Redondo Beach Pier
Located several miles south of LAX, the Redondo Beach Pier, located in Redondo Beach, CA, offers dining, shopping, and entertainment. The pier is popular with locals and tourists alike and has a long history with sports fishing.
Restaurants
The Redondo Beach Pier features many restaurants. Fishing boats bring freshly caught seafood to the restaurants each morning, making the pier a great place to sample some of Southern California’s best seafood.
Bicycling
Los Angeles’ Marvin Braude Bike Trail runs over 20 miles of Los Angeles’ scenic coast and runs directly through the Redondo Pier near the southern end of its route. Any day of the week, the bike path is busy with traffic. Whether riding through or taking a stop, the pier is one of the many notable destinations on its route.
Parking
Unlike several other popular piers along the Los Angeles coast, the Redondo Beach Pier offers ample parking. There are several parking garages located directly behind the pier as well as several parking lots with metered parking a short stroll away. If you’ve stayed at the pier longer than planned, have no fear, if you parked in one of the garages you can extend your parking permit through text.
Seating
No matter where you are at the pier, public seating is within sight. Public benches and tables are along all of the pathways. Even on the busiest weekends, benches remain available.
Recreational Activities
At the Redondo Beach Pier, there are ample recreational activities to choose from. The pier is popular among local fishermen and has a cleaning station located at the end of the pier. Sailboats sail from the Pier’s marina daily; boats and boat tours can be rented from the same marina. The pier’s protected waters are a popular place to paddleboard and on the other side of the pier, surfers can be seen regularly hitting the waves.
Combined Forces
Lisa, I really appreciate the colors and hues that you have chosen to delineate the different forces. I am drawn right away to the all the tables that are available to sit at which leads me to believe a lot of people use them because of their location near the water. You’ve captured the calm and beauty of the location with the colors you have chosen and created something that is beautiful to look at.
I also observe that there is a lot of open area for recreation, places to eat and also ride bikes. You’ve don’t a great job of isolating and showcasing the leisure appeal of pier that a lot of people can enjoy.
My only recommendation is to be careful of the hues blending too much and there not being enough separation between the different forces. I know in some cases you are demonstrating similarities like the parking but some of the hues like the restaurant and the bike paths that are different actually appeared to be similar because of their proximity.
Lisa, Love the look of your final map. It’s very clean and precise, and it was easy to understand the majority of your different forces I thought it was very clever how you had the direction of the seating with the arrows without having to state this explicitly. I really loved the color scheme you chose as well, it reall pairs well with the ocean theme. The only thing that came to mind, is that parking and boat parking were hard for me to distinguish because of the similarities in the colors mapped to them. Maybe consider finding a way to make it easier to distinguish between these. Beyond that, great work on this!
Joe
Thanks for the feedback Joe! The colors were definitely close. I have tried to increase the contrast of them now, hopefully it’s a bit better!
Hello Lisa!
I really enjoyed reading your post and how it contrasted with mine (because the area I chose was close to the Santa Monica Pier). I think you did a great job pinpointing different forces, and am interested in seeing the recreational activities that are prevalent at the pier. Maybe there is a way you can distinguish between fishing and paddleboarding, or other various activities? Also, was there an arcade there… or was that at Hermosa Beach?
One critique I have is of your “seating” force map. It was a bit hard to see the icons you have to locate this force… maybe you could make it bigger or mark it with a different color? Your other force maps are very easy to read and understand, and I particularly like the “biking” force!
Thanks for the feedback Alexa! The seating was definitely hard to see. I’ve tried to make them larger and a brighter color now!
Hi Lisa,
I really liked your photo realistic map. I like that how you highlighted the area you are observing by putting a transparent layer over the irrelevant space.
I also like how you organized your maps on the website. I loved that you highlighted every single bench in your map instead of just drawing one straight line indicating where they are located. Do you think there is another color you could use to make them more easily seen?
P.S. Your photos are really great too. Makes me want to go visit!
Thanks for the feedback! I realize now that my bench and table markers are too small and hard to see. I think I’m going to at least enlarge them so it’s easier to see each location and I’m also rethinking color choices.
