Veterans Day 2026 in the South Bay: Ceremonies on Wednesday, November 11, What Closes, and Two Benefits for Veterans Who Own or Buy Here

By Neil Chhabria, Broker and CEO, Chhabria Real Estate Company. Published November 2, 2026.

Veterans Day falls on Wednesday, November 11, 2026, and the South Bay marks it the way it has for decades: a ceremony at 11:00 AM in Manhattan Beach, a tribute at 1:00 PM at Veterans Park in Redondo Beach, a ceremony at Veterans Park in Lomita, and 21 tolls of the ship’s bell on the Battleship IOWA in San Pedro. City halls, county offices, post offices, banks and public schools close for the day. If you own a home here or are buying one, the closures touch one thing in particular: nothing records and no wire settles on Wednesday, so an escrow set to close that day closes Tuesday or Thursday instead. Here is what is confirmed for 2026, what is still waiting on an organizer, what closes, and two property benefits for the veterans who own or buy here.

Which Veterans Day ceremonies are confirmed for 2026?

Manhattan Beach at 11:00 AM, Redondo Beach at 1:00 PM, Lomita at 11:00 AM and the Battleship IOWA in San Pedro at 11:00 AM have published their November 11, 2026 details. Each is listed with the source it was read from on October 25, 2026.

Manhattan Beach holds its 29th Annual Veterans Day Ceremony on Wednesday, November 11, from 11:00 AM to noon. The city’s listing promises booths from veteran service organizations, a flyover by the South Bay Tiger Squadron, and light refreshments, and the Mayor will present the winner of the Mira Costa High School Veterans Day art contest with a framed print. The 2026 listing does not print a location. The city’s prior editions were held at the Veterans Monument on Veterans Parkway, and the Parks and Recreation Department takes questions at (310) 802-5448.

Redondo Beach’s Veterans Day Tribute is set for Wednesday, November 11, 2026 at 1:00 PM at the Veterans Memorial in Veterans Park, 309 Esplanade, on the ocean side of Torrance Boulevard and Catalina Avenue just south of the pier. The Redondo Beach Veterans Memorial Task Force runs it. The 2025 edition, listed by the Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, was free, hosted by the City of Redondo Beach with the Elks Lodge, AMVETS, the task force and the United States Marine Corps, and ran an hour.

Lomita’s Veterans Day Ceremony runs from 11:00 AM to noon on November 11, 2026 at Veterans Park, 257th Street at Walnut Street. The city’s event page carries the date and time in its calendar link rather than in the visible text, so check it the week before.

In San Pedro, the Battleship IOWA joins the national Bells of Peace observance at 11:00 AM on November 11, 2026, with 21 tolls of the bell for America’s veterans and for the end of World War I. The ship is at 250 South Harbor Boulevard. The event page lists no admission price for the observance itself; the museum’s phone is 877-446-9261.

Which South Bay observances are still waiting on 2026 details?

Hermosa Beach’s Veterans Commemoration and Candlelight Ceremony has run 25 years. The 2025 edition ran from 10:30 AM to 12:30 PM at the Veterans Memorial on the east lawn of the Community Center, 710 Pier Avenue, with a free reception at the Hermosa Beach Museum afterward. As of October 25, 2026, the city calendar for November 2026 shows the office closure on November 11 and not yet the ceremony.

Torrance honors veterans the Friday before the holiday with a Veterans Appreciation Event run through the city’s Social Services Commission: resource booths from 10:00 AM, a program at 11:45 AM and lunch until 1:00 PM, free, a veteran plus one guest, with RSVPs taken in October. The 2025 edition was Friday, November 7, 2025, and the 2024 edition was at the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, 3330 Civic Center Drive. The city has not posted a 2026 date; if the pattern holds it would be Friday, November 6, 2026.

Lawndale’s Field of Honor puts 200 flags on the Civic Center lawn at 14717 Burin Avenue for Veterans Day week. The 2025 display, the tenth, ran November 6 to 12, with flags sponsored at $25 each and kept by the sponsor afterward. The 2026 dates were not posted as of October 25.

Green Hills Memorial Park in Rancho Palos Verdes, which hosts the Peninsula’s Memorial Day observance, lists no Veterans Day ceremony on its events page; it does list Veterans Day decorations and flowers on graves from November 8 to 19.

What closes on Wednesday, November 11, 2026?

