South Bay Events Blog

Inaugural Tour de Pier Raises Funds for Cancer & Charities

South Bay Events — Wed, 15 May 2013 19:07:53 +0000

Pictured from left are Tour de Pier Founder Heath Gregory, Eric Fonoimoana and Kerri Walsh.

Stationary cycling by itself is not the most exciting form of cardiovascular exercise but mix in a collective group effort, some celebrity athletes, views of the Manhattan Beach Pier and the chance to raise money for cancer fighting organizations and stationary cycling becomes hip in less than fifty minutes. The first-ever Tour de Pier is on track to raise at lest 290K and up to 400 spin cyclists will be pedaling not to win but to raise funds for cancer and children’s charities that include: The Hirshberg Foundation for Pancreatic Cancer Research; The Livestrong Foundation; The Cancer Support Community Redondo Beach; and The Friendship Circle of the South Bay. There will be no finish line this Sunday at 9:00 a.m., May 19th, near the foot of Manhattan Beach Pier as top instructors from the South Bay’s Spectrum and Fit On Studios guide riders through one or more 50- minute sessions of pedaling in place for a purpose.

Seven-time U.S. Ocean Ironman and Emmy-nominated sports broadcaster Craig B. Hummer will host the event. Among the celebrity athletes scheduled to participate are Tony Cruz, Eric Fonoimoana and Kerri Walsh, along with USPRO Criterium Champion Rahsaan Bahti, Olympic Gold Medal winning water polo player Heather Petri and former NBA star and NBATV commentator Brent Barry. In addition to riding on the main stage and signing autographs, the athletes will cheer on the riders during each session, applauding their efforts to fight cancer.

Registration for Sunday’s Tour de Pier is closed but fans and families are welcome to come out and cheer for cyclists as they ride in place to beat cancer. In addition to the cycling portion of the Tour de Pier, the event will include a Health Expo with a number of fitness / health related sponsors; a Fun Zone with games, moon bounces and more. Visitors to The Pinwheels Project Booth can decorate a pinwheel with a loved one’s name or a short special message. All pinwheels will be placed in the sand on event morning for all to enjoy and will be stored to use at future Tour de Pier events.

The first of four cycling sessions begin at 9:00 a.m. and closing ceremonies will happen around 1:00 p.m. Visit Tour de Pier’s website to learn more about this Sunday’s event.

American Craft Beer Week in the South Bay: Part 1

South Bay Events — Tue, 14 May 2013 18:21:12 +0000

Beer Flights at 1321 Downtown Taproom in Torrance

American Craft Beer Week is officially underway this week as it embraces a triage of seven days dedicated to local craft brewers around the country. Now in its eighth year, American Craft Beer Week represents a way to celebrate small, independent brewers and the ever growing crop of craft beer elbow benders that support craft beer culture. In honor of unity and declarative statements, there is an American Craft Beer Manifesto that aims at encouraging public support for more craft beer in local bars, restaurants, and retail shops; in addition, this year’s ACBW will feature its first ever nationwide toast this Thursday.

Kind of like LA Beer Week in the South Bay, there will be a variety of tastings, pairings, and tap takeovers happening all over the South Bay and beyond in honor of ACBW. Here are a couple highlights:

West vs East Craft Draft Tasting at Charlie’s Italian: Tuesday, May 14, 2013 – 11:30am – Close

Charlie’s Italian in Redondo Beach has always had an east coast flavor so this weeks it’s no surprise that Charlie’s is putting together a theme that pits east coast and west coast craft brewers together. Find out more about this event by visiting our website.

Stone Brewing Tap Takeover at Select Beer Store: Thursday, May 16, 2013 – 5:00 PM – Close

Celebrating American Craft Beer Week we’ll be hosting a tap takeover with Stone Brewing! Also featuring Vella Mobile Wood Fired Pizza! Select Beer Store is located in Redondo Beach’s Riviera Village at 1613 S. PCH.

