She’ll shop till she drops in the sand

If Kerri Walsh weren’t a professional beach volleyball player, she says, she would be a professional shopper. She’s already a really good amateur.

The 26-year-old and her teammate Misty May-Treanor are, on the beach, practically unbeatable. Last summer they took home gold medals from the Athens Olympics. And just last month they won their second straight world beach volleyball title.

On the Assn. of Volleyball Professionals Tour, which includes the Hermosa Beach Open this weekend, they’ve won six of the seven tournaments so far.

Walsh, who grew up in Saratoga, Calif., and earned a bachelor’s degree in American studies from Stanford, moved south about four years ago and lives in Redondo Beach with her fiance, beach volleyball player Casey Jennings. Not surprisingly, in her free time she stays close to the sand.

Spas and shops

I love the Third Street Promenade -- people are always happy there and there are great little shops. But right nearby is Fred Segal. There’s a little cafe so you can get a cappuccino and eat lunch. And you have everything you could ever want, from jewelry to hats to bags to shoes.

But Manhattan Beach is also my favorite shopping -- all the little boutiques there. My favorite is Flip-Flop, which sells a lot of beach gear. It’s really comfortable, soft material, so you can plop right down on the sand. Wright’s is another great shop with the same idea in clothes, but a little fancier. Diane’s Swimwear -- they have two shops next door to each other -- they have cute suits.

I also like shopping in Laguna Beach. Every beach town is different, and down there it’s artsy and comfortable. In Hermosa the scene is 20s and 30s and buff bods. And you go to Santa Monica, and it’s pretty manicured people. I really like going south; it gets more comfortable.

New Malibu fav

Casey and I went with a friend to Nobu in Malibu for the first time recently. It’s absolutely delicious. It’s one of my favorite things in Southern California. It’s not Hollywood, but there are beautiful people eating delicious sushi and drinking exotic cocktails.

Closer to home I like to go Pacific Rim in Hermosa. That’s one of my favorite little places -- a little mom-and-pop store that sells healthy Korean food. I always get the No. 43 -- chicken and beef and shrimp.

I also like the Chart House in Redondo Beach, which is right over the water. We have friends who work there, and they hook us up with lava cake, which is chocolate cake, but in the middle it had not fully cooked. That puts a smile on my face.

Strand biking

I’m a beach girl. It’s just a function of my job. But a great thing we do sometimes is we ride bikes along the Strand through all the beach cities. That’s a lot of fun. The path goes inland a bit at Playa del Rey, but you can go clear up to Venice Beach. You can stop and jump in the ocean, though I don’t swim. I’ve got kind of a shark phobia.

Our buddy owns Dragon, a club on the pier in Hermosa, so we’ll go there or to Sangria to go out. Sangria has two dance floors and two bars. A lot of locals go there. There’s house music in the back and hip-hop in the front, and they’ve got a big patio. Dragon is pretty posh.

-- Robin Rauzi