Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach · Los Angeles County · California
Visibility Breakdown
First cam reading around 7 AM.
Break Zone: The range of water where the waves break and sediment is stirred up.
Post Break: The range past where any waves are forming, where the water starts to have a significant increase in visibility. There might be some sediment here, but swell energy is diffused and the water is calmer.
Open Water: This zone is far out enough from the shore that the water is at its clearest. It’s deep enough that sediment is not disturbed by the wave energy at the surface.
Solid = measured by a diver · outlined = estimated from the Scripps cam
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Today's forecast
As of Sep 11, 11:15 PM PT · latest available7-Day Forecast
Map · getting there
33.862° N · 118.403° W
Hermosa Beach, CA 90254
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Open in Apple MapsAbout Hermosa Beach
Hermosa Beach is a sand-bottom South Bay beach city on the Santa Monica Bay coast of Los Angeles County, anchored by Hermosa Beach Pier at the foot of Pier Avenue. The current concrete pier extends 1,140 feet into the bay. It was built in 1965 to replace a 1914 concrete pier that had been condemned in 1957, and was designed by engineer James Crumpley of Moffatt and Nichol. The Strand, a paved bike and pedestrian path along the back of the beach, runs in both directions from the pier base. Pier Plaza, the pedestrian shopping and dining strip on Pier Avenue, runs inland from there and includes the Surfers Walk of Fame, a series of bronze plaques honoring South Bay surfers. Several hundred yards offshore in about 60 feet of water lies Cable Car Reef, also called the Hermosa Artificial Reef, built in 1960 from a streetcar, 14 automobiles, and 330 tons of quarry rock. The reef is a boat-only dive site and cannot be reached from shore.
The bottom along the named beach is sand throughout, with consistent breaking surf and no rocky structure or kelp within shore-access range, which makes the spot a surf zone biome. Without that structure to hold fish, spearfishing, snorkeling, and scuba from shore are all uncommon.
Surfing carries most of the in-water use, with hook-and-line fishing from the pier and the sand and summer swimming filling out the rest. Hermosa Beach is also a well-known competitive volleyball venue with permanent professional and tournament courts, and the AVP Tour calendar stops here regularly.
Paid municipal lots sit at the foot of Pier Avenue and along Hermosa Avenue, with hourly rates during the day, and metered street parking is available on the Strand-adjacent residential blocks. Spaces fill before 10 a.m. on summer weekends, with the Pier Plaza lot closest to the pier base. Hermosa Beach Municipal Code section 12.24.100 bars swimming, surfboards, skin diving, and scuba within 100 feet of either side of Hermosa Beach Pier, so spearfishing stays out of that strip. Beyond it, fishing and spearfishing are legal along the named beach under standard California regulations.
Surf Zone
The surf zone biome consists of sandy beaches and breaking waves. The action of surf disturbing the sand and kicking it up exposes marine invertebrates, buried in their shallow dens. This natural exposure of invertebrates attracts all kinds of fish, looking for an easy meal. Learn more about this biome and the species found in it by clicking the link below.
Learn more in the Biome GlossaryTarget Fish Species
Spot strategies
Nearby beaches
Rocky Reef
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