Sloopys is good

Sloopy’s is good

Four decades ago, north Manhattan Beach and the then-unincorporated part of Los Angeles County that was called El Porto constituted a rare slice of counter culture in the South Bay. While most of the South Bay (let’s exclude major swaths of Hermosa Beach from this generalization) was weathering the 1960s without too many dents to its conservatism, El Porto was thriving in hippiedom.

While there isn’t too much left in north Manhattan Beach and El Porto to remind us of those days, there is still Sloopy’s.

Established in 1967, Sloopy’s is unlike any other eatery in the South Bay. In many ways, it’s not even a restaurant, more just a glorified burger and sandwich stand. You walk in off the sidewalk and you are not even indoors. Instead, you find a funky enclosed patio with a giant gas fireplace, hand-fashioned wood furniture and plants everywhere. Further back, the roof disappears and it’s just you and the plants. And when I say there are plants everywhere, I really mean it. This is plant heaven.

The menu is painted on the north wall of the patio, from which you place your order through a small opening. The menu is extensive and the food is great. Although I haven’t had one in a while, Sloopy’s is known for their terrific shakes. If you really want the whole Sloopy’s experience, you shouldn’t do without one of the shakes.

Sloopy’s is comfortable and casual in a way that Manhattan Beach and the other South Bay cities for the most part aren’t anymore. Like any good eatery, the pleasure is in the experience as much as it is in the food. In a way, stepping through the door is like stepping back to the 60s. But it’s more than that. You look around and the place is full of hipsters, families, parents with babies. It’s not the 60s. It’s just the way everything ought to be.

-- Garrison Frost

(March 20, 2007)