If you check the city's calendar for the AVP Manhattan Beach Open and see "August 14 to 16," you might assume that's the extent of the disruption. It isn't. As of today, Manhattan Beach Boulevard from Ocean Drive to the Pier is already closed, four days before a single ball is served and six days before the tournament ends. The city's official closure notice lists that stretch as shut from August 10 through August 19, a ten-day window built around three days of actual competition.
That gap between the calendar date and the closure date is the thing most residents miss until they're circling the block looking for a way through. It's also the reason this particular August deserves a closer look than the usual "here's what's happening" roundup: the pattern of build-out, competition, and teardown says more about how downtown actually functions than the box score from center court ever will.
The Closure Window Is Longer Than the Tournament
The Manhattan Beach Open itself runs on a tight, well-publicized schedule. The city's event page has the Walk of Fame Ceremony at the Pier on August 13 at 3:30 p.m., with competition running August 14 and 15 from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. and August 16 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. That's the part everyone plans around.
What doesn't make it into most calendars is the infrastructure on either side of it. Beyond the ten-day MBB closure, Ocean Drive between 11th and 12th Streets and the section of MBB west of Manhattan Avenue both close specifically for the competition days, August 14 through 16. In practice, that means downtown's pier-facing blocks are dealing with some form of closure for more days than they're open during this stretch of August.
This isn't new or unusual for MBO. It's simply not something the tournament dates communicate on their own, and it's worth knowing before you plan a Tuesday coffee run down Manhattan Avenue and find a fence where the street used to be.
Six Clear Days, Then Back to Detours
Here's the part that actually surprised me when I lined up the two events on a calendar. The Charlie Saikley 6-Man Tournament, the beloved costumed team event that Charlie Saikley started in 1974, wrapped its own closures on August 3, with lower pier lots reopening at noon and Manhattan Beach Boulevard reopening at 10 a.m. that same day, according to the city's Saikley tournament page. The 11th annual Jr. 6-Man, a newer addition aimed at giving younger players a taste of the tradition, ran August 2.
Count forward from there and downtown had exactly six days, August 4 through 9, before MBO's own closures began. Two marquee volleyball events, back to back, with less than a week of clear streets between them. If it felt like the pier neighborhood barely came up for air this summer, that's not an impression. It's the schedule.
Getting Downtown Without Circling the Block
The tournament's own event page is direct about this: there's no dedicated event parking, and the AVP's official guidance is to walk, bike, or use rideshare instead of driving in. For residents who still want a car option, the city has set up a free park and ride at Pacific Elementary School, 1200 Pacific Avenue, according to a city traffic bulletin issued for the closures. There's also a dedicated MBO Bike Corral for anyone riding in, which is worth knowing if you'd rather lock up near the sand than hunt for a meter.
If you haven't tried it yet, this is also a reasonable week to test Wave Rider, the city's on-demand electric shuttle that launched full service on June 9, 2026, connecting neighborhoods to downtown and the Metro K Line without requiring a parking spot at all, per Downtown Manhattan Beach's parking guide. It won't get you past a street closure, but it solves the problem of where to leave your car while you figure out your walking route around one.
What's Actually New Since You Last Walked Manhattan Avenue
If you're already rerouting around the pier this week, it's worth knowing what's opened along the way. The stretch of Manhattan Avenue near the sand has turned over more in the past few months than it usually does in a year.
Coucou landed at 1131 Manhattan Avenue this spring, one block from the pier, in the space that used to be Nando Trattoria. It's the third location for husband-and-wife owners Jesse and Hayley Feldman, following outposts in Venice and West Hollywood, and the kitchen is run by chef Jacob Wetherington, a Bouchon alum. The restaurant runs a daily apéro hour with cocktails and small bites, a French ritual that fits neatly into a pre-dinner beach walk, according to Elevated Magazines' coverage of the opening.
Bread Head took over the former Tacolicious space at 1116 Manhattan Avenue with a focaccia-sandwich concept, layering house-baked bread with cured meats and cheeses. It's a few doors down from Coucou, so the block has quietly become a small food destination on its own.
Great White, the all-day café known in Venice for grain bowls and fish tacos, is moving into the Metlox courtyard, taking over the space Pitfire Pizza left behind. Metlox has needed a daytime tenant that isn't another coffee shop for a while, and this fills that gap.
Over in Manhattan Village, Saint & Second opened its doors on July 21, bringing the Hofman Hospitality Group's modern American menu and craft cocktail program to the South Bay for the first time, following locations in Long Beach and Topanga, per Patch's report on the opening.
And if you want the reference point against which all of this gets measured, Fishing with Dynamite at 1148 Manhattan Avenue remains the name locals bring up first. Chef David LeFevre's oyster bar and seafood spot earned a spot in the Michelin Guide USA in 2025 and has landed on OpenTable's 100 Best Restaurants list more than once. New openings come and go along this stretch, but FWD is the one the newcomers get measured against.
Polliwog Doesn't Know There's a Tournament
While the pier neighborhood works through closures and detours, the other side of town is running on its own separate schedule. Concerts in the Park at Polliwog continues every Sunday from 5 to 7 p.m. through September 6, part of a series now in its 49th year, presented by Manhattan Beach Parks and Recreation with sponsorship from Chevron, according to Local Anchor's coverage of the 2026 lineup. None of the pier closures touch Polliwog Park Amphitheater at 1601 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, which sits well inland in the Liberty Village neighborhood.
It's a useful reminder that "Manhattan Beach is closed this week" is really shorthand for "the six or eight blocks immediately around the pier are closed this week." The rest of the city, including one of its longest-running free traditions, carries on without adjusting for a volleyball bracket.
The Takeaway for Anyone Planning Their Week
The lesson here isn't to avoid downtown until August 19. It's to plan around the actual footprint of the closures rather than the tournament dates alone, and to treat the disruption as a reason to try something new rather than a reason to stay home. Park at Pacific Elementary or catch the Wave Rider, walk the last few blocks, and use the detour as an excuse to sit down at Coucou or grab a sandwich from Bread Head before the crowds peak on Friday.
Manhattan Beach residents already know this rhythm shows up every August. Knowing exactly where the lines are drawn, and for how long, is what separates a smooth week from a frustrating one.
For more on how the neighborhood works day to day, from what's opening on Manhattan Avenue to how the local market moves, The Art of Beach Real Estate keeps a close watch on the details that make this stretch of coastline what it is. If you'd ever like to talk through what any of it means for your own address, schedule a private consultation with Gary.
