Manhattan Beach has plenty of bars with ocean views and craft cocktail menus. Ercole’s has neither, and that’s the whole point. The 1842 refers to the address — 1101 Manhattan Avenue — and this dive has been a neighborhood staple since 1927, when the South Bay was still mostly sand dunes and fishing piers. The wooden booths show their age in the best possible way: initials carved by generations of regulars who knew a good thing. The burgers are legendary by local consensus — some South Bay lifers will tell you flatly that they’re the best in LA. Order one, slide into a booth, and appreciate the radical commitment to not renovating.