Lisa, I like your maps, especially that you keep the entire map of the area, but only allow for your selected area to be fully visible, my only concern is that since you’re right next to the ocean, using blue to obfuscate might actually lead to confusion about it being water itself. I was originally going to suggest that you make it even more opaque to really make your selected area stand out, but I think a color change might do that better. If its a conscious choice for blue, make sure that its strong enough to override this possible problem.
Second, specifically for your “seating” map, I understand the accuracy portrayed by each super small icon, but they’re so small that if someone handed me the map with no context, I wouldn’t have known there were any modifications to it beyond the outline. Maybe consider going a little more abstract with it, where you have general seating areas, rather than the exact locations for them so you can use bigger or more obvious icons or marks.
Last thought, not so much for your individual maps, but for your final one, all your colors are basically the same, so make sure you make some decent contrast between your various forces once you combine them into a single image.
Thanks for the feedback, Greg! I didn’t really think about people thinking the blue was ocean until you pointed it out. I will definitely change that right away! I also can see now posted online that the benchmarkers are too hard to see, I’m going to try making them bigger at least and maybe a brighter color. You also bring up a good point about combining the maps. A few spots on the map overlap so I need to consider further how to show both forces in the same spot without distracting from the other. All great point, thanks again!
Lisa,
Thanks for sharing – having grown up in SoCal I have never been to this pier!
Many of your photos suggest the place has a “weathered” look and I was curious if that was an active intention at all in your post? Around California, many places are trying to modernize with new amenities or layouts to continue attracting visitors. Is this “force” affecting your location in any way? Or do you believe they are actively trying to maintain a more low-key look? Your photos certainly help shape my image of the place in a particular way. Any thoughts on how you could translate over to part 2 of the mappings exercise?
Hi Q,
Thanks for commenting! It’s actually interesting that you noticed the “weathered” look of the pier because that is something that’s a big debate locally right now. A company has proposed that the current pier be demolished and a 36-acre waterfront complex be built in its place. 57% Redondo Beach residents voted recently for a measure that would halt the building of this new complex. Many residents argue that the Pier is one of the last true fishing piers along the Southern California coastline and that it should be maintained as a part of local history and an active fishing spot. I have considered trying to portray the “weathered SoCal pier” look in part 3 of the project but will give more thought about how that influences the forces at the site. Thanks, Q!
Hi Lisa,
To get things going I thought I would ask a couple of questions from Jesse’s Critique of Critique.
How do your own biases affect your response to the work?
I was drawn to your post because of my own experiences, and I decided to address this potential bias before giving you my critique. I thoroughly enjoyed reading your post, it took me back to my childhood home in Morro Bay (California Coastal Town), the backdrop of the ocean and the fishing poles over the pier. Always a cool breeze and the smell of the salt in the air, or at least that’s how I remember it.
What mood does the work create?
Part of the mood may be a result of my own bias, but I would also point to the time of day you did your observations as well as the language employed in your post. The sun is at the “golden hour” of lighting, giving the site a very warm and positive feeling. Silhouettes of fisherman at the pier and playful shadows all lend themselves towards very positive, lighthearted, and happy setting.
In the language of your post, you also keep a very positive tone/mood: “a great place to sample some of Southern California’s best seafood.”
“Whether riding through or taking a stop, the pier is one of the many notable destinations on its route.”
“No matter where you are at the pier, public seating is within sight. ”
“At the Redondo Beach Pier, there are ample recreational activities to choose from. ”
It all sounds very positive and wonderful. I would challenge you, as I would myself for my own site, to look deeper at these activities. Are they all positive? Is there a darker, less attractive side to this site? Is this mood really what the site presents, or are we perceiving this mood because of our experiences and love for this environment?
Joe,
Thanks for the comment! I definitely have my own biases regarding the pier, as it’s one of my favorite local places. This definitely affects the way I perceive the site but I’m trying to be aware of the biases I have. I am definitely trying to open my mind to other sides of the site, and the more time I spend observing the easier it is to see other perspectives. Thank you for your astute critique!