"We do 25% of our sales in the month of December," Lori Ford told the Hermosa Beach City Council in late October, according to Easy Reader News. Ford co-owns Gum Tree on Pier Avenue with her husband, and she said the shop has asked for free holiday parking every year for 18 years.
Her figure lands on an equally exact one from City Hall. The city's staff report puts the cost of free holiday parking at $66,795 for each week it runs. Because the program is priced by the week, the council isn't deciding whether downtown Hermosa gets a holiday season. It is deciding which weeks of December count as one. Every dated window raised this fall starts in December, after the weekend the season actually starts.
What a week of red meter covers costs
Under the program, the city puts red covers on all 388 silver-post meters, which sit mostly on Hermosa Avenue and Pier Avenue. Parking lots aren't included. The two- and three-hour time limits stay in force, and cars that overstay or break other rules still get cited. Those meters are enforced from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., seven days a week, so a free week covers nearly every hour that downtown is open.
The staff report splits the weekly cost into two lines: $52,967 in meter revenue the city gives up and $13,828 in citations it doesn't write. A three-week season from Dec. 3 to Dec. 25, 2026 would cost an estimated $158,900 in meter revenue and $41,500 in citations, about $200,400 in total. That is about what the 2025 season cost. It ran the same Dec. 3 to Dec. 25 dates, and the city estimated its cost at roughly $200,000.
The length has changed over the years. According to the city, the program has run since 2013 in two-, three- and four-week versions. It ran three weeks in 2017, four weeks every year from 2018 through 2024, and three weeks again in 2025. The 2026 debate continues that pattern of adjusting the length by a week at a time.
How three weeks became zero and then came back up
Easy Reader News reported that on Oct. 13 the council worked through four motions before it settled anything. Councilmember Michael Keegan moved for one week. Councilmember Rob Saemann proposed three weeks, Dec. 4 to Dec. 25. Councilmember Dean Francois pushed for four weeks to match Manhattan Beach. A motion from Councilmember Ray Jackson for two weeks, with the Chamber of Commerce choosing the dates, failed 2-3.
Mayor Mike Detoy then made the case for skipping 2026 altogether. "I think the cleanest way to get data is not to do it one year and to do four weeks the next year," he said, adding that "$200,000 is real public safety costs, real road repaving costs." Saemann withdrew his three-week motion and seconded the mayor's. The program was suspended 3-2, with Detoy, Keegan and Saemann in favor and Jackson and Francois opposed. Senior Management Analyst Ken Bales had told the council there is "limited evidence demonstrating that the resulting economic activity offsets the city's subsidy."
Two weeks later, business owners filled the Oct. 27 meeting. Chamber President Michelle Crispin asked for at least two weeks this year and a standing budget line for the future. She also acknowledged that sales taxes are reported quarterly, so December's sales can't be broken out to measure what free parking does for them. Gina Rothwell, who has owned Sol Baby on Pier Avenue for 20 years, put it this way in Easy Reader's account:
"We can't be the only one of the three beach cities that does not offer any type of free holiday parking, especially with Hermosa being the smallest and the one that has the least amount of retail."
Speaking for Sand Spa, April Donelson said going from three weeks to none took away one of the few tools small businesses have in their most important season. Kathy Knoll, co-owner of Uncorked, asked for at least three weeks. Saemann said those conversations changed his mind and proposed two weeks, Dec. 11 through Dec. 25. Francois proposed three. Because the item wasn't on that night's agenda, no vote could be taken, and the council agreed to bring it back.
The staff report for that return item, set for the Nov. 10 meeting, asks the council for direction and doesn't recommend a length. If the council keeps the three-week model, staff lays out Dec. 3 to Dec. 25. The city posts the council's decision on its City Council meeting recap page.
The kickoff weekend comes before every dated window
The dates attached to this fall's options are Dec. 4 to Dec. 25 from Saemann's Oct. 13 motion, Dec. 11 to Dec. 25 from his Oct. 27 proposal, and the Dec. 3 to Dec. 25 scenario in the staff report. Hermosa for the Holidays is Saturday and Sunday, Nov. 21 and 22, ahead of all three. According to the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce, the weekend combines the Holiday Open House, the tree lighting, live music and local shopping.
