Manhattan Beach Beach Boys Cafe? Surf Band To Celebrate 60 Years

MANHATTAN BEACH, CA — "Surfin' U.S.A." The classic slice of beach Americana by the Beach Boys will forever be associated with surfing, and not just anywhere. Indeed, the song calls out Manhattan Beach and other Southern California surfing spots, propelling them into a limelight of legendary proportions.

Now, as the band's 60th anniversary approaches, three of its original members and deceased member Carl Love's two sons have agreed to let music business entrepreneur and creative business genius Irving Azoff's newly formed Iconic Artists Group develop and monetize the Beach Boys brand, according to an article in Rolling Stone Magazine.

In the early 1990s, the group did attempt to reach beyond the music business. The Beach Boys Cafe opened in Hermosa Beach [not Manhattan Beach, as many claim] on Pacific Coast Highway near Artesia Boulevard and bordered Manhattan Beach. The site held a popular Round Table Pizza under very recently.

And a racially-motivated shooting at the cafe in 1992 left a mark that seemed to doom it, band member Al Jardine later reflected in a Beach Reporter article. Jardine, in his early years, lived in Hermosa Beach while bandmate Mike Love made his home in Manhattan Beach's El Porto.

Other ties to Manhattan Beach include Jardine's 2012 album, “A Postcard from California,” featuring appearances by Neil Young, David Crosby, America, Glen Campbell, Steve Miller and bassist Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The environmentally-conscious album was released on Manhattan Beach resident Rob Christie's Waterfront Ent. Group/Robo Records music production company, according to the Beach Reporter.

Dennis Wilson and Mike Love were also known to fish from the Manhattan Beach Pier.

Read the full article on the Azoff partnership with the Beach Boys on the Rolling Stone website here.