After Hours: Art and Enchiladas in Greenwich Village Art Colony, Hermosa Beach

From the mid-1930s to mid-1950s, Hermosa Beach established its own Greenwich Village Art Colony, luring painters and sculptors to create art and exhibit it on the short diagonal street between Manhattan and Hermosa Avenue. Join us at the Hermosa Beach Museum May 28th, 6-8pm, to hear the history of how a proposed artists' colony left its mark on local culture.

In 1948, a group of Hermosa residents banded together to rename the space between Manhattan and Hermosa Avenues "Greenwich Village," harnessing the spirit of the famed New York art colony. For the next several years, street fairs there highlighted local artists and enticed creatives from across the US. John T. Hales (designer of Hermosa Beach's city seal), Norman Stiles Chamberlain, and Mary Louise Fry Finley were among the many in attendance. Though art shows are no longer common in the area, the short-lived art scene imparted a free-spirited atmosphere to nearby bars, including Esther's (later to become Critter's and North End), and surf shops, including the shaper of the surfboard from the Beach Boys' Surfer Girl and Surfin' Safari album covers. Join Hermosa Beach Museum Board Member Mark Shoemaker on Thursday, May 28, from 6-8pm to see art from the Museum's archives and hear the unique history of our Greenwich Village Art Colony, including the multitude of artists who passed through Hermosa as a result.

$10 RSVP includes complimentary refreshments and a cash bar