Yes, I live in Manhattan Beach. The skies here have been fairly clear for several days, but we were covered in ashes and soot last week. Gorgeous today. When is your trip?

Yes, I would find lodging asap if you have a "normal" budget. It's hard to know yet where all the fire refugees will land in the short term. If you can splurge, look at Shade Hotel. And I would make a restaurant reservation for Saturday night if you want something at the higher end, although there are some very good mid-range places where you could just roll up and wait a few minutes. A few places have bar seating for dinner.

Our son lived there for a few years and the places I remember are Fishing with Dynamite, the Post, a good Thai place downtown and the Strand for drinks. They lived in a tiny place by the beach and a petite black cat wandered in one day, they named him Scratch and he ended up driving cross country with them and living in lower Manhattan for 4 years and now lives on the big island of Hawaii. Well traveled kitty.

A few updates to macdogmom's mentions... Fishing with Dynamite is still there and very well reviewed. (It received a Michelin plate a few years ago.) Tiny place, so rez is absolutely required. MB Post is also still there. (Same master chef at both FwD and MBP.) The "good Thai place" is gone. Strand House is still there and has great sunset views. The funky, retro Shellback Tavern across the street has the same view as expensive Strand House.

Half of downtown MB is restaurants, so there is no shortage of dining options across the budget and ethnic spectrum. If you want something specific, let me know.

Fully agree and SM place across Broadway is not better. It seems that the high lease rates can only attract the mega brands but many of them are also leaving the area. What a difference with Manhattan Beach! Seems that many stores there are locally owned and the town is thriving. Since you live there, am I right?

Yes, there are no empty store fronts in MB, but several former retail spaces are now real estate offices. A lot of the shopping, from my older perspective, feels tourist-oriented. Not a criticism, just an observation. There are a number of locally-owned stores (great indie book store) but also a few mega brands. Locally-owned Skechers occupies the equivalent of an entire block. Mega-brand Vuori has a store, and the shopping mall a mile inland from the pier is entirely mega brands and chain restaurants. A couple of locally-owned restaurant groups dominate the downtown dining scene. Nothing wrong with any of this, but we aren't the small, lowkey beach town we used to be. Tourists are happy to visit, but old-timers like me miss the way things used to be.