The Chamber's schedule, centered on Pier Plaza:
- Saturday, 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Holiday Pop-Up Market and Letters to Santa on Pier Plaza. Listed vendors so far are A&M Hat Bar, Colleen Berg Jewelry, Farm Fresh To You, Handmade in CA and Maui Treasures Boutique.
- Saturday, 2 to 7 p.m. Rock the Plaza with South Bay Music Connection.
- Both days, noon to 9 p.m. A Ferris wheel on Pier Plaza near Pier Head. Tickets are $9 at the on-site booth, card only.
- Sunday, 1 to 6 p.m. The nonprofit Giving Village, with St Cross Episcopal Church, Hermosa Beach Sister City Association, Ambassador Christian School, Woman's Club of Hermosa Beach, RimoVision Group, Hermosa Beach Pride, Leadership Hermosa Beach and Hermosa Beach Friends of the Library.
- Sunday, 5:45 to 6:15 p.m. Tree lighting and Santa's arrival on Pier Plaza, with Rock for Tots that evening.
The shops whose owners spoke at City Hall are running their own promotions that weekend. Gum Tree Shop & Cafe at 238 Pier Ave. has complimentary sips and treats plus a free tote with purchase on Saturday, and free mini muffins with a cafe purchase both days. Sol Baby at 124 Pier Ave. has 20% off gift certificates, a Saturday kids' craft tent, a raffle with purchase and an extra 25% off its sale rack.
Live music both mornings is a block up the hill at Java Man, which has Evyn Charles and Brian Sheil on Saturday and Michael Gourzis on Sunday. This is the cafe's first holiday season under new owners. Easy Reader News reported in October that Patrick Mescall and Brian Eldridge of South Bay Hospitality Group, who also run Tiki Kai on Pier Plaza and Eat At Joe's, bought Java Man at 157 Pier Avenue and Ocean Diner. Rick Hankus opened Ocean Diner in 1986 and Java Man in 1992. The owners told the paper they plan to keep the staff, may extend Java Man's hours into the evening with local musicians, and will end Ocean Diner's Wednesday closures.
Where the rest of December falls
After the kickoff, the city's own December events are spread across the weeks the council has been debating. This table lines them up against the staff's three-week scenario and Saemann's two-week proposal from Oct. 27:
| Date | Event | Dec. 3–25 window | Dec. 11–25 window |
|---|---|---|---|
| Nov. 21–22 | Hermosa for the Holidays, Pier Plaza | Outside | Outside |
| Sat., Dec. 5, 9 a.m.–noon | Sand Snowman Contest, 15th Street at the shoreline | Inside | Outside |
| Sun., Dec. 6, 3–5 p.m. | Community Chanukah Celebration, menorah lighting on Pier Plaza | Inside | Outside |
| Sat., Dec. 12, 9 a.m.–noon | California Great Santa Stroll, from Pier Plaza to the Manhattan Beach Pier | Inside | Inside |
The gap between those two windows is the first weekend of December. Under a three-week season starting Dec. 3, the Sand Snowman Contest and the Chanukah menorah lighting fall under red meter covers. Under a two-week season starting Dec. 11, both happen on paid meters, and the first free weekend begins with the Santa Stroll, which starts at 1 Pier Avenue on Dec. 12. Either way, a free week covers only the silver-post meters, and the posted time limits are still enforced.
At $66,795 a week, moving from three weeks to two saves the city roughly what one free week costs and takes the event weekend of Dec. 5 and 6 out of the free window. For a shop like Gum Tree that does a quarter of its year in December, that early-December week is the one at stake. The Ferris wheel on Pier Plaza runs until 9 p.m. on both Nov. 21 and Nov. 22.
Holiday weekends like these are the times many Hermosa homeowners wonder what their place on Pier, Hermosa Avenue or the walk streets nearby would be worth. If that's on your mind this December, Ryan Shaw Group can prepare a valuation grounded in how downtown Hermosa actually trades. Request Your Home Valuation.
