Weekend Opens (8/15-8/16)

Another dreamy weekend. Get your beach time in and, of course, pop in on a couple of opens after the surf gets mushy.

To plan your open-house tours for this week, use MB Confidential's online list of Manhattan Beach open houses (it's mobile-friendly!).

We ask MBC readers who visit the featured homes, or any open house, to also report back in the comments here. Tell us what you see, what you like and what you don't like.


Sand Section

3611 Manhattan Ave. (3br/4ba, 2500 sq. ft.) has been hanging around on our spreadsheets for 3+ months while the new home was awaiting completion. Now it's ready for a walkthru and, perhaps, a buyer who's blown away.

No question this is high style. The sharp lines and mixes of quality materials – wood and stucco outside, great woods, stone and glass inside – mark it as one of the more ambitious custom contemporaries in El Norte.

Is it a $3m home? You can get $1,200/sq. ft. in some cases near the beach. This one's also a bit near to Rosecrans. We'll see.


3611 Manhattan Ave. starts at $2.998m and is open Sat. & Sun. 1-4pm. Stop in if you can, or take an advance peek with this 3D architectural video that walks you through the whole property in 2 minutes. (No sound or ocean views.)


Tree Section

566 31st (5br/5ba, 3350 sq. ft.) has always given us a little warm smile walking by. The Spanish style feels authentic and warm, the setting tranquil.

Though the location is further west than the segment of 31st MBC once labeled a "Great Street," it still benefits from the street-to-alley orientation that puts the garage out back along 30th. (No disrespect to residents of 30th St. here.) It's a "good" street, if not "great."

The late-90s build features one of those vintage 2-story living rooms that largely left the architects' toolkit in recent years, but has good materials and some updates to the important details.

At $2.1m there should be a lot of interest. The listing calls it an "exceptional value," but goes on to make unfortunate reference to the home's proximity to Sand Dune Park at another moment of controversy involving "outside" users of the park – and a 2-week closing. Not that there was any hiding that.

566 31st is open Sun. 2-5pm.

2312 Pine (5br/5ba, 3150 sq. ft.), the subject of MBC newest pricing poll, which closed the other day (see "Poll Results: 2312 Pine") is open once again. Worth a look if you haven't spun by yet. Priced at $1.889m. Open Sun. 1-4pm.

848 14th (5br/5ba, 3500 sq. ft.), a heavy, substantial Caliterranean, has lingered nearly a year due to its excessive start price at $2.899m. Come on now: late September last year is remembered for a few things, but not, mostly, a booming uptick in values for new construction in the Trees.

They're coming around, now, though – a recent drop to $2.299m might mean this one is coming in range for the right buyer.

Here's another new home (502 24th comes to mind) that was intentionally placed next to a school along the dropoff line, but you won't notice that all day, every day – and not at all during Summer. Of which we've got 2 weeks left.

Requirement: Buyer must love stapled-on stone. Open Sat. & Sun. 2-4pm.