Java Man and Ocean Diner Have New Owners. The Crews Behind the Counter Are Staying.

For years, a quiet, well-dressed older man carried trays of morning glory muffins out to Java Man's tables on Pier Avenue. Sometimes he worked the register and waved off a customer's payment for no clear reason. Easy Reader's 2025 profile reported that plenty of longtime regulars only learned after his death in November 2025 that this man was Rick Hankus, and that he owned the place.

Hankus also owned Ocean Diner Café on Aviation Boulevard. In its October 7, 2026 A La Carte column, Easy Reader reported that South Bay Hospitality Group now owns both places. The group's partners, Brian Eldridge and Patrick Mescall, are best known for cocktails, and the column also reported that the crews are staying.

The crews are the main part of this story. At both places, the people behind the counter have been there longer than the new owners have been in business together. The owners' record with another old breakfast room in Redondo Beach shows a group that buys a place in order to leave it alone.

Four rooms, one portfolio

The ownership change is easier to follow with Hermosa's two breakfast landmarks set next to the other two rooms the same partners run nearby.

Three of the four have been operating since well before 2007. That is the year the two partners met behind the bar at Salt Creek Grille in El Segundo, according to the group's own history.

The people who have been there longest

Hankus opened Java Man in 1992 inside a little red 1929 beach cottage. The inside is split into small, semi-private rooms. In its November 2025 profile, Easy Reader listed the crew's tenure. Nick Herrera and Daniel "Fast Hands" Nava had each been there 27 years. Jesus "Chuey" Garcia had been there 19.

Those numbers explain a detail in the same profile. A Starbucks sat down the street from Java Man, and two more sat up the street. All three had recently closed. Hankus said the chain's openings and closings never hurt his business because his customers were "baked in" to the community.

The new owners kept the crew in place, and Easy Reader's October photo shows Herrera and Nava behind Java Man's counter.

Ocean Diner has the same kind of staff history. Hankus bought Granny's Diner on Aviation Boulevard in 1986 with a friend's backing and renamed it Ocean Diner. He kept chef Emigdio Nunez, who was still running the kitchen when the profile ran. The profile also named Martin Rodriquez, Jose Rodriquez and Jame Avila as part of the diner's crew of more than two decades.

The diner's look was Hankus's own. He played big-band music and hung framed World War II front pages, old toasters and waffle irons on the walls. His husband, Tim Biggs, told Easy Reader that Hankus always corrected customers who praised the "'50s theme." "It's the 40s," he would tell them. The menu's motto is "Just like eating at mom's… only better." It runs from biscuits and gravy and meatloaf to Boston cream pie and an oatmeal crème brûlée.

Easy Reader did not report a sale date, deal terms or plans from the owners for either Hermosa location. What it did report is that the staff stayed.

The test case on Pacific Coast Highway

The closest preview of what happens next is at 400 N. Pacific Coast Highway in Redondo Beach. Eat At Joe's has served breakfast there since 1969. When Mescall and Eldridge took it over in August 2024, Easy Reader reported that they made them its third owners in 55 years.

All 20 employees stayed on. "We just want to continue the tradition at 400 Pacific Coast Highway," Mescall told Easy Reader at the time, and the John Wayne Special stayed on the menu.

More than two years later, the October column said the group had "mostly left everything the same." The column called that a good sign for anyone who wants Java Man and Ocean Diner to stay as they are. Eat At Joe's still lists daily hours of 6 a.m. to 2 p.m. on its website.

That kept-it-the-same approach is how the group started. It began by buying O'Hearn's on Aviation, remodeling it and reopening it as Paddy O'Brien's in 2017, then went on to seven more acquisitions and rebrands. The group's site lists the Hula Hula Room, the Bounty Room, the Sportsman Bar and Sly Fox alongside Eat At Joe's and Tiki Kai. It describes its approach as reviving local gathering places and keeping the area's restaurant and bar scene strong.

One hospitality style across pubs, tiki and a diner

From a distance, the portfolio looks mismatched. It holds Irish pubs, a Polynesian dining room on Pier Plaza and now a 1940s-style diner. Mescall explained how he sees them fitting together in a November 2025 Easy Reader feature on Tiki Kai.

"We own Irish pubs, a diner, a Hawaii Polynesian tiki bar. The Hawaiians and Irish, I think, are known for hospitality. They are two cultures that are very warm, inviting and serving. We like to give Irish hospitality, Aloha hospitality and we combine that."

In the same feature, Mescall said, "We decided that the South Bay is our playground."

Tiki Kai opened at 73 Pier Avenue on November 5, 2025, behind a 14-foot carved door by Peter Asmar of Asmar Studios. Its reservations were full for the first two weeks.

With Java Man, the same owners now hold both ends of Pier Avenue's day. At the top of the street, the coffeehouse opens at 6 a.m. Monday through Saturday, according to Java Man's site. Down near the sand, the tiki room does dinner and drinks.

What Hankus built outside the dining room

Many customers didn't know Hankus owned Java Man. Hermosa's service clubs did. Easy Reader reported that the Hermosa Woman's Club, the Sister City club, Kiwanis and Rotary all knew him as the man to ask for coffee and baked goods when a fundraiser needed them. In 2002, the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce named him Man of the Year for his work with Big Brothers and AIDS support groups. "I thought it was a mistake when the Chamber called me," he said in his acceptance speech.

The Daily Breeze reported that Hankus moved to Hermosa in 1979 and served as Chamber president starting in 1998.

His biggest yearly commitment came at Thanksgiving. For more than a dozen years, he ran the kitchen for the Mama Liz Thanksgiving Dinner at the Kiwanis Club, where volunteers served turkey and pumpkin pie to 400 to 600 people.

The dinner is named for Liz Turner, an Easy Reader typesetter. With her son Randy, she served free Thanksgiving meals at their Garden of Eden restaurant and kept the tradition going at Kiwanis Hall after the restaurant closed, according to Easy Reader.

The 2019 dinner served more than 400 people with three dozen volunteers. That year the Kiwanis Club provided its hall and the Rotary Club next door provided its kitchen.

The hall is at 2515 Valley Drive. Anyone who wants to help with the dinner this year should check with the Kiwanis Club of Hermosa Beach for the date and volunteer details.

The season ahead

This holiday season is the first full one for Java Man and Ocean Diner under their new owners. On Sunday, November 22, downtown hosts the 5th annual Hermosa for the Holidays from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. The city lists holiday shopping from local artisans and retailers, a Ferris wheel, and a community concert with a tree lighting.

Thanksgiving falls four days later, on November 26.

Java Man's crew, the one the new owners kept, works at 157 Pier Avenue, up the street from the downtown celebration.

At Hirano Homes Group, we pay attention to who keeps a street's long-running places going, because that's part of what makes it home. If you've been going to Java Man or Ocean Diner for years and are thinking about your own next move in Hermosa, start with an instant home valuation and we'll talk you through what it shows.