Local Brewer’s BBQ at Select Beer Store: Saturday, May 18, 2013 – Noon – Close

Celebrating American Craft Beer Week. Featuring local breweries: Abigaile, Beachwood, El Segundo, Monkish, Strand, and Smog City. Delicious fresh cooked BBQ from Wyatt’s BBQ.

Smog City Brewery Opens for a Taste in May 18th

As ACBW crescendos, Smog City Brewery will open its Tasting Room May 18th at its new Torrance location between noon and 9:00 p.m. for some $6 flight options. Smog City Brewery is located 1901 Del Amo Blvd., Suite B in Torrance.

The Rockefeller in Hermosa Beach will be featuring a craft beer and burger special each night of the week. As the weekend closes in, we will update our blog with other ACBW events happening in and around the South Bay.

South Bay Weekend

South Bay Events — Fri, 10 May 2013 17:41:11 +0000

TEDx Redondo Beach: Shift Happens

Join TEDx Redondo Beach at the beautiful Redondo Union High School Auditorium for a thought-provoking evening and the second Live Speaker event with TEDTalks covering the theme of Exploring Shifting Paradigms on Friday, May 10, 2013. Speakers and TEDTalks will cover some interesting topics like changing the world through parenting, the effects of positive stress in the work environment, and other thought provoking topics. Click here to learn more about the event and how to get tickets.

Mother’s Day Brunch Specials in the South Bay

Mother’s Day Brunch in the South Bay

We’ve collected a list of restaurants that will be performing their culinary best for mom this Sunday. A Mother’s Day Brunch usually puts a lean on the wallet, but most moms (and people in general) tend to remember a tasty meal before any card or box of chocolates.

Click here to find out what type of brunch specials are happening this Sunday and don’t forget to call your mom.

Beatles Tribute Band Abbey Road at Saint Rocke

Nationally touring Beatles tribute, Abbey Road, performs the iconic Help! album cut for cut on Sunday, May 12 at 7 pm. Doors open at 6 pm. The band will also play a full set of other Beatles hits in a three costume change show. Tickets are $15 and may be purchased online at www.saintrocke.com or by calling the box office at 310 371 0035 between noon and 5 pm. Saint Rocke is located at 142 Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach 90254. The show is 21+.

TRUTH, A New Art Experience from ESMoA

Though it may be one of the core values of Western society, truth seems awfully hard to find these days. Not on the Pacific coast of southern California, however. Nearly 500 years of artistic contemplation on veracity will be on display with TRUTH, a new art experience at ESMoA in El Segundo, California, opening at 10:00am on May 12, 2013.

Click here to find our what type of contemporary artists will be featured this Sunday at ESMoA.

Restaurant of the Month: Redondo Beach Brewing Co.

Greek Tacos

Long before small plate tapas and locally brewed craft beer became trendy keywords for Google and content fodder for the blogosphere, a neighborhood pub in the heart of Redondo Beach’s Riviera Village was quietly serving thoughtful but unpretentious food in a casual beach side manner. In 1992 Michael Zislis, a leader and entrepreneur in the South Bay brewpub genre, opened the Redondo Beach Brewing Co. on Catalina Avenue cementing the concept that tasty beer and quality food are key to long term sustainability in the South Bay.

Rock & Brews Opens PCH Location

South Bay Events — Tue, 07 May 2013 17:41:10 +0000

The corner of Pacific Coast Highway and Palos Verdes Blvd. will finally see the grand opening of Rock & Brews this Wednesday, May 8th with a star studded opening act by KISS co-founder’s Gene Simmons and Paul Stanley. The two rock icons will set the stage for a night of fundraising for the Torrance Education Foundation on Wednesday dubbed Rock it for Education where 100% of proceeds will be given to the coffers of the foundation. The grand opening charity event will host a private luncheon for over 100 military veterans and Wounded Warriors, tickets are $250. Visit Rock & Brews website to find out more about grand opening event.

Then, on the following Thursday Rock & Brews on PCH will officially open its doors to the public according to the Daily Breeze. The first ever Rock & Brews beer centric style restaurant with backstage rock n roll decor began on El Segundo’s Main Street in 2010.