Veterans Day is a federal holiday, so post offices and federal offices close, and the Federal Reserve lists November 11 as a 2026 holiday, which is why banks close with it. Los Angeles County lists Wednesday, November 11 among its 2026 holidays, so county offices close. Manhattan Beach, Hermosa Beach and Lomita all list their city halls closed on November 11. Public schools close under Education Code section 37220, which names November 11 as a school holiday.

What stays on schedule: Manhattan Beach’s city calendar lists no change to refuse pickup or street sweeping for November 11 (it does list a modified schedule for Thanksgiving week). Check your own city’s hauler notice before leaving the bins out.

What does the holiday change for a sale or purchase in escrow?

Two things in a South Bay escrow depend on offices that are closed on November 11. The deed and the loan documents record at the Los Angeles County Registrar-Recorder, a county office, and a buyer’s funds and the lender’s funding move by wire through banks that are closed with the Federal Reserve. A closing dated Wednesday, November 11 therefore records and funds on Thursday, November 12, unless escrow moves it up to Tuesday, November 10. In our experience, the move-up is the better choice when a seller’s next purchase or a buyer’s lease end depends on the date, because it keeps a one-day slip from turning into a weekend. Ask your escrow officer which day the file is set to record, and check that the wire for the down payment is sent by Monday, November 9, so it has a full business day to land.

What property benefits can a veteran who owns or buys here claim?

The Disabled Veterans’ Property Tax Exemption takes a fixed amount off the assessed value of a principal residence owned by a veteran rated 100 percent disabled, or compensated at the 100 percent rate, or by an unmarried surviving spouse. The State Board of Equalization’s Letter to Assessors 2025/014 sets the 2026 amounts: a basic exemption of $180,671, and a low-income exemption of $271,009 for households with income of $81,131 or less. At the 1 percent base rate, the basic exemption is worth about $1,800 a year on the tax bill and the low-income exemption about $2,700. The Board’s exemption page explains the claim: the first filing within 90 days of qualifying or by the following January 1, whichever is later, and the low-income version re-filed each year between January 1 and February 15 for the full amount. The Journal post publishing on November 11, 2026 covers what changes for this exemption from the 2027 lien date under Senate Bill 296, signed September 28, 2026.

On the buying side, a veteran with full VA entitlement has no VA loan limit, which matters in a market where the median detached home in Torrance sold for $1,292,500 over the twelve months to September 2026, by our own CRMLS figures. The lender still has to approve the loan, and the appraisal still has to support the price, so the limit that applies is the one the lender sets.

The figures above are general information, not tax, lending, legal or investment advice, and not a recommendation to buy, sell, hold, list or price any property. Eligibility for any exemption or loan is decided by the assessor or the lender, not by this page.

What gets reported next?

Hermosa Beach, Torrance and Lawndale get a second look the week of November 2, and any 2026 details they post are added here with the date. Within two days after November 11, this post gets a short note on how the ceremonies went and the 2027 date. Thanksgiving week closures and the turkey trot follow in the Journal the week of November 23.

Buying, selling, or still deciding if the South Bay is where you’ll settle down next? Neil Chhabria, Broker, 310.798.3122, [email protected].

Sources

City of Manhattan Beach, 29th Annual Veterans Day Ceremony and November 2026 city calendar; prior-edition listing naming the Veterans Monument on Veterans Parkway. Redondo Beach Veterans Memorial Task Force, Veterans Day Tribute 2026. Los Angeles County Department of Military and Veterans Affairs, Redondo Beach 2025 and Hermosa Beach 2025 listings. City of Lomita, Veterans Day Ceremony. Pacific Battleship Center, Veterans Day Bells of Peace. City of Hermosa Beach, Veterans Commemoration and Candlelight Ceremony, 25th anniversary and November 2026 calendar. City of Torrance, 2025 Veterans Appreciation Event and Social Services Commission page. Healing Field, Lawndale Field of Honor 2025. Green Hills Memorial Park, events. U.S. Office of Personnel Management, 2026 federal holidays. Federal Reserve Financial Services, holiday schedules. Los Angeles County Public Works, county holidays. California Education Code, section 37220. California State Board of Equalization, Letter to Assessors 2025/014 (May 21, 2025) and Disabled Veterans’ Exemption. U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs, VA home loan limits (updated August 12, 2025). Chhabria Real Estate Company, CRMLS Matrix pull of October 6, 2026, twelve months to September 2026. All read October 25, 2026.

We do our very best to supply facts drawn from official sources so that the information you find here is reliable and accurate. If we find conflicting information, we report on all of it.