Archives for 2013

Could this be the winter of the whale? During this time of year it is common to see gray whales migrating, but other leviathans are in the waters off Long Beach this winter. In about the past week, experts from the Aquarium of the Pacific aboard Harbor Breeze Cruises have spotted a sperm whale, a pod of more than twenty orcas (killer whales), and blue, fin, humpback, and gray whales. 

Sperm whales are very rarely seen off Southern California, and orca sightings here are also uncommon. The endangered blue whale is the largest whale on the planet and normally frequents local waters in the summer months. The second largest animal on the planet is the endangered fin whale, who has returned another winter to the waters off Long Beach. Dolphins and other animals are also being spotted. Experts will delve into why these animals are here and discuss conservation issues involving whales in these urban waters.

The public can embark on the whale watch and also explore the newly redesigned, award-winning Whales: Voices in the Sea multimedia exhibit at the Aquarium. As guests interact with this exhibit, they will learn about the environmental threats facing gray, sperm, blue, North Atlantic right, humpback, and other whales. This bilingual English-Spanish exhibit is located on the Aquarium’s second floor. The redesign, featuring new state-of-the-art interactive exhibit technology and the latest research on blue and gray whales, was made possible by the Pacific Life Foundation. The exhibit was developed by the Scripps Institution of Oceanography with the Aquarium of the Pacific. The new Whales: Voices in the Sea interactive program is also slated to open at the Florida Aquarium and Texas State Aquarium in 2014.

The public can visit the Aquarium of the Pacific and embark on Harbor Breeze Cruises for a two- to two-and-a-half-hour whale watch excursion with Aquarium experts daily at12:00 p.m. and 3:00 p.m. The Gray Whale Watch combo ticket is available for purchase on-site at the Aquarium of the Pacific and may be purchased in advance by calling 562-590-3100. Prices are $45.95 for adults ages 12 and up, $41.95 for seniors ages 62 and up, and $30.95 per child (includes whale watch & Aquarium admission). Guests will be able to listen to the whales they see and can learn more about whale communication through the Aquarium’s newly redesigned interactive Whales: Voices in the Sea kiosk exhibit featuring the largest and smallest whales on the planet—the blue whale and the vaquita.  For more information, the public can visithttp://www.aquariumofpacific.org/education/info/gray_whale_watch .

AQUARIUM:  The nonprofit Aquarium of the Pacific is dedicated to environmental education. Its vision is to create a sustainable future for nature and its resources by building relationships between and among people. The Aquarium is home to over 11,000 animals in more than fifty exhibits. For more information, visit www.aquariumofpacific.org .

HARBOR BREEZE

CORP:            Harbor Breeze Cruises has been providing public whale watching, world port, and charter cruises for over 20 years in the Los Angeles and Orange County areas. Their experienced captains provide comprehensive narration about the characteristics of each cruise. The double-deck sightseeing vessels are U.S. Coast Guard-inspected, certified safe, and are complete with seating, snack bar, restrooms, salon, and plenty of outside viewing room for everyone. Aquarium of the Pacific whale watch and harbor cruises feature a new vessel in the fleet operated by Harbor Breeze Cruises. The new 150-passenger, 83-foot M/V Triumphant was christened on July 17, 2013. For more information, visit http://www.harborbreezecruises.com/ .

 Greenery walls, lounge seating and an indoor sidewalk café experience are coming to Torrance. Simon Property Group’sDel Amo Fashion Center will soon provide a new garden-like dining experience, with its indoor Patio Cafes dining pavilion.

A sneak peak of the new dining experience is coming by early this winter, offering customers a chance to relax and refuel in style while shopping for holiday gifts. The beautiful new Patio Cafes in the heart of the shopping center, near the central Macy’s store, is part of the first phase in a comprehensive redevelopment project underway at Del Amo Fashion Center, that will upgrade and enhance the shopping experience for its customers and bring exciting new retailers to this market.

“We truly value our shoppers and want to create the best possible shopping experience that meets their needs through a complete transformation of Del Amo Fashion Center,” said Lindsay Hermance, director of marketing and business development.

The garden-inspired collection of cafes will replace the existing food court. This daylight-filled dining pavilion will provide shoppers with an indoor sidewalk cafe experience, and will feature 10 cafes and more than 700 seats. Greenery walls, lounge seating with charging stations and communal dining tables with bar stool seating will add convenience and variety to the comfortable yet upscale environment.

Shoppers can get a taste of what the new Patio Cafes will have to offer with the opening of Panda Express, the well-known Asian dining experience that customers flock to, and Sbarro, a popular Italian eatery featuring New York-style inspired pizza, pasta dishes and entrées, in December. Both eateries are relocating from their previous spots in the food court.

Following shortly will be the opening of Chipotle Mexican Grill and Gengis Khan. Chipotle specializes in gourmet burritos, tacos, burrito bowls and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Gengis Khan (relocating from the existing food court), allows diners to try Mongolian Barbecue and build their own bowl of fresh meat, fish, chicken, seafood, noodles, rice and vegetables.

Stone Oven Gourmet Sandwiches and Ginza Grill will make their Patio Cafes debut in January 2014, with additional dining options such as Blaze Pizza to follow.

