These photos are of Division II till the end, of the 2012 Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade. These photos begin with the North High School Saxon Regiment and Color Guard. Parade entries include several ROTC and JROTC\’s; as well as Navy and Coast Guard floats. My alma mater, Bishop Montgomery, returned to the parade with one of the more entertaining high school marching bands I have seen in a while. Also included in this group of photos are the Torrance Torrettes and the 1st North Carolina Cavalry Civil War Re-enactors.
The watermark was donated to the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, the only charity for those suffering from RA. Continue reading
As I have far too many photos from the Torrance 53rd Annual Armed Forces Day Parade, I have broken the photos up into three groups. The first group included arriving dignitaries and the Prologue Division of the parade; these photos are from Division I which encompasses parade entries 13-44. This includes the swearing in of the Air Force cadets, the West High School marching band, a couple flyovers and some military hardware.
The watermark was donated to my favorite charity, the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation, the only charity just for people with Rheumatoid Autoimmune Disease otherwise known as Rheumatoid Arthritis. Continue reading
Thursday afternoon, Mayor Frank Scotto gave his 2012 State of the City Address at the Marriott Hotel in Torrance, CA. It was a very well attended event that included not only Mayor Scotto\’s State of the City Address, but also included a presentation of the Torrance Citizen of the Year Award to Chef Michael Shafer, owner of The Depot restaurant in Torrance; as well as a special award to Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) President and CEO, Donna Duperron to recognize her involvement and work with the Chamber and the City of Torrance.
As this was a part of the City of Torrance Centennial Celebration, there was a short video talking about the history of Torrance as well as where the city is headed. Mayor Scotto\’s address followed up on this and while Torrance has had some issues in recent years, and there continue to be some hurdles to overcome, the future looks great. As a long time resident, it was good to hear.
I have donated the watermark to the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation to help bring awareness to the only charity specifically for RA/RAD. Continue reading
These photos were taken Saturday at the 53rd Annual Torrance Armed Forces Day Parade. Torrance is one of the few cities in the United States that has an Armed Forces Day Parade and they have been doing it longer and better than anyone. I read somewhere that this is the largest Armed Forces Day Parade west of the Mississippi River. Since it is the biggest, that means I got a ton of photos; so many that it would be difficult to navigate through all of them if you are looking for something specific. As a result, I am going to break the parade up into three galleries.
This first gallery consists of the very beginning of the parade and includes the Grand Marshal, elected government officials and senior ranking officials representing the assorted branches of the armed forces. Also included is the Prologue section with parade entries 1-12.
The watermark on the photos was donated to the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation to help bring awareness of the only charity specifically for RAD/RA. Continue reading
It is Sunday evening and the 7th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) has come to a conclusion. We ended our week long adventure at San Pedro Brewing Company, in beautiful downtown San Pedro, CA. I have been to San Pedro Brewing at least once before and they are an award winning brewpub that definitely rotates the beers they brew. It was somewhat fitting that we ended up at San Pedro Brewing on the seventh day of the 7th Annual ACBW since they had seven different home brews available. Naturally, I got a flight of all seven. I just now put together that 7-7-7 deal as I wrote this, did not think of it earlier.
The brews available today were the Harbor Hefeweizen, Port Town Pilsner, Bruin Blonde, Kings \”Blackout\” Lager, Shanghai Red, SoCal Tattoo Ink Ale and the Munich Spring Lager. The amazing thing to me was that they had seven different tastes that were so good that it took Tanya quite a while to figure out which one she wanted. The fact that she opted for the Harbor Hefeweizen shows me how much her taste for craft beer has evolved over the week. We may have to do an International Craft Beer Week, or maybe an International Beer Friday. We have met some great people, tasted some fantastic beer and found some nice alternatives to BJ\’s when I want a flight without the travel. Continue reading
Saturday was day six of American Craft Beer Week (ACBW), and we actually found a gastropub and a brewpub we were unfamiliar with; and in the process were able to come up with 19 American craft brews that we had not tried yet. That in of itself is a pretty noteworthy accomplishment. For day six we visited The Rockefeller and Abigaile, both located in Hermosa Beach, within a couple blocks of each other.
