Sunset Beach

The Brix Wine Bar/Brix Brewhouse & New York Deli has more than 2,000 wines and an eclectic beer selection. The pastrami sandwiches ($10 and $12) are amazing. It's family-run, with a friendly staff and lots of regulars. Entrees $8-$20. Brix Wine Bar/Brix Brewhouse & New York Deli, 16635 Pacific Coast Highway, Sunset Beach; (562) 592-3167, http://www.brixsunsetbeach.com Sharon Reich by email

The Brix Wine Bar/Brix Brewhouse & New York Deli has more than 2,000 wines and an eclectic beer selection. The pastrami sandwiches ($10 and $12) are amazing. It's family-run, with a friendly staff and lots of regulars. Entrees $8-$20. Brix Wine Bar/Brix Brewhouse & New York Deli, 16635 Pacific Coast Highway, Sunset Beach; (562) 592-3167, http://www.brixsunsetbeach.com Sharon Reich by email

The man who shot and killed his former girlfriend on Sunday, then turned the gun on himself outside a Sunset Beach bar, has been identified as Steve Mosqueda 49, of Sunset Beach. Police also identified the girlfriend as Patricia Cannon, 41, of Sunset Beach. The murder-suicide occurred in the parking lot at Turc's, at 16321 Pacific Coast Highway, where patrons were holding a party to raise money for a bartender stricken with cancer. Police said Mosqueda arrived at the party about 3:50 p.m.

A romantic beach is one of those can't-miss Valentine's Day standbys  - the more pristine the better. And no one knows pristine like Heal the Bay, which has released this guide to the West Coast's most romantic sand. All have received an “A” for water quality. Encinal Canyon, El Matador in Malibu  - The secluded cove won Heal the Bay's online poll, which asked supporters to share their favorite romantic beach along the West Coast. Abalone Cove in Rancho Palos Verdes  - A perfect picnic spot as well as a fine location to watch the migrating whales, this beach was another top vote-getter among Heal the Bay's ocean-loving supporters.

A 34-year-old Downey man apparently drowned Monday afternoon while swimming off Sunset Beach, authorities reported. Lifeguards said the swimmer was pulled from the surf in cardiac arrest about 3 p.m. near 5th Street. Supervising Deputy Coroner Joseph Luckey said that Raul Lara was pronounced dead about 4 p.m. at Huntington Beach Hospital. An autopsy is pending. The swell was 2 to 3 feet, and rip currents were present, said Jason Young, director of U.S. Ocean Safety, a private company that provides Orange County with lifeguard services at Sunset Beach.

LESLEY-ANNE DOWN, who plays one of the leads in Aaron Spelling's upcoming daytime series "Sunset Beach," and her husband, cinematographer Don E. Fauntleroy, have sold their Malibu home for close to its $1.5-million asking price and are refurbishing a home they bought nearby. "She has a good nose for real estate," Fauntleroy said of his wife, who plays a newspaper and radio station owner on "Sunset Beach," which premieres Monday on NBC. Down, 42, came to the attention of U.S.

Reality show star and motorcycle manufacturer Jesse James, the estranged husband of Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock, has listed his Orange County home of eight years for $6.75 million. The beachfront Mediterranean sits along the sand in Sunset Beach on a gated corner lot with views of the ocean, Catalina, the Long Beach skyline and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. A stone path leads past a fountain to the double-door entry of the two-story villa. The great room features stone floors, coved ceilings and an oversized fireplace with a stone surround and mantel.

A Lakewood man died Thursday in an apparent drowning off Sunset Beach, south of Seal Beach, Orange County coroner's officials said. Richard Brown, 25, died about 3:30 p.m. at Los Alamitos Medical Center, said a spokesman for the coroner's office. Brown's was the third drowning off Orange County beaches since July 15.

Three dead sea lions washed ashore at Sunset Beach this morning, and a federal official said they probably had been trapped in fishing nets at sea. The sea lion carcasses were discovered between 10th and 11th streets at Pacific Coast Highway. "The sea lions probably died after being trapped in gill nets" of commercial fishermen, said Joe Cardaro, a wildlife biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Service in Los Angeles. "About 99% of the sea lion deaths in January and February were because of fishing nets."