Grand Opening Event at Rock & Brews PCH

Summer Preview at The Dudes’ Brewing Co.

South Bay Events — Fri, 03 May 2013 19:10:07 +0000

Tasting Room at The Dudes’ should be ready in the summer.

Summer is a perennial anthem that weaves through the South Bay all year long but traditionally settles in for some real time flavor around Memorial Day Weekend. With their tasting room set to open in about a month, the Dudes’ Brewing Co. looks to invite local craft beer fans from the South Bay and beyond to taste their unique twist on the ancient art of making beer. With the keen eye of a mad scientist and flare for the culinary, The Dudes’ bring a brewery to life that’s engineered to capture consistency and taste on a large scale. Building a brewery to match potential demand is no small feat and this summer The Dudes’ get to show off their fruits of labor.

The Dudes’ abide by a business model that is larger in capacity than any other brewery in the South Bay and have built a brewing process from the ground up that aims to hone in on quality and control. The mastermind behind The Dudes’ and one-time partner at Strand Brewing Co. Jeff Parker literally drafted a brew house model on graph paper when the tanks arrived that would eventually lead to a very real and efficient system based on self-automation. Parker says, “Hats off to our control guy for taking a one dimensional line drawing and delivering us that” referring to a brewing process that is fully automated with the ability to monitor trends and minimize error from the bird’s eye view of a computer screen. When The Dudes’ finally get their system running at capacity, their thirty-one fermenters could produce between fifty to sixty thousand barrels a year and is summed up nicely by Toby Humes, one of the owners at Dudes’, when he says, “If we get the demand, we can make the beer.”

Canning for six-pack pint cans begins this summer.

Without science, there is no beer. Parker began his journey toward beer making while sitting in an AP Chemistry class at Redondo Beach Union High School in 1989, he’s been home brewing ever since. With a culinary degree and commercial brewing experience gained while partners at Strand Brewing Co., he praises a brewing system that’s automated, “Helps with brewer safety…. A better peace of mind.” An ever key ingredient in beer is water. The Dudes’ source water from the city of Torrance but then manipulate it so that a specific formula is created for their beer styles according to Parker, “(We) Build it back up with salts, minerals, acids, buffers, to make brewing water.” Ultimately this helps add depth and flavor to their brewing process but also allows The Dudes’ ease of execution if they should want to build another brewery somewhere else or contract one of their beers out to another brewery. The Dudes’ have their own way of doing things that in no way reflects the freeloading Dude character in the movie The Big Lebowski but their styles of beer do exemplify a hint of non-conformity.

Currently, The Dudes’ boast a portfolio of four starter beers, their Juicebox Series which is currently a winter seasonal blood orange beer, Grandma’s Pecan is an English style brown brewed with roasted pecans from Georgia, a Grinning Face Porter that tastes of toasted coconut, and a double IPA aptly named Double Trunk. Their Juicebox Series beer is influenced by seasonal fruit, in the winter it was Blood Oranges. In the summer The Dudes’ plan on making a Prickly Pear IPA and during the fall a pomegranate style porter is in the works. Canning should begin sometime this summer with six-pack pint cans available in the South Bay and Los Angeles markets. By then The Dudes’ plan to unveil an easy drining Kolsch beer in a can cleverly named Kolschtal Eddy that pays homage to the atmospheric dynamics of the South Bay’s notoriously gloomy June months.

Kolsch style beer by The Dudes’

There has never been a better time to be a craft beer drinker in the South Bay as local craft brewers like The Dude’s gear up for a summer of production and taste exploration. Find out where The Dudes’ brew can be found throughout the South Bay and beyond on their website or keep in check with their facebook page to find out about beer releases and tasting room progress.

A Good Kick in the Can Class at Total Wine & More

South Bay Events — Thu, 25 Apr 2013 21:43:32 +0000

Old School beer in a can

There is an ever growing movement in the craft beer world that pits can verse bottle. Canned beer technology has come a long way since the 70s & 80s and the market for beer in a can has grown beyond the standard Bud Light, Miller Light, or Coors light can. This Thursday night inside a host of Total Wine & More store locations a class aptly named “A Good Kick in the Can” dedicates some time to exploring the benefits craft brewers find in a can.

