Back in 1972, the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce decided to put together \”the largest arts & crafts fair in Southern California.” I have not visited all the arts and crafts fairs in Southern California so I cannot confirm whether or not they met their goal, but it has to be one of the longest running ones. Not only have they had this fair every year for more than 40 years, they do it twice a year, every year; Memorial Day Weekend and Labor Day Weekend. It definitely signals the beginning and end of summer in the South Bay.
While I have gone on numerous occasions, Tanya has never been able to go because of her Rheumatoid Disease (formerly known as Rheumatoid Arthritis/RA). Since she seems to be in remission at the moment, we took advantage of the lack of pain and the great weather to attend on Sunday. We parked by the Redondo Beach breakwater and walked along The Strand until we got to Pier Avenue and the fair itself. The event was packed, as usual, with aromas of good food in the air. Walking down the aisles of booths the senses are slammed with sights and sounds to meld with the aromas of food, teas and spices. It was a good time; if Tanya is still in remission we will have to come back in September. Continue reading
Saturday was the beginning of the long 2013 Memorial Day weekend and since Tanya has been working pretty hard getting her new book, Faces of Juicing, ready for publishing, we decided to take advantage of the great weather and pay another visit to the South Coast Botanic Garden on the Palos Verdes Peninsula. The South Coast Botanic Garden is huge with over 40,000 trees and 200,000 plants, so we are able to return several times a year and it always looks at least a little different as different plants bloom at different times of the year. There are several species of birds there with hummingbirds that seem to enjoy toying with my thoughts of being able to get a good photo of one.
Tanya enjoys the time since she has been pain-free for the last few months, so we will take advantage of it while we can. The watermark on the photos is donated to the Rheumatoid Patient Foundation since it is the only charity looking out for those with Rheumatoid Disease and it is Tanya\’s favorite charity. Continue reading
On Sunday, the 18th Street Arts Center held their 1st Annual CRUSH, an artisanal wine, art and food tasting event at their location on 18th Street in Santa Monica. This was a fundraising event for the 18th Street Arts Center and I would say they had a pretty nice turnout of about 500-600 people; if I had to guess. It was a great day to be outside, the food smelled and tasted great, there was good music, fun people and wine; lots and lots of wine.
As you know, I am more of a craft beer guy, but we did share a couple splashes of various types of wine from several different wineries. There were more than 50 wines to choose from, so basically we would get some food from one vendor, then take it to a wine booth and ask what they thought would pair best with it. It was a good way to try something new. There were also several art studios open and demonstrations on how to taste wine to how to make coffee. It was a fun day and all monies went to benefit the 18th Street Arts Center, a Santa Monica 501(c) (3) non-profit organization. Continue reading
Saturday was day six of the 2013 American Craft Beer Week and in keeping with the theme of the week these photos are from the Smog City Brewing grand opening and a birthday party for the President of the Strand Brewers Club, a local home brewers club.
If you have been following this site recently, you probably noticed that Smog City Brewing, a 2012 Great American Beer Festival Gold Medal winner, has been holding a few soft-opens in preparation for their grand opening. Well, Saturday was the big day. As Tanya really enjoys the Smog City Groundwork Coffee Porter and it pairs really well with her carrot cake, she made a few dozen carrot cake cupcakes and some homemade beef jerky to bring with us as a way to advertise BusinessNBeer. To say that they were a hit would be an understatement. I was lucky to get a couple photos before all the treats were gone. It is also safe to say that Smog City Brewing was welcomed with open arms by the local craft beer community.
Since every craft brewer I am aware of started as a home brewer, it made sense to bring my camera to a Strand Brewers Club birthday party for their current president, Rives Borland. As it turns out, Rives is a pretty accomplished brewer in his own right as he has already won several competitions. Who knows, some day I may be writing about his new brewery. Continue reading
On Saturday, Torrance held their 54th Annual Armed Forces Day Parade, the longest running military parade sponsored by any city in the United States. Prior to the event I was reading about how much smaller the parade would be this year due to budget constraints as a result of the sequester. This was my third time attending the parade in the last few years, and while there were slight changes this year, I cannot say that there were not similar cutbacks prior to the sequester. Either way, it was a fun event for the entire family and Torrance Boulevard was packed with spectators for the entire length of the parade route.
