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.
