Manhattan Beach

Doris Chang limits her three sons' intake of sweets and doesn't feed them any processed or frozen food. At their Manhattan Beach home, she monitors the boys' time in front of the television and keeps them busy with baseball, basketball and karate. About 20 miles to the northeast, Lorena Hernandez takes her 6-year-old daughter to McDonald's at least twice a week and frequently gives her Kool-Aid and soda. They go to the park often, but when they are in their Bell Gardens home, the television is usually on. The families' divergent attitudes toward food and exercise reflect just part of the challenge facing officials as they try to close a vast and costly gap in obesity rates across the region.

In the last two decades, there's been a tremendous surge in production of artisanal olive oil in California as consumers have developed an appreciation for the freshness, high quality and distinctive flavors that good locally produced oil can provide. This boom has carried over into farmers markets, where there has been a rush of new vendors, although many of them are not certified producers who are required to grow what they sell. Of the olive growers who are, one of the most intriguingly local is Joyce Lukon of Robinson Road Olive Ranch, who harvested her small crop last Sunday from a hillside next to her home in Topanga.

The Strand House in Manhattan Beach commands an enviable position at the edge of the ocean-side town overlooking the pier. No accident, since owner Michael Zislis is already a big presence here with his Shade Hotel and a number of casual restaurants, including Mucho, Brewco and Rock 'n Fish. But with the Strand House, the Zislis Group is trying something different from its successful run of beachy restaurants. It has overhauled the former Beaches and turned it into a lavish three-level restaurant and lounge that looks more to Hollywood for its style cues than to the town's laid-back beach culture.

Set on a corner lot in Manhattan Beach's Hill Section, this modernist house makes the most of walls of windows that frame the ocean views. The U-shaped concrete, steel and glass structure centers on a walled interior courtyard that the living space surrounds. Location: 904 Highview Ave., Manhattan Beach 90266 Asking price: $3.6 million Architect: Gerald Horn Year built: 1996 House size: Three bedrooms, 31/2 bathrooms, 3,643 square feet Lot size: 6,761 square feet Features: Solid teak wood windows, steel truss beams, living room fireplace, formal dining room, family room, two-car garage About the area: In the first half of the year, 177 single-family homes sold in the 90266 ZIP Code at a median price of $1,489,000, according to DataQuick.

Two-time Stanley Cup winner Oleg Tverdovsky has sold his Manhattan Beach house for $2,065,000. Built in 2006, the Spanish-style house opens to a wood-burning fireplace in the backyard. Beams from a Virginia farmhouse more than 100 years old were used in the vaulted ceiling of the master bedroom. The 3,350-square-foot home has five bedrooms and four bathrooms. The Ukrainian-born defenseman, 35, played with the Los Angeles Kings and Mighty Ducks of Anaheim among other National Hockey League teams.

Madison Elementary formed a "walking school bus" to get children - and their parents - to exercise. Good Stuff Restaurants started promoting to-go boxes so customers don't overeat. Crowne Plaza Hotel on Harbor Drive began opening some meetings with music and dancing. The cities of Manhattan Beach, Redondo Beach and Hermosa Beach are embarking on an ambitious experiment: improve the health of the entire region over a three-year period by transforming homes, workplaces and schools.

Last year, Sean Scott and John Hyden reached the final of the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals' last event before it ran out of money and shut down its tour. They lost, and it stung more so than usual. "I remember going, 'If this was my last beach volleyball event, it would've been nice to go out with a win,' " Scott said. But entering this year, the duo came up with a scheme. "We knew to make a living at this sport in a transition year, we've got to win every tournament," Hyden said.

Hermosa Cyclery, 20 13th St., Hermosa Beach; (310) 374-7816, www.hermosacyclery.com . Good Stuff, 1286 the Strand, Hermosa Beach; (310) 374-2334, www.eatgoodstuff.com . $ The Rockefeller, 418 Pier Ave., Hermosa Beach; (310) 372-8467, www.eatrockefeller.com . $-$$. Redondo Beach Pier, 100 Fisherman's Wharf, Redondo Beach; www.redondopier.com . Brixton South Bay, 100 W. Torrance Blvd., Redondo Beach; (310) 406-1931, www.brixtonsouthbay.com . Portofino Hotel, 260 Portofino Way, Redondo Beach; (310)

We'll call the movie "Three Beaches and an Airport. " It'll star Hugh Grant as a buttoned-up business traveler who is separated from his job, money and luggage at LAX, then befriended by a team of wise-cracking Olympic volleyballers who introduce him to the sun-baked, wave-splashed piers and brew pubs of L.A.'s South Bay. In no time, he soars to entrepreneurial success, leading beach-cruiser bike tours along the Strand, living in an ocean-view condo and...

Sean Scott loves this year's reincarnated version of the Manhattan Beach Open. But the pro beach volleyball player wanted to prove he's not alone in that opinion, so he asked a random nearby player for his two cents. Eyal Zimet, who has played in 58 pro tournaments, happily shared them. "This is the first real tournament this year," he said. John Hyden, Scott's partner on the open's top-seeded men's team, said when players first saw the stadium seating, sponsor village and fans start pouring in, the reaction was simple: "All right, we're back.