In addition to a few flyovers by World War I and II military planes, there were a couple special events. One was recognition given to the Montford Point Marine Association, which were the first African Americans to enlist in the United States Marine Corps; putting up with racial discrimination in order to serve our country. In addition, there was a mass swearing-in ceremony of about 500 young adults to various branches of the military. 14 year old, Adam Wolf, who is wheelchair bound was also sworn in as an honorary member of the US Military. Adam\’s wish was made possible through the Make a Wish Foundation. Continue reading
Today, the City of Torrance will have their 54th Annual Armed Forces Day Parade; the nation\’s longest running military parade sponsored by any city. The parade begins at 1:30 PM and will travel up Torrance Boulevard; beginning at Crenshaw Boulevard and ending in front of the Torrance City Hall at Torrance Boulevard and Madronna Avenue. Even though the recently implemented sequester is forcing a few changes as far as things like what military units, bands and flyover will be present for the parade, the show shall go on.
Friday, there was a display of various military vehicles, big guns and support equipment at the Del Amo Fashion Square parking lot. There were items of interest for both old and young alike. It was hard to tell who was having more fun, the kids or their grandparents.
The parade will force street closures in the area, so please visit http://www.torranceca.gov/15330.htm
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Friday was day five of the 8th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) and I was able to visit two gold medal winners that are both located in the South Bay; San Pedro Brewing Company from San Pedro and Smog City Brewing Company (2012 Great American Beer Festival) in Torrance. San Pedro Brewing Company is a brewpub that has been in San Pedro for 13 years and currently has seven beers brewed on location. Smog City Brewing Company just moved to Torrance and is having their grand opening today, May 18 from 12-8 PM. Both locations have a wide variety of beers so there should be something for every palate.
You can read more about these visits and the other locations I visited during the 2013 American Craft Beer Week on CraftBeerGuy.com. Continue reading
This group of photos are from American Craft Beer Week 2013 (ACBW), day 4. Regular readers know that on Thursdays we have our Business & Beer gatherings; so it was a little difficult for us to get out of town long enough to get to a Great American Beer Festival (GABF) winner and get back to the area for our Business & Beer meetup. Business & Beer was scheduled to be held at Alpine Inn at Alpine Village in Torrance, which could have been a great idea as they do have a wide selection of beers from local craft brewers as well as microbreweries from around the country. Unfortunately, a significant portion of their taps were out of service and while they did have a couple GABF winners (Firestone Walker and Uinta Brewing); they were not serving anything I was particularly interested in. When we finished with Business & Beer, we drove out to Hot\’s Kitchen in Hermosa Beach.
Hot\’s Kitchen has a very good tap list; but unfortunately, their servers do not seem to know craft beer very well. They recognized me, but did not know it is American Craft Beer Week which I think is pretty odd for a bar that seems to specialize in American craft beers. I think they have a nice selection, but you had better know what you want because getting suggestions will be a matter of the blind leading the blind. On the upside, getting tastes of beers you are interested in seems easy as long as you are only asking for a couple freebies. They offer flights, but they are preset. I happen to know that if you have the right beertender, at the right time, you can make up your own flight.
You can read about my day four experience of American Craft Beer Week by visiting CraftBeerGuy.com. Continue reading
These photos are from our Business & Beer gathering at Alpine Inn last night. Alpine Inn is a German gastropub at Alpine Village in Torrance. While a German restaurant might not seem like a likely setting for a Business & Beer gathering during American Craft Beer Week, the general manager is a home brewer and makes it a point to have a good selection of American craft beers on tap. Unfortunately, about one third of their taps were nonfunctional last night, so we were limited as to the number of American beers while there were plenty of German beers available.
We had another small group, but half of them were first time attendees; and I suspect at least one of them will return. While we are still technically part of Meetup for another week or so, we had no Meetup members join us. I have mentioned that we will be dropping our association with Meetup and changing our format. Beginning in July we will go from having weekly gatherings to having them just once a month, the second Thursday of each month. You can visit BusinessNBeer.com for our current schedule and if you get on the mailing list, you will be kept abreast of all changes. Continue reading
Day three of the 8th Annual American Craft Beer Week (ACBW) found us out in Pasadena at the Stone Brewing, Company Store. When it comes to venerable Southern California, award winning breweries, it would be pretty tough to beat Stone Brewing. Stone Brewing had the first California beer tasting room that I visited on a regular basis, but it is out in Escondido which is a 100 mile ride. Fortunately, it is a pretty nice ride and Stone makes some quality beer. Recently, Stone Brewing opened a company store at the Del Mar Metro station. It is not nearly as nice of a ride, but it is at least 70 miles closer; and I get to visit my daughter, who lives down the street.
After enjoying a flight of award winning beers from Stone Brewing Company, we headed over to Haven Gastropub to meet my daughter for dinner. Haven brews on location now, and they have a very nice guest tap list. You can read about the experience at both locations on CraftBeerGuy.com. Continue reading