Click here to read more about tomorrow’s A Kick in the Can class at Total Wine & More.

Smog City Brewery Opens for a Taste in May

South Bay Events — Fri, 19 Apr 2013 17:25:33 +0000

Torrance’s garden industrial state of mind is a mecca for small businesses and entrepreneurs in general. In the last couple years though the city has become a boon for craft breweries looking to tap into affordable industrial space that has good distribution channels to the South Bay and Los Angeles areas. In no particular order, by the end of May, the following four craft beer breweries will claim a Torrance zip code: The Dudes’ Brewing Co., Strand Brewing Co., Monkish Brewing Co., and Smog City Brewery.

According to Beer Goggles Smog City Brewery will open its Tasting Room May 18th at its new Torrance location between noon and 9:00 p.m. for some $6 flight options. Smog City Brewery is located 1901 Del Amo Blvd., Suite B in Torrance.

Summer Preview at El Segundo Brewing Co.

South Bay Events — Thu, 18 Apr 2013 18:03:49 +0000

Taproom at El Segundo Brewing Co.

Summertime in the South Bay brings to life all the justifications taken to live a coastal lifestyle and puts them in a forgiving perspective, be it gridlock on Pacific Coast Highway or that annoying dearth of street parking, summer is a kind of therapy. Enjoyed in moderate consumption, so is craft beer. The South Bay is now home to a web of local breweries that aim to up the production on various summer seasonal ales and at the same time travel beyond the bubble to beer festivals and other craft beer events. The only South Bay brewery not fitted with a Torrance zip code resides just south of LAX in a land culturally closer to the Midwest, known locally as the “Gundo.” El Segundo Brewing Co. makes a brand of brew that tastes toward the hoppy side of the beer spectrum and its signature Citra Pale Ale is a refreshing hoist for some summertime elbow bending. In the upcoming months, El Segundo Brewing Co. looks to release a summer seasonal that’s a take on dark, Mexican lager, selectively attend some quality beer festivals, and up-tick production on their signature Citra Pale Ale.

Most beer in Mexico comes in lager form due to the warmer climate and the ever present market dominance of Tecate and Bud Light, but there are dark lager beers from south of the border like Negro Modelo that feature a caramel-amber color and a more roasted taste. ESBC’s summer seasonal dark, Mexican lager is still a work in progress but it’s basically an old German style beer similar to Bohemia’s Obscura according to Thomas Kelley, ESBC’s in-house rainmaker and resident Cicerone (sis-uh-rohn). Kelley anticipates a release party that’s bound to be epic some time during the summer.

Growler styles and costs at ESBC’s taproom

Even though most in the South Bay tend to mind their calories during bathing suit season, it hasn’t deterred beach city beer drinkers from embracing hop heavy beers and in general mimics the trend away from domestic lager, low calorie beers to a more diverse range of beers like ESBC’s hop friendly Blue House Pale Ale and IPA. Kelley claims that, “Hoppy beer culture fits the South Bay.” Evidence of a hop forward beer drinking South Bay crowd is easily identifiable at any bar and restaurant that must now offer some version of an IPA or Pale Ale to its customer base.

With the second coming of craft beer and the rise of independent brewers across the South Bay, beer festivals have become just as popular. Unfortunately, there aren’t many summer beer fests that cater to the beach cities crowd. The Manhattan Beach Young Professionals are really the only organization that hosts a summer event dedicated to networking and beer tasting. Fiesta Hermosa, the annual arts and craft extravaganza that blankets Memorial Day & Labor Day weekends, features a beer garden but usually pours domestic drafts or a lager from Kona Brewing Co. ESBC is working on getting their taps inside Fiesta Hermosa’s beer garden for 2013.

