Ercole's Bar & Grill has occupied the same corner at 1101 Manhattan Avenue since July 1929, now 97 years in business and the oldest operating bar in Manhattan Beach. With the AVP Manhattan Beach Open returning August 14–16 two blocks away at the pier, the bar is about to hit its busiest stretch of the year.

The building itself is the oldest commercial structure in the city. Inside, Christmas lights glow above the bar, well-worn wooden booths bear decades of patrons' carved names, and a 1940s department store cash register still sits near the entrance. A neon sign outside reads "Est. 1927," but multiple historical accounts confirm the actual opening was 1929, during Prohibition.

Italian immigrant Giuseppe "Joe" Ercole and Grace Ullery started the place as a sandwich and ice cream parlor. It survived the dry years by doubling as a pool hall and soda fountain. Over the decades it cycled through identities: a Western-themed bar, a Dutch-Indonesian restaurant, and finally the burger-and-beer spot locals know.

The bar has been in the Clark family since 1972, when Staci Clark's uncle Gary Moore bought it from Louis and Ellen Underwood. Moore installed a grill behind the bar, believing food would anchor the business. More than 50 years later, Ercole's burgers are considered some of the South Bay's best, supplied by Manhattan Meats next door.

Moore never took a vacation. He ran the place every morning until the day bartender arrived, going more than a decade without a real break. After his death in 2015, Staci Clark and her husband Dennis Clark took over.

"We didn't know if we could keep it going, but we didn't want to see it changed because he didn't want to see it changed," Dennis Clark told Our South Bay. "The people who have been coming here for years don't want it to change."

Bartender Tito Amaral, who grew up in Manhattan Beach ordering burgers at the takeout window before he was old enough to drink, has worked behind the bar for six years. Mornings belong to retirees and cyclists; evenings bring a younger crowd. The bar is standing room only during the Manhattan Beach Open and the 6-Man Beach Volleyball Tournament each summer, and Thanksgiving Eve and Christmas Eve have become annual traditions.

Kristin Long, a Manhattan Beach Historical Society member and longtime patron, is writing a book to document the bar's history before those stories disappear. She has been interviewing regulars and digging through archives since at least 2018. In a September 2018 interview with MB News, Long described her motivation: "I want to capture the spirit of what has made Ercole's such a beloved institution for 90 years. I've found that the best and most interesting stories are the simplest and most personal."

One story Long collected: a regular whose father drank at Ercole's and Shellback Tavern, and when he died, fellow regulars paid for his burial.

"It's pretty crazy when you think about everything that has happened since the bar opened and that it is still standing," Long told Our South Bay. "It made it through the Great Depression, Prohibition, multiple wars and the changing environment of the city."

Ercole's is open daily from 10 a.m. to 2 a.m., with happy hour from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m.

Upcoming community events

• AVP Manhattan Beach Open: Friday, August 14, through Sunday, August 16, at Manhattan Beach Pier. Free general admission; youth clinic included.
• Hermosa Beach Farmers Market: Every Friday, noon to 4 p.m., on Pier Avenue.
• El Segundo Farmers Market: Every Thursday, 3 to 7 p.m., on Main Street.