Movie Making in Hermosa Beach

American filmmaking is often associated with Hollywood’s landmark letters. Even so, the city does not solely embody that “Hollywood” mystique; the public’s perception of movie magic owes to influences including our own Hermosa Beach.

“This is definitely a destination location. There’s no way to really define it, it’s just the vibe,” said Rick Koenig, president emeritus of the Hermosa Beach Historical Society, whose 13-year tenure included designing and building the current Hermosa Beach Museum. “A lot of the people who come visit Hermosa … They want to feel that undefined thing that started with Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello, with the old ‘Beach Blanket Bingo’ kind of movies.”

The best-known feature with Hermosa Beach fingerprints is “Carrie” (1976), Brian De Palma’s Stephen King adaptation added to the National Film Registry in 2022. Hermosa’s Community Center, originally Pier Avenue School, provides exteriors and interiors for Bates High School — including the prom’s infamous gymnasium.

Koenig and his mother both attended Pier Avenue School. He was around 20 when “Carrie” began filming, and later kept its shower features for a museum display.

Emilio Estevez’s “Men at Work” (1990) includes a Corvette being blown up on the sandlot where the Biltmore Hotel was demolished in 1969. A current maintenance technician for Public Works and his “pier rat” friends added their local flavor.

“We were underneath the 14th Street lifeguard tower, and we put towels up, leaned our boards up against the inside,” said Matthew, who preferred to go by his first name. “We were hanging out, partying, and we heard, ‘Hey, what’s going on here?’ It’s Charlie Sheen, Emilio Estevez, and a couple of crew people.”

They talked about the dawn patrol. “This is what you do in Hermosa Beach, man. If you’re a local and you surf, you just hang out at the beach and wait for the waves.” When “Men at Work” was released, they found their lives reflected in its opening scene. “We started laughing that we should’ve gotten paid for that.”

Other films featuring the “best little beach city” include “Rough Night” (2017), “Side Out” (1990), “Hardbodies” (1984) — in which Matthew was an extra, and Universal’s classic “Creature from the Black Lagoon” (1954). “La La Land” (2016) depicts Ryan Gosling performing at The Lighthouse Cafe.

Michelle Crispin, founder of music and marketing consultancy Mic Drop Media, said “La La Land” put The Lighthouse back “on the map for tourism.”

Now a Hermosa Beach Museum docent who serves on the Chamber of Commerce’s Board of Directors, Crispin settled down here after a world-touring “rock star” life with bands like Fem2Fem. She fell in love with Hermosa’s historic music scene, going so far as to release the documentary “Jazz v. Punk” in 2018. “Why in the world is Hermosa Beach known for these seemingly opposite styles of music? This little 1.4-square-mile beach town.”

“Jazz v. Punk” has only shown in festival circuits and local events due to budget constraints for licensing and distribution. Crispin is interested in pursuing a feature-length release to show the world “our rich history of music,” with interviews including a couple of girls who came to a Lighthouse jazz show because of “La La Land.”

In television, the beach house from “Beverly Hills, 90210” is on The Strand, and residents may recognize local haunts like the Sea Sprite Hotel from Hulu’s revival of “Veronica Mars.”

Many old Hollywood stars hit Hermosa between shoots. Mae Marsh of “Birth of a Nation” lived at 2440 The Strand, Charlie Chaplin lived on 10th Street, and Erich von Stroheim rented Koenig’s family home (he was hard-pressed to leave). Koenig’s father was executive vice president of Hal Roach Studios, which employed three-time Academy Award-nominated “godfather” of special effects Roy Seawright. Local Iron Man legend Annie Seawright-Newton is his granddaughter.

Hermosa’s impact extends to auxiliary industries, with Hermosa Tile founder T.C. Prouty’s Metlox Pottery division creating ceramic neon signs for movie palaces in the 1930s.

A small city having this outsized impact is undoubtedly a reflection of its culture, the same force that motivated Crispin to start a monthly songwriter showcase at Saint Rocke; that motivated Matthew and his wife to move back after raising their children in Mammoth. He’s excited to take his son surfing here after a lifetime of stories.

“That’s why it’s so important that our city leaders understand that and not make us into a cookie-cutter town,” Koenig said. “A lot of the people who can afford to live here now don’t realize where they’ve moved to. They don’t realize why they want to be here.”