The pier lighting is on the calendar of almost everyone in town. The evening four days before it gets far less attention. On Saturday, November 14, the sun will drop into the keyhole of Light Gate, the glass and steel sculpture at the top of 14th Street. This happens on a date the sculpture has kept every year since it was dedicated in 2015, and no committee chose it.
The city and the downtown merchants set the date of the official holiday kickoff, the Pier Lighting and Holiday Open House. This year it falls on Wednesday, November 18. That means Manhattan Beach gets two openings to the season this year. One is quiet and is set by the sun on Highland Avenue. The other is loud and runs on a printed schedule at the foot of the pier. Both evenings use the same short walk downhill, through a downtown that has changed a good deal since spring.
A sculpture built around a sightline
Light Gate is the work of artists Mags Harries and Lajos Héder. The City dedicated it on Wednesday, February 25, 2015, at 14th Street and Highland Avenue, between City Hall and the Library. The artists' project page lists its materials as steel, glass and prismatic film.
The design has a clear purpose. According to the City's Light Gate page, the opening frames the view down 14th Street to the ocean, and every January 27 and November 14 the sunset lines up inside the keyhole. Easy Reader describes the opening as lining up with ocean sunsets between those two dates. So November 14 marks the start of a window, and January 27 marks its close.
The City refreshed the sculpture in 2019. Its original panels used fused glass with an embedded film meant to throw prism-like light. They faded, and in March 2019 the City Council approved money from the Public Arts Trust Fund to replace five panels. The new panels are dichroic laminated glass, made by Goldray Glass with a 3M polymeric film. City staff worked with the artists so the sculpture's original intent stayed intact. The City says visitors should expect the color to change with viewing angle and light. A low sun sitting in the keyhole is the moment the panels were designed for.
Saturday the 14th, 4:15 to 5:00
The City calendar lists the Light Gate Sunset for November 14, 2026, from 4:15 to 5:00 p.m., on Highland Avenue between City Hall and the Library. The same listing puts sunset at 4:50 p.m. The listing describes no program. There is the sculpture, the street running down to the water, and about 35 minutes of a sun getting lower.
This year the date lands on a Saturday. That is the main reason the alignment deserves a spot on your calendar in 2026. It needs no tickets and no stage. On a clear evening, all it asks is that you be standing on Highland at 14th when the sun reaches the gap. If the marine layer comes in, the next scheduled alignment is January 27.
Wednesday the 18th runs on a printed schedule
Four days later, the season opens the other way. The City calls the Pier Lighting and Holiday Open House "the official start of the holiday season in Manhattan Beach." The event runs from 6:00 to 9:00 p.m. across downtown and the pier, and downtown merchants stay open until 9. The City and the Downtown Business and Professional Association are also hanging snowflake lights and lighted street banners for the holidays.
The Downtown Manhattan Beach Holiday Open House 2026 page lists the schedule by street:
| Time | Where | What's there |
|---|---|---|
| 5:00 PM | Metlox Plaza | Santa and Mrs. Claus with Karl Meyer Photography, hot cocoa and cookies from Mychal's Cafe, Frontier Kettle Corn, Nicole Face Paints and Balloon Art, music by Michael Holmes, Harmony Carolers |
| 6:00 to 9:00 PM | Manhattan Avenue | Live reindeer near {pages} a bookstore, The Lucky Ones Band at 10th Street, jazz saxophonist Matt Kalin in front of SLAY at 12th Street, Larry the Taco Guy at 13th and Manhattan |
| 6:00 to 9:00 PM | Highland Avenue | Dallas Green vocals at 12th and Highland, strolling carolers, Danger Dogs at MB Watch at 13th and Highland |
| 6:00 to 9:00 PM | Manhattan Beach Boulevard | Strolling Dickens-style carolers, Buddy the Elf |
| 6:00 PM | The pier | Manhattan Beach Middle School Choir |
| 6:30 PM | The pier | Mira Costa High School Choir |
| 7:00 PM | The pier | Pier lighting |
The City's version of the schedule is marked "subject to change." The downtown association's own advice for 7:00 is "don't blink." After that, the pier's 80 living Christmas trees stay lit for anyone who wants to walk out among them, and the association thanks the Zebrowski Family for them.
The Beach Cities Toy Drive, run by Manhattan Beach and Hermosa Beach, has a booth in the Police/Fire station lobby during the event. It takes new, unwrapped toys. If you miss the evening, you can drop toys at City Hall during business hours or at a Manhattan Beach fire station.
The walk between them
Light Gate sits at the top of the hill and the pier at the bottom, so you can turn either evening into a walk that ends where the other one happens. On the 14th, leave Highland after the sun goes down and drift toward the water. On the 18th, start at the sculpture in daylight and follow the schedule downhill. Either way, the route passes storefronts that are new this year.
- Light Gate, 14th and Highland. Start here. City Hall is on one side and the Library on the other.
- Gum Tree, 1140 Highland Avenue. The shop moved to this address on August 1 after losing its earlier lease, according to La Vista.
- 13th and Highland. On the 18th, Danger Dogs sets up at MB Watch, and Dallas Green sings a block down at 12th.
- Coucou, 1131 Manhattan Avenue. The French bistro opened in the former Nando space by May 2026, per Eater LA, which names Jesse and Hayley Feldman as its owners.
- Metlox Plaza, 13th Street and Morningside Drive. Santa's station on the 18th, and the home of Bacio di Latte, an Italian gelato shop that opened in June, per La Vista.
- Beyond Yoga, 324 Manhattan Beach Boulevard. It opened August 13 in the space Gum Tree left, per La Vista.
- The pier. The choirs perform at 6 and 6:30, and the lights come on at 7.
If downtown looks different from the version you remember last November, that matches what the people running it are saying. In July, Kelly Stroman, executive director of the Downtown Manhattan Beach Business and Professionals Association, told MB News:
"The turnover in downtown Manhattan Beach is unprecedented right now and we are all talking about it."
That same roundup counted leases signed and buildouts approved for spaces that are still in transition. On November 18, with every merchant open until 9, many neighbors will walk the whole downtown in one evening and see this year's changes for themselves.
Before you drive in on the 18th
Plan the Wednesday evening around closures. Parking for the 14th is simpler, since nothing is listed beyond the sunset. On November 18, the City's 2026 event page links to a Holiday Open House and Pier Lighting map that is dated November 19, 2025, the date of last year's event. Last year's closures covered stretches of Manhattan Beach Boulevard, Manhattan Avenue and the pier parking lots for much of the afternoon and evening. Treat that map as a guide to the general pattern, and check the City's event page closer to the date for 2026 street and lot details. If you live within walking distance of Highland, go on foot both nights. Light Gate's whole design is about looking down 14th Street to the water, so walking down 14th Street toward the water is a fitting way to get there.
I've spent four decades walking these same blocks, and the pier lighting still marks the start of the season for me. This year, try starting at 14th and Highland on the Saturday before. If you want to talk over what's changing downtown, or anything else on your mind about Manhattan Beach, Bill Ruane is glad to hear from you. Let's Connect.
