South Bay Echo for July 22
Redondo ushers in pot shops, Bruce's Beach hand over, Cesar Millan on the pier, and a Resort Pass to luxury
Egads! It’s been a month since I last wrote you… Welcome to the 35th edition of South Bay Echo, your source of local hometown news with a real estate angle.
This Substack is brought to you by Rosetree Real Estate, a full service real estate brokerage dealing in residential and commercial properties to both own and lease. For more information visit RosetreeRealEstate.com. DRE# 02145024
Stage set for South Bay cannabis sales
Redondo Beach took a major step forward this week when it voted 4-0 to allow up to two retail cannabis dispensaries. While credit is due the group for finally moving on this issue after more than 20 years of legalization in California, the City Council was only moved to do so now because a ballot measure is pending that would do it for them.
Along with voting on a retail cannabis measure that would allow up to three dispensaries, Redondo Beach voters will decide in October in a special election whether to recall Councilman Zein Obagi in District 4. The recall and the ballot measure were both led by the brash Elliot Lewis of Catalyst Cannabis Co.
Catalyst is also spearheading ballot measures in Hermosa Beach, Manhattan Beach and El Segundo. Each of them, meanwhile, contain language that makes it virtually impossible for anyone other than a big-name brand like Catalyst from operating.
By neglecting the issue for so long and ignoring the will of the voters, the beach cities have opened the door to this type of electioneering. Only in El Segundo have they put forward a competing ballot measure and offered a business tax to voters. Manhattan Beach naively voted against that idea this week thinking its firm stance will send a strong anti-cannabis message, while they sipp martinis no doubt. And Hermosa Beach may possibly take up the matter again next week after turning the other shoulder in May.
Proposition 64 legalizing adult use of cannabis passed in every beach city by sizable margins. Hermosa’s own poll showed it’s likely to pass. It’s time the politicians start listening to the people as a whole, not just the cranks that fill their inboxes and speak at meetings.
Bruce’s Beach property officially changes hands
This week marked the final step in the long and drawn out saga in Manhattan Beach that has surrounded the Bruce’s Beach property. The story once again made national news when the deed was handed back over to the Bruce family nearly 100 years later.
Now, LA County will lease the property back with an option to buy it at market rate if the Bruce’s choose. A small house used by county lifeguards sits there now. The city, meanwhile, that owns the rest of the park ain’t giving back nothing.
While this is a complicated story, I think it was a marvelous thing to see a modern government try to make something right. Thanks to Supervisor Janice Hahn for making it happen.
God knows that no government can truly right every injustice — every time eminent domain was used in the past to redirect a freeway, build a stadium or carve out a tunnel — because they never built those things through rich neighborhoods if you ever notice.
But this case was different. This was a government that abused its power for purely racist reasons. Sure they bought out some white families too, but that was only cover.
So how then do we right the wrongs? Do we make a list and prioritize, see what’s doable and what isn’t? Probably that’s a good place to start. In Germany, they still pay survivors of the Holocaust, amounting to $564 million to 400,000 Jewish survivors in 2019 alone.
I think Bruce’s Beach is a good start for the injustices in this country.
Cesar Millan pops up on Redondo Pier
In another story that got some national attention this week, the dog whisperer Cesar Millan showed up on Redondo Pier walking a gaggle of mutts. Bringing dogs onto the pier, however, is against the law.
The incident made TMZ and other entertainment news outlets when an encounter with a Redondo Beach Police officer resulted in a warning. The officer took a photo with Millan and later posted it to Instagram. How nice!
Portofino Hotel Resort Pass
Here’s a fun idea that popped up in my Facebook feed recently. Portofino Hotel is offering a Resort Pass to its pool for $35. I had no idea how luxurious this pool was. The Portofino recently went through some significant renovations. This is really one of the most ideal spots in all the South Bay.
Shade Hotel in Redondo and Manhattan Beach along with the Westdrift in Manhattan Beach are also offered on ResortPass.com. What a great way to spend an afternoon and much cheaper than a room.
Ok that’s all for now… I hope you missed me, LOL.
Wondered where you were. We part company on Bruce's Beach. I opposed it as to standing, statute of limitations, settlement by Willa (?) and Charles Bruce not subject to rescission for the above. If we were to take reparations to its logical extension the Tongva have first dibs on all. Waiting for them to file and place a lien. Also claim my portion of the bill is marked "Paid in Full" as my great great grandfather died in the Union Army in the Civil War. No generational wealth. Would love to know how much the taxpayer paid for the option to buy back. The Breeze said the buy back in two years would be 20 million, but was silent on how much the option cost. People who lived the horrors, holocaust survivors, Japanese incarcerated in WWII (have never heard what the Italians and Germans put in Texas got, if anything) deserve reparations, but there's a reason for standing and the statute of limitations. Don't think we have heard the end of this. Good to see you back.