that turns the sand around the pier into something closer to a block party than a bracket. What makes 6-Man so special is the mix of serious competition and laid-back beach personality, with teams of six competing on the sand while the tournament is also known for its costumes, team themes, and lively crowd atmosphere. If you are walking down to the sand that Saturday, expect the beach paths south of the pier to be denser than a normal August weekend.
The second is quieter and, honestly, more moving to watch. On Sunday, August 23, 2026, the Catalina Classic Paddleboard Race celebrates its 49th year, continuing a proud tradition that began in 1955, and is revered as the oldest and most prestigious endurance paddleboard event in the world, with paddlers tackling the grueling 32-mile open-ocean course beginning at Catalina Island's Isthmus Cove and finishing at the Manhattan Beach Pier. The finish is the part locals show up for. Paddlers start pulling in mid-afternoon, family and crews cluster at the pier's north side, and if you have never seen a 32-mile ocean paddler stand up and walk after a race, it is worth the coffee walk down.
Between the two weekends, the Manhattan Beach Open Tennis Tournament runs July 16–19 at Live Oak Park and Mira Costa courts, which is worth mentioning only because the parking pattern around Live Oak spills into weekend errands well beyond the courts themselves.
If you have not eaten out much this summer, three of the spots you drive past every week are not the same restaurants they were in the spring. This is the part of August that locals actually gossip about.
Saint & Second, 3160 N Sepulveda Blvd, Suite S100. 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, with existing locations in Long Beach and Topanga. The room matters as much as the menu here. It is open Monday through Friday from 11 a.m. to midnight and Saturday through Sunday from 9 a.m. to midnight, with a brunch special on the weekends from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and a social hour on weekdays from 3 to 6 p.m. The near-midnight kitchen is the real headline in a town where a lot of otherwise good restaurants stop serving by nine.
Great White, 401 Manhattan Beach Boulevard. The all-day cafe that first opened in Venice Beach in 2017 is opening a new location in the former home of Pitfire Pizza, in the Metlox courtyard. If you have wondered why Metlox's daytime energy has felt thin for a year, this is the tenant that answers it. Metlox has been waiting for a daytime tenant that isn't a coffee shop, and Great White fits the courtyard better than what came before.
Bread Head, 1116 Manhattan Avenue. At 1116 Manhattan Avenue in the former Tacolicious space, known for focaccia sandwiches layered with high-quality meats, cheeses, and flavor-packed spreads. This is the walk-up lunch on a Sunday when you already have a plan for dinner.
Coucou (coming to downtown). A stylish French bistro concept already popular in Venice and West Hollywood is coming to downtown Manhattan Beach, in the former Nando Trattoria space on Manhattan Avenue, known for blending classic French bistro favorites with a California coastal influence, with a strong aperitif and cocktail culture, and dishes like steak frites, oysters, and elevated French comfort classics. Not open yet, but if you walk Manhattan Avenue in August you will see the buildout. Worth knowing what the sign will say when it does.
And the anchors have not gone anywhere. Fishing with Dynamite at 1148 Manhattan Ave, chef David LeFevre's oyster bar and coastal seafood spot, is listed in the 2025 Michelin Guide USA and has earned multiple appearances on OpenTable's 100 Best Restaurants in America. At The Arthur J, 903 Manhattan Ave, every steak is cooked over a live wood fire grill using white oak embers, with a selection of USDA Prime, True Japanese Wagyu, and Black Angus beef, and the mid-century modern room, martini program, and Emmental popovers with strawberry butter make it the top choice for a special occasion dinner in the South Bay. Love & Salt at 317 Manhattan Beach Blvd, a decade-old staple for American-Italian pizza, pasta, and salads in an indoor-outdoor setting, sits steps from the pier and remains a reliable anchor of downtown MB dining.
If you want the shortest possible version of how to spend August without over-planning it:
The thesis in all of this is quieter than it sounds. August is the month when Manhattan Beach shows its full identity in the same 30 days, the family-and-tournament energy at the pier on Saturdays and the multi-generation picnic culture at Polliwog on Sundays. The reason the dining reshuffle matters right now is because the places that just opened were designed for exactly this kind of month, when people want a late kitchen after a long beach day and a courtyard cafe that works for breakfast before a concert. When those two things line up, the town feels most like itself.
If you are thinking about how the coastal rhythm of a place like this fits your own next chapter, whether that is a first condo near the Strand, a family home closer to Polliwog, or a rental strategy that captures August demand, Lisa Moule Realty knows this calendar and this map. Schedule your South Bay consultation and we will build the rest of the year around it.
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