According to Kelley, locales for beer festivals during the summer can stretch from Santa Barbara all the way down to Sand Diego and choosing a summer beer fest is a discerning process. Rob Croxall, Head Brewer & Proprietor at ESBC says, “We are a little more selective now, in the beginning, the first couple years, you want to jump on anything.” They receive about a couple beer festival invitations a week and are most likely participating in some sort of taste or festival every weekend throughout Los Angeles or Orange County. Kelley and Croxall know that beer festivals equal eyeballs but just as important is the quality of customer interaction at each festival. In the end, Croxall says, “we want to be apart of something we can get behind.”

Growlers at ESBC

The easiest way to get behind ESBC this summer is to visit their brewery on El Segundo’s Main Street right across from Rock & Brews and sample what they are brewing inside their subterranean taproom. The taproom is open during the week on Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday from 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. then again on Saturday from 2:00 – 9:00 p.m. and on Sunday it pours from 2:00 – 7:00 p.m. The Gundo has a unique style and grace and El Segundo Brewing Co. reflects that attention to small town hospitality with an emphasis on quality, hop-driven craft beer.

El Segundo Brewery is located at 140 Main Street, look for the Blue House logo. Visit the website to find out more about what else is going on this summer at ESBC.

Loveline Tour with Adam Carolla & Dr. Drew

South Bay Events — Thu, 11 Apr 2013 19:15:05 +0000

Adam & Drew’s Loveline Tour

The dynamic duo that could give entertaining and medically prescribed insight to any wayward relationship, casual encounter, or whatever scenario young couples found themselves in are coming to the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center this Saturday to perform what is officially dubbed the Adam & Drew’s Loveline Tour. Adam Corolla and Dr. Drew co-hosted the wildly popular “Loveline” radio show for 10 years bringing realistic, common sense to the ebb and flow of love. It was late night radio at its finest.

They will be doing a podcast for their wildly popular new reunion tour. To find out more about Adam & Drew’s Loveline Tour visit our website for more information.

Made by Meg Lands in Redondo Beach

South Bay Events — Wed, 10 Apr 2013 22:18:02 +0000

Meat House Sandwich ready to eat or carry out.

The Redondo Beach foodie scene recently gave way to a self made restauranteur with deep roots in the South Bay as chef Meg Hall opened her own version of a feel good, store-front kitchen style restaurant that offers fresh and creative dine-in or carry out cuisine for locals . Made by Meg blends chef Meg’s catering intelligence and entrepreneurial spirit together to feature a menu that works on sourcing ingredients from local farmer’s markets by showcasing a list of daily salads and sandwiches that keep pace with seasonal trends. Green leaf specialties ready to graze upon include an array of savvy fixings like Rainbow Kale and Cara Cara Oranges in Chef Meg’s Vitamin C Salad, while Goat Cheese lovers can look forward to an aptly named “Beets Me” salad that mixes roasted Rainbow Beets, whipped Goat Cheese and other foliage. All salads range in price from about $9 – $10.

The sandwich side of the menu puts some chicken, ham, Camembert (French Cheese), and roast beef between various bread types. When we stopped in for lunch not to long ago, we were able to sit comfortably at the counter (4 chairs) and gnaw away on Chef Meg’s Spring Turkey and Meat House sandwiches with a side of garlic, parsley fries. The Spring Turkey came with in-house roasted turkey breast, brie, apples and some Walnut Jam and the Meat House sandwich was served with in-house roasted beef, pickled onion, cheese, and Horseradish Aioli. Next time around we will try the Thrillist sandwich simply because it comes between a pretzel roll and any sandwich, hamburger, or hot dog decked out in a pretzel roll is usually a winner. All sandwiches range in price from about $10 – $11.

A side of garlic, parsley fries

Look out for some artisan sodas in the fridge too. Stop by Made by Meg anytime between the hours of 11:30 am – 8pm Monday through Saturday at 234 S Pacific Coast Highway just north of the PCH and Torrance Blvd. intersection in Redondo Beach. Check Chef Meg’s facebook page to keep in touch with her daily menu creations or contact by phone (310) 376.8600.