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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2012 Chamber Holiday Regional Mixer at Rolling Hills Country Club

These photos are from the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce Holiday Regional Mixer which was held last night, December 4, at the Rolling Hills Country Club in Rolling Hills Estates, CA. This was our second time attending the holiday regional mixer and I have to say, it is one of my favorite events of the year as far as the Chamber of Commerce is concerned. There was plenty of networking opportunities available with Chamber members representing Carson, El Segundo, Gardena Valley, Harbor City/Harbor Gateway, Hawthorne, Hermosa Beach, Lawndale, LAX Coastal Area, Lomita, Manhattan Beach, Palos Verdes Peninsula, Redondo Beach, San …

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Chase Bank Grand Opening photos

These photos are from the grand opening and ribbon cutting of the new Chase Bank located at the corner of Hawthorne Blvd. and 182nd St. in Torrance which was held Friday, October 26. The event was attended by the Mayor, a few city council members and representatives from the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC). While it may seem that there are more Chase Banks than Starbucks in Torrance these days, this branch is a little different than others in the area. The new branch was built “green” and the technology inside the bank is different with its upgraded ATM’s. …

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Ribbon cutting at Sign-A-Rama, South Bay

These photos are from the grand opening, open house and ribbon cutting at Sign*A*Rama South Bay, located at 1820 W. Carson Street in Torrance. My regular readers know that I have been concentrating my efforts in 2012 towards promoting local businesses, so when the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) made us aware of the upcoming event I made a point of reaching out to the owners of this new business to offer them some free exposure. I have to admit, this was one of the more fun ribbon cutting events I have attended in the last year. Not only …

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Photos from the TACC Business Expo

Yesterday afternoon, we headed over to the Marriott Hotel in Torrance for the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) Business Expo. I had a few events to cover yesterday, but I had people that were participating in the expo that I wanted to see, so I made sure I was there as soon as it started. I must admit, I was surprised at how many businesses were represented. The place was packed. Naturally, there were some TACC reps that did not seem too happy to see me [or my camera] there, but the brick and mortar business owners I spoke …

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Torrance Chamber of Commerce: Would I join again? Pros and Cons

When I started writing the story about my experience with the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC), I knew that this would have to be broken up into at least three parts. There was too much to say, and it would have been ancient history by the time I got everything documented in the proper order. My goal in the first two parts was simple; give the back story to my time with the TACC and what happened when I was called into Donna Duperon’s office. I did my best to not editorialize or give my opinion; I wanted to …

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TACC Chairman of the Board: Less than .5% of membership are complaining

Since this is part two of my saga with the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC); and some may not have read part one, I will summarize to bring you up to speed. I photograph everything. I use the photos to promote people and places. We joined the TACC last December. I photographed many TACC events, gave free publicity to local businesses that are Chamber members, promoted non-profits and shot an event at the request of the TACC President and CEO, Donna Duperron. On August 9, Donna told me camera was no longer allowed at Chamber events, even though other …

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Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce: We never asked for free exposure

I am going to preface this story by saying I intentionally did not start writing this yesterday because I did not want my anger to get in the way of my words. To be honest, I could have started writing this back on August 9 when this all started. The writing was on the wall, the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) President/CEO and Chairman of the Board just wanted to make it official. I also want to say that I have met some very nice people at TACC and if I speak negatively about the TACC it is based …

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Redondo Beach Chamber Regional Mixer at Seaside Lagoon

Last night, I headed over to the Redondo Beach Chamber of Commerce Annual Regional Mixer at the Seaside Lagoon in Redondo Beach. While it would be easy for me to just write off the Chamber of Commerce based on my treatment by the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce (TACC) I refuse to do so. I have found a lot of value in attending the various regional mixers that local chambers put on, because most of them [and their members] understand the value of free exposure. As a matter of fact, being named the official photographer for the Palos Verdes Street …

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Tech Pros, Social Media Shoot Out

Today I participated on a panel discussion about social media and how to utilize it to help promote your business. This event was put on by the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce, Technology Professionals, also known as the TACC-Tech Pros. Tech Pros is a free benefit of being a member of the Torrance Area Chamber of Commerce and they meet on the 4th Wednesday of every month, except for November and December as there are a couple of big holidays that fall around those dates (Thanksgiving and Christmas). The stated purpose of TACC-Tech Pros is to help bring together technology …

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