5th Annual Fiesta Fundraiser coming May 13

Allison Dewart, attended Towers Elementary, Bert Lynn Middle School and was Captain of her soccer team at West High School in Torrance. In 2006, during her freshman year at Loyola Marymount University, she was killed in an auto accident caused by a drunk driver going the wrong way on the freeway. In 2010 Allison’s parents established The Allison Dewart Memorial Scholarship Foundation to award scholarships to female West High School students in her memory. As Allison’s motto was “Mexican food is always good” the Dewarts teamed up with local Mexican restaurant, El Paso Cantina to enhance their fundraising efforts. On …

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Bluegrass, Punk & Gospel at Saint Rocke

These photos are from a concert I attended at Saint Rocke, a live music venue in Hermosa Beach, on Wednesday night. The photos begin with Saint Rocke’s Bluegrass Happy Hour, which featured the band, Pompous Highmen. The main show featured Hang Dog Expression, The Curly Wolf and starred Dustbowl Revival. A week or so ago I won a contest on the Saint Rocke Facebook page; as a prize I won a couple passes to an upcoming event. I let Tanya look through the Saint Rocke calendar of upcoming events and she suggested we see Dustbowl Revival, an old school bluegrass, …

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One last Champagne Brunch at the Proud Bird

Last week my Facebook feed lit up with the news that the Proud Bird Restaurant, an aviation-themed restaurant by Los Angeles International Airport for 48 years, will be closing effective November 21, 2013. Apparently they are closing because the landlords, Los Angeles World Airports, want to increase the rent to such an extent that the restaurant cannot afford to stay open. As the Proud Bird and I go back about 35 years and Tanya and I had been talking about going to a champagne brunch anyway, we decided that we would go for one last brunch at the Proud Bird …

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Photos from Showcase Hermosa

Thursday, July 18th, the Hermosa Beach Chamber of Commerce and Visitors Bureau hosted Showcase Hermosa on the rooftop of the 200 Pier Avenue Building in Hermosa Beach. Showcase Hermosa was a reception that was to promote Hermosa Beach as a travel destination by showcasing various restaurants, hotels and shops that are based in Hermosa Beach. The reception had snacks from a few of the local Hermosa Beach restaurants, as well as wines and American craft beer provided by The Brewery at Abigaile. Towards the end of the event the group went on a walking tour of the three hotels by …

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Waves of Grain Beerfest: A huge success

Yesterday, the Shade Hotel in Manhattan Beach along with sponsors Brewco Manhattan Beach, Rock & Brews El Segundo, LA Car Guy and NW Real Estate Brokers hosted the 2nd Annual Waves of Grain Beerfest; this time benefiting the Richstone Family Center in Hawthorne, CA. The event was sold out and everyone seemed to really enjoy the craft beers provided by more than 40 craft brewers from around the country. Congratulation to all the sponsors, breweries and attendees for making this another great event. My photos from the event can be found on CraftBeerGuy.com. I hope to see you there next …

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Ribbon cutting at Smog City Brewing Company

On Friday afternoon several members of the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC), Torrance City Council member Bill Sutherland and a representative from Assembly member Al Muratsuchis office joined several dozen fans of Smog City Brewing Company at their newly opened microbrewery and tasting room for an official welcome to Torrance and the Chamber of Commerce. It was just a few weeks ago that Torrance Mayor Scotto cited craft beer as a new growth industry for Torrance so everyone was out in force to show their support for that idea. Smog City introduced a new beer to their tap list, …

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Photos of Fiesta Hermosa 2013

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 …

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American Craft Beer Week, Day 4

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 …

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Business & Beer Meetup at Alpine Inn

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. …

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Business & Beer Meetup at Tortilla Cantina

These photos are from our Business & Beer gathering last week at Tortilla Cantina. As the photos show, we had a less than stellar turnout, with no participation at all from our Meetup group. Unfortunately, after corresponding with the people that run Meetup.com we have come to the conclusion that there is no point in continuing to use them. If anyone were to ask me if we found any value in incorporating Meetup to our group, I would have to say that after the initial payment, you are just throwing your money away. Of course, we have a lot more …

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