Sadly Polly’s has closed 🙁
Original 2014 Post:
Every once in a while you discover a joint nobody else has ever told you about, a rare and special place you can’t wait to share with everyone. For me that place is Polly’s On The Pier in Redondo Beach, California.
A little back story… My wife and kids recently spent a week on the East Coast visiting my in-laws. My day job work schedule didn’t allow me to take the time off so I was left to enjoy some bachelor time. When I mentioned this to my photographer friend Dave, who lives in the South Bay, he suggested I travel to his hood for a Saturday of retro road tripping through the beach communities of Hermosa, Redondo and Manhattan Beach.
Excited, I did my research and mapped out a day of vintage visits. Sadly, the first two places selected turned out to be a bust. Both had been remodeled away from their former glory. Instead of resembling eateries of the past, they looked like Marie Calenders chain locations. One of them, which will remain nameless, even ditched their amazing neon sign for a modern plastic banner. Shameful. Frustrated (and hungry) we drove by the beach. That’s when we stumbled upon a run down shack of a place on a weather-beaten little pier with an unassuming sign that read “Polly’s On The Pier. Coffee Shop Open at 5am.”
Once we stepped inside I knew this must be the place. Open daily before the sun rises, Polly’s has been feeding hundreds of sunburned surfers, locals in the know and grizzled fishermen for decades. How many is hard to know. But Polly’s is old. You know a place has been around for a while when you ask the fifty-something year old waitress how old the joint was and she says, “Polly’s has been on the pier at least since the war. The big one.”
She also told me that no one has ever owned Polly’s. The building and the pier it is located on are property of the City of Hermosa Beach. But the folks running Polly’s have leased the location on the pier with no name for decades. That’s right. The pier itself doesn’t really have an official name. Located between the far too touristy Hermosa Pier and Redondo Piers, this wood planked jetty is commonly referred to as “The Little Pier” or the “Sports Fishing Pier” by the locals.
I enjoyed the fried eggs with a hamburger patty, homemade hash browns and toast. While my buddy Dave ate what he called “The best damn French Toast I’ve ever had.” All while enjoying the amazing waterside view.
This is the kind of dining experience that would cost you close to a hundred bucks in Malibu or on one of the neighboring piers. But here at Polly our bill came to just under twenty bucks total. Polly’s also features a lunch menu full of burgers, sandwiches, fresh seafood and more. The locals swear that the Crab Melt is a one of a kind must try.
As Mod B says enjoy these places while they’re here because you never know what the future holds. Rumor is the pier itself and everything on it may not be around that much longer. Enjoy Polly’s On The Pier. It is the place for breakfast (and maybe lunch) in the South Bay. Catch it while you can.
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