As my actual last flight before baby Harper arrives, I took a work trip down to Manhattan Beach for a quick few days of in-person. While we were very jam packed with our work itinerary, I still made some time to get to see a few things in the area while there.
Even on quick work trips, I recommend trying to squeeze in at least a local coffee shop or two so that you get a feel for the area you’re in, and get a chance to feel like you saw something new. It makes a huge difference in your long term work life balance!
For this trip, we stayed at The Belmar, which was not a Marriott, and was a little outdated, but quaint. The Marriott westdrift, and Autograph Collection, is also nearby, but happened to be sold out when we were traveling, so it’ll have to be saved for another time!
Each morning before our meetings, we tried a different coffeshop/breakfast spot. On day one, we drove over to goodboybob coffee, which is a super upscale, modern store with some incredible options. I opted for a fairly basic vanilla latte, but they had so many fantastic drip coffee and fancier latte options for the more adventurous. They also had a crazy selection of pastries, all made fresh in house that morning. I went with this everything bagel, cheese, croissant brioche situation, and it was SO good. If I hadn’t consciously been trying to see a few different places while we were here, I would have come back to this spot every morning.
On day two, we opted for a sit down breakfast at Cafe Wild. This quaint little cafe has a huge breakfast and lunch menu, plus tons of handcrafted coffees. We grabbed our food, including pancakes for the table, and sat outside to enjoy the perfect sunny SoCal weather. They also had wifi, so we were able to get a little work done while relaxing!
The whole area around these breakfast spots is so cute. There are a ton of cafes, shops and restaurants, and it was nice to spend a little bit of time just walking around, and enjoying the views of the water at each corner.
For dinner one night after work, we made reservations at Esperanza Cocina de la Playa. The upstairs patio is the way to go, as it’s a bit separate from all the hustle and bustle, and they have heaters for when it starts to get a little chilly when the sun goes down.
Not only was the location beautiful, but they also made me one of the most delicious mocktails I’ve had during this pregnancy AND had a tv put on the Pelicans playoff game so I wouldn’t miss any of the action during dinner.
Plus, the food was incredible! It was all super fresh, and while I couldn’t enjoy some of the amazing ceviches, everyone else raved about them.
I can’t wait to come back and explore more of this quaint little beach town, and more of all the little areas along the water in SoCal. We sped through a lot of this area during our 30 day PCH roadtrip, and it seems we need another shorter PCH trip just in SoCal soon. Let me know what places in Manhattan Beach I need to check out next time, and what other areas we should add to our list!