The California Highway Patrol will close a portion of Pacific Coast Highway this morning and the rest of the week during peak hours of high tides, which will reach 7 feet or better. One northbound lane between Anderson Street and Warner Avenue will be closed for 45 minutes to an hour before and after the high tide's peak because of expected flooding. Scheduled peaks at Los Angeles' outer harbor, the nearest point of calculation, will be 7.2 feet at 7:44 a.m. today, 7.3 feet at 8:30 a.m.

By the time he was 16 in 1936, Sam Perricone was picking and packing lemons in Corona and Riverside and then hauling them to Los Angeles in his small pickup truck to sell at the Grand Central Market. Perricone, who became a giant of the citrus industry, died of congestive heart failure July 8 at Hoag Memorial Hospital Presbyterian in Newport Beach, said his daughter Lucy Perricone. He was 91. A resident of the Orange County community of Sunset Beach, Perricone owned or was a partner in approximately 25 businesses related to agriculture.

Update: Motorcycle manufacturer and reality show star Jesse James, the ex-husband of actress Sandra Bullock, has sold his Sunset Beach home for $4.5 million. The Mediterranean sits along the sand in Orange County on a corner lot with ocean views. The great room features stone floors, coved ceilings and an oversized fireplace with a stone surround and mantel. A crescent-shaped island with bar seating separates the living and dining areas from the kitchen. A master suite, a media/game room, a wet bar, an office and a guest suite complete the second floor.

After 106 years, the Orange County coastal enclave of Sunset Beach was set to disappear next week ? if not in spirit, then at least on official maps ? with its annexation by the city of Huntington Beach. But traditions die hard in this close-knit, independent-minded community, where a greenbelt is the community focal point and residents pick up their mail at the post office because there's no home delivery. Now, a lawsuit has given Sunset Beach a temporary reprieve. The suit, filed by a group of residents angry about new taxes that will be imposed when they become part of Huntington Beach, seeks to scuttle the annexation approved last month by the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission.

Although a controversial plan to annex Sunset Beach has sparked plenty of worry in the tiny coastal community, Corinne Brubaker insists there's one aspect of small-town life that won't change: the post office. For half a century, the Sunset Beach Post Office on Pacific Coast Highway between 10th and 11th streets has functioned as the community's hub. Aside from a recent coat of buttercup-yellow paint, the one-story building has changed little in that time. Today, as the neighboring city of Huntington Beach seeks to absorb Sunset Beach, residents fear losing their quaint post office, where residents often are greeted by name and sometimes with a hug. Brubaker, the Sunset Beach postmaster, says they need not worry.

Emotions ran high as the Huntington Beach City Council voted late Monday to annex neighboring Sunset Beach over the cries of residents who tried to block the decision in hopes of keeping the funky, unincorporated beach town independent. The council voted 5 to 2 to direct city administrators to complete an application with the Orange County Local Agency Formation Commission to acquire Sunset Beach, the city's northern neighbor along Pacific Coast Highway. Mayor Cathy Green and Mayor Pro Tem Jill Hardy dissented.

Reality show star and motorcycle manufacturer Jesse James, the estranged husband of Oscar-winning actress Sandra Bullock, has listed his Orange County home of eight years for $6.75 million. The beachfront Mediterranean sits along the sand in Sunset Beach on a gated corner lot with views of the ocean, Catalina, the Long Beach skyline and the Palos Verdes Peninsula. A stone path leads past a fountain to the double-door entry of the two-story villa. The great room features stone floors, coved ceilings and an oversized fireplace with a stone surround and mantel.

Sgt. Miguel Chavez of the California Highway Patrol stared at the water flowing down Pacific Coast Highway Tuesday and pointed to what he said was sea life in the northbound lane. "See that spot there," he said. "There were some fish coming out of the drain. It looked like a little school swimming down the highway."

Nancy Howell's bid to drive blight from Pacific Coast Highway appeared to pick up speed this week when the County Board of Supervisors selected a consultant to study traffic and drainage conditions on the heavily traveled street. Howell, a Huntington Harbour resident who owns a business in Sunset Beach, also got a lift earlier this summer when the California Highway Patrol stepped up enforcement action against traffic and parking violators.

Sir Richard Branson has taken time off from helming his global Virgin brand to help promote the fourth year of BritWeek, which highlights all manner of British connections with California. An impressive array of events in the Southland (and for the first time in San Francisco as well) can be found at http://www.britweek.org. And although the celebratory "week" began Saturday, not to fear — it actually runs through mid-May. Meanwhile, here's Sir Richard's L.A. Days & knights We like to stay at the Sunset Marquis.