The Rockefeller is a gastropub; meaning they serve food and upscale beers brewed by others. I had called ahead of time to see if they offered beer flights and the manager, Colleen, assured me they did. When I arrived I discovered that they offer a wide array of draught beers, both domestic and foreign. They do not have flights made up; you create your own. Since they do not offer four different dark American craft beers, I had my work cut out for me trying to create a flight Tanya would like. Since Tanya\’s palate has evolved over the past week, I just avoided the hoppy brews and came up with Jamaican Red Ale, Bayhawk Chocolate, Mission Blonde and Boont Amber. She liked them all, with the Jamaican Red being her favorite. I started off with a flight of Sofie, Allagash White, Green Flash IPA and Palate Wrecker. Since the brews were all delicious we decided to stay for some food and I created a second flight, with Colleen\’s assistance. The flight consisted of Victory Prima, Helles, Bootleggers and Islander IPA. I honestly could not tell you which was best; I would not have a problem ordering any of them. Continue reading
Day five of American Craft Beer Week found us at three local brewers; Monkish Brewing, El Segundo Brewing Company and Strand Brewing Company. Monkish and Strand are both located in Torrance; I will let you guess what city El Segundo Brewing is in. While we have tried some of the craft brews from each of the brewers, it was at Select Beer Store during their South Bay Tap Takeover; so we had only tried one or two of their brews. We were impressed with all three enough that it was not a problem making a special visit.
Monkish Brewing specializes in Belgian style beer and the lack of hops is quite noticeable when you have had as many IPA\’s as I have over the last week. Tanya, who is a dark beer fan, actually preferred their Feminist over the Anomaly. I liked both. The sampler pictured includes pours of Oblate, Anomaly, Red Table and Feminist. Continue reading
As I mentioned yesterday, we recently attended a Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce mixer at the Toyota Automobile Museum. They have an extensive collection of Toyota automobiles; with everything from a 1936 Toyota \”Classic\” Model AA (okay, it is a replica, but very nice) to Formula 1 and Indy style racers, to concept cars. If you are a car fan, you owe it to yourself to check it out. It is the only Toyota Museum outside of Japan.
The museum is located at 19600 Van Ness Avenue and tours are available by appointment only. For more information I would suggest calling 310-468-4728. In the meantime, you can enjoy my photos. Continue reading
Thursday was day four, or hump day, of American Craft Beer Week. These photos were taken at Brewco and Simmzy\’s; both gastropubs located in Manhattan Beach, CA. While I thought I had planned out where we would end up trying craft brews for each day, I discovered that the brewery I had planned on visiting Thursday was closed, so I had to start looking again. I had heard the name Brewco mentioned a time or two, and they offer flights of craft beers, so we headed over to Manhattan Beach.
Brewco was formerly known as Manhattan Beach Brewing Company, but they stopped brewing beer about three years ago and decided to concentrate on serving food and craft beers brewed by others; this is what makes them a gastropub as opposed to a brewpub. And who says drinking beer will not make you smarter? Brewco offers a couple predefined flights, a Hop Flight featuring Sierra Nevada\’s Hoptimum Double IPA, Pitch A Tent Double IPA, Dogfish Head 90 Minute IPA and a Hangar 24 DIPA. As you might have guessed, that is what I opted for. Tanya got the Cismontane Black\’s Dawn and I finished with a Wookey Jack Black for dessert. Continue reading
These photos were taken at the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) After Hours Regional Mixer which was held Thursday evening at the Toyota Automobile Museum. Chamber mixers give members of various local Chambers the opportunity to network with other Chamber members that they might not meet under normal circumstances. The theme for this particular mixer was to feature \”Green\” products and services offered by local businesses. This included products and services such as recycling and energy conservation, to the new Miyako Hybrid Hotel.
In addition to the networking, we were given the opportunity to walk around the Toyota Automotive Museum which has a lot of very nice cars. I got over 100 photos from there; so I will create a separate gallery for that. There was food provided by Tortilla Cantina, Chick-fil-A and The Crest. There were many door prizes and I actually won a $50 gift certificate to Tony Roma\’s and Tanya won a Starbucks gift card; so thank you very much to the sponsors. Continue reading