Manhattan Beach Open - 1960
In 1960 the Manhattan Beach Open was played for the first time. The Manahattan Beach Open is professional beach volleyball's most important event.
Other open tournaments were held that year on thirteen beaches in California. From north to south those beaches were Santa Cruz, Santa Barbara, Will Rogers State Beach, Sorrento Beach, Rosecrans, Manhattan Beach, Marine Street, Newport Beach, Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach,Laguna Niguel, Mission Beach, and San Diego.
Also in that year, President Kennedy attended the beach volleyball competition in Sorrento Beach. The six Santa Monica volleyball courts which people call the Sorrento Beach volleyball courts are located on the sand a couple hundred yards or so north of the California Incline.
Competitive beach volleyball started a few decades before 1960.
Regular competitive beach volleyball began in Santa Monica (a few miles north of Manhattan Beach) in 1924 when the Beach Club and the Swimming Club began competing every Sunday from July 4th through Labor Day. The competition between two-man teams began at the Santa Monica Athletic Club in 1930.
In 1947 beach volleyball's first official two-man tournament was held at Will Rogers State Beach. Later a circuit was organized by Parks & Recreation Departments and the competitions were held in Santa Barbara, Will Rogers State Beach, Sorrento Beach, Laguna Beach, and San Diego.
University of California, San Diego - 1960
University of California at San Diego opened in 1960 when classes of the graduate schools in several of the Sciences met in the Scripps Institute. UCSD began accepting undergraduates in 1964. Since the early 1960's UCSD has continued to attract students majoring in the Sciences and today it is one of the three top rated UC's.
UCSD is located in La Jolla, San Diego less than a mile from the waters of the Pacific Ocean. Notable UCSD graduates have won the Nobel Prize (Susumu Tonegawa, Nobel Prize in Medicine, 1987) and designed the original Macintosh computer (Guy Tribble).
