Manhattan Beach is a prominent area for beach volleyball and surfing. A majority of the land in Manhattan Beach was once exposed sand dunes, which now lie beneath the city’s buildings and streets. The beach is approximately 2.1 miles long and 400 feet wide. In the early part of the last century, the beach was narrow (approximately 150 feet) and sloping. From 1938 to 1989, it more than doubled in width when large quantities of sand were placed on beaches to the north during construction of the Hyperion Treatment Plant, Marina del Rey, and Scattergood Power Plant. The sand was carried southward by the ocean’s natural littoral flow and widened Manhattan Beach. Every August, the city hosts the Manhattan Beach Open Volleyball Tournament and the International Surf Festival.