March 9, 2011
If you attended our Installation Dinner on March 3rd you would have experienced a little bit of El Segundo in its younger years. To commemorate the 100th year of business in El Segundo, we met on historic Richmond Street for dinner at a quaint banquet facility not too many folks know about, and strolled across the street to the Old Town Music Hall for our program. There, I took the oath to be your Chamber of Commerce president for this year, and I am honored to serve our business community. For those who could not attend, below are some excerpts from the speech I gave that evening which I hope will give you a little history as well as an idea of my views and visions for the year.
First of all, I want to thank Lily Craig for guiding the Chamber so well for the past two years. She has brought about some great changes for our organization and knows how to make things happen. I am happy to say that Lily remains on our executive committee.
My first involvement with the Chamber was in the mid 90’s. I was living here but working in Orange County at the time, thinking – wow -- wouldn’t it be great to work close to home. I started attending Chamber mixers and met some great people while finding out a quite a bit about El Segundo business. Opportunity arose for me in 1997 and I began working here for TG Construction and stayed involved with the Chamber. Over the years I have really gained an appreciation for our diverse business community I am proud to be involved with this Chamber.
So why did I want our Installation Dinner to be held on Historic Richmond Street? That is where El Segundo Business all began! 100 years ago The Standard Oil Refinery was born -- back when crude oil prices were a staggering 35 cents a barrel! Their 600 employees processed 15,000 barrels a day compared to today’s 250,000. With the refinery, came businesses to serve those working and living in this little industrial sea-side town. Right on this very 100 block of Richmond Street in 1911, Martin & Ellis became the first store in town. They sold everything from cigars to tools. Also on this street was the first barber shop in town operated by Floyd Carr Sr., the father of our very own former mayor Floyd Carr who still serves our community. Richmond St. also was home to a Piggly-Wiggly, Douglas Mortuary (Southeast corner of Richmond and Franklin), City Hall (across the street at the Northeast corner), and of course the State Theater which is now our beloved Old Town Music Hall. A song was written in 1914 called “El Segundo by The Sea” to help attract land purchasers to our city. A flyer issued with the song stated “Other big industries are arranging to come. El Segundo will be a great hive of industry, a happy and prosperous home city, with constantly increasing realty values”. Well, those folks really nailed it. Look at what we’ve grown to become!
As history progressed, so did business. In 1941 American Motors built the Nash automobile plant. In 1955 Hughes bought that building for $3M, and now Boeing builds satellites there. Jack Northrop was also building airplanes in what is still the world’s longest wooden building -- a half mile long that now is where Northrop Grumman builds fuselage sections for the F/A-18 Hornet among other things.
In 1960 The Aerospace Corporation was born along with the L.A. Air Force Base bringing opportunity to so many other feeder businesses and driving such huge projects as the Hubble Space Telescope and the World’s GPS system. Since then we’ve seen so many business successes -- Continental Park, Jim & Jacks Automotive, Raytheon, Xerox, Pacific Corporate Towers and all the firms there, Mattel, International Rectifier. And recent additions such as British Telecom, Karl Storz, Tesco (the parent of Fresh & Easy Markets), Rhythm & Hues, all of our wonderful hotels, restaurants, and merchants; and our diverse manufacturing, creative, and other businesses in Smokey Hollow. And how some things change -- a beautiful and vibrant shopping center, Plaza El Segundo is born from Honeywell’s former plant and a military entrance processing station replaced an aging manufacturing building.
Smokey Hollow is being looked at by businesses wanting to move here because of our locale the vibe that El Segundo has. Our Planning Commission and City Council recently modified some zoning restrictions which allow for more office use in Smokey Hollow. I recently spoke with the owner of a small post-production company who is purchasing a building there and asked him why he chose El Segundo. He said he is on the West Side now and there has been talk about great creative spaces here. A financial planner is moving here soon, and Apollo Interactive, a digital advertising and marketing company recently relocated their office of 20+ here from Culver City as well.
Wow! What a place to do business!!
So what’s in store for the next 100 years of business in El Segundo? Well my fellow business leaders, it’s whatever we want it to be! We know that we are geographically poised to attract and maintain a plethora of businesses. With the national trend of people wanting to live closer to work, our great residential community along with our renowned school district will continue to attract a great workforce to this area. In looking back on the history of business here while preparing this speech it was evident that business has grown steadily in this town, and I for one look forward to what the future will bring.
My goals for this year are the following:
1. Continue to build a strong membership base and find more ways to better serve you, our members.
2. Focus on our Downtown and create a committee comprised of downtown merchants, City leaders, and possibly residents that will develop a marketing and business attraction plan for our downtown to help it thrive in the coming years.
3. Renovate our Chamber offices with a much-needed upgrade for our façade and interior. We are the face of El Segundo business and we need to look like it.
So why are we all members of this organization? I’d like to think it’s because we believe that networking through our Chamber is a great opportunity to be a part of the incredible business community that is El Segundo. I look forward to serving you this coming year and encourage you to call Marsha and ask how you can get more involved with YOUR Chamber.
Regards,
Mike Rotolo
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