Desperate Beach Girl: THE MERMAID

So most everyone know what my favorite dive bar is. It's called "Mermaid Restaurant & Cocktails". I enjoy going there because it's got a lot of history behind it. It's not trendy, the bartenders are grumpy old men, and the place is a hole. Basically you enjoy yourself with the company you're with. It's a very interesting crowd, you have to experience it to understand where I'm coming from.

I'm dedicating a whole entry to the Mermaid because it's up for sale, and I think it may be torn down. This makes me extremely sad because this Hermosa Beach watering hole is one of the oldest establishments in the town.

Myself, Mark, Shelley and Sarah went there for a nice evening filled with Martinis and surprisingly enough live music. I've never seen this there before, but they had a guy who played 3 or 4 instruments and was just rockin out. We drank dirty martinis which had miniature mermaid toothpicks that held our olives in place. We had a great night. Our favorite bartender, Kenny was in the house. Kenny is from Albania and he's been there for 20 something years.

A LITTLE MERMAID HISTORY:
Quentin “Boots” Thelen owned the Mermaid. Boots served as an Air Force pilot in World War II. After the war, he moved to Hermosa Beach and purchased The Mermaid in 1954.
Thelen turned the establishment into one of the city's favorite places to enjoy a quality meal or cozy up to the bar for a cocktail under the restaurant's dim lights. The restaurant was built in 1954 using the back wall of the recently burned original Mermaid as the front wall of the new place. It was supposed be a temporary structure, but the original was never rebuilt.
Besides being known as the owner of The Mermaid, Thelen gained recognition for serving on the City Council and as mayor in 1965 and 1969, during which time he orchestrated the reconstruction of the Hermosa Beach pier.
He died of cancer on July 24, 2007. He was 85. Hermosa Beach feels they lost one of its most influential citizens.
The Strand-front property of the Mermaid has now hit the market for $27 million. Thelen’s six heirs, including Dianna Albergate (his stepdaughter), decided to sell due to the estate tax man knocking. According to Albergate they apparently didn’t have a choice because the federal government demanded its unfair share.

It's very sad, and I hope whoever buys this property preserves this historic landmark, but unfortunately I doubt they will. That land is a goldmine and I have a feeling it's going to turn into a big hotel or just a parking structure. It really breaks my heart.