Stone Oven Gourmet Sandwiches serves European breads and pastries, along with a full menu of soups, salads, wraps, sandwiches and desserts. Ginza Grill will offer Japanese-style cuisine prepared teriyaki, teppan or other Japanese-style barbecue, sushi, “maki style” rice rolls, chicken, steak, rice and cabbage, combined with an assortment of Japanese-style sauces.

Slated to open in spring 2014, the leading build your own artisanal pizza chain Blaze Pizza will offer signature “fast fire’d” pizzas in a blazing hot oven while guests view the creation process. Diners can also create their own pizza by choosing from more than 40 fresh-made sauces, hand-selected vegetables and a variety of artisanal meats and cheeses. Blaze Pizza’s opening at Patio Cafes marks the eatery’s first dining terrace experience in the country.

Starting in early 2014, the transformation of Del Amo Fashion Center will continue to move forward with the demolition of the north mall area in order to make way for construction of a new state of the art two-level mall to connect the existing Macy’s women’s store with a new Nordstrom store (to be located near the intersection of Hawthorne Boulevard and Fashion Way). 

The redevelopment project will also include enhancements to the outdoor lifestyle village, additional parking capacity with a new 1,900 car garage, the addition of lush landscaping throughout the entire property, new informational signage, and improvements to customer circulation in and around the center. Completion of this work will be timed with the grand opening of Nordstrom in Fall 2015.

For ongoing updates and to learn more about the transformation of South Bay’s retail destination, follow Del Amo Fashion Center on Facebook at facebook.com/DelAmoFashionCenter, Twitter at twitter.com/delamofashion or Instagram at instagram.com/delamofashion. Check out a 3D architect rendering animation at youtube.com/watch?v=4jO0g8d8Kcs for a bird’s eye perspective on the future Del Amo Fashion Center once this transformational, property wide renovation is complete.

About Del Amo Fashion Center

Del Amo Fashion Center is the South Bay’s retail destination for shopping, entertainment and dining. It boasts more than 200 stores, including Macy’s, H&M, Anthropologie, Barnes & Noble, Coach, and more. Visit the outdoor promenade and enjoy dinner at Stacked or PF Chang’s before a movie at our 18 screen AMC Theater. The indoor mall offers fashion for women, men and children plus jewelry, footwear and electronics. Del Amo Fashion Center serves the nearby communities of Palos Verdes, Lomita, Long Beach, Los Angeles, Redondo Beach and Gardena. For a map and store listings, as well as directions, events and job listings, visit www.simon.com/mall/del-amo-fashion-center or call 310-542-8525.

About Simon Property Group

Simon Property Group, Inc. (NYSE: SPG) is an S&P 100 company and a global leader in the retail real estate industry.  The Company currently owns or has an interest in more than 325 retail real estate properties in North America and Asia comprising approximately 242 million square feet. We are headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana and employ approximately 5,500 people in the U.S.  For more information, visit www.simon.com.

About Panda Express

2013 marks Panda Express’ 30th Anniversary. Founded in 1983, with close to 1,600 locations in 42 states, Panda Express is part of Panda Restaurant Group, the world leader in Asian dining experiences. The successful chain of concepts includes Panda Express, Panda Inn and Hibachi-San. Panda Express is best known for its wide variety of original recipes including their famous Orange Chicken®, Beijing Beef, SweetFire Chicken Breast®, Award Winning Honey Walnut Shrimp™ and Shanghai Angus Steak™. For more information, visit www.pandaexpress.com, or become a fan on Facebook.

About Sbarro

Since it first opened its doors as an Italian Salumeria in 1956, Sbarro has been a leader in driving the growth of the Italian restaurant category. Today, Sbarro team members bring a taste of the true Italian spirit to guests every day at its more than 1,000 eateries across more than 40 countries. An award-winning franchise organization, Sbarro features a menu of popular Italian food including pizza, pasta dishes and other hot and cold Italian entrees, salads, drinks and desserts. Sbarro is headquartered in Melville, NY. For more information, visit www.sbarro.com.

About Chipotle

Steve Ells, founder, chairman and co-CEO, started Chipotle with the idea that food served fast did not have to be a typical fast food experience. Today, Chipotle continues to offer a focused menu of burritos, tacos, burrito bowls (a burrito without the tortilla) and salads made from fresh, high-quality raw ingredients, prepared using classic cooking methods and served in a distinctive atmosphere. Through our vision of Food With Integrity, Chipotle is seeking better food from using ingredients that are not only fresh, but that—where possible—are sustainably grown and Responsibly Raised™ with respect for the animals, the land, and the farmers who produce the food. In order to achieve this vision, we focus on building a special people culture that is centered on creating teams of top performers empowered to achieve high standards. This people culture not only leads to a better dining experience for our customers, it also allows us to develop future leaders from within. Chipotle opened with a single restaurant in 1993 and currently operates more than 1,500 restaurants. For more information, visit www.Chipotle.com.

About Gengis Khan

Gengis Khan is a build your own bowl, fast casual, Asian stir-fry concept. The atmosphere is colorful, lively, and a lot of fun! It’s actually not a cuisine, but an interactive style of exhibition cooking modeled after a centuries-old legend. According to this legend, 12th century Mongol warriors, led by the mighty warrior Genghis Khan, heated their shields over open fires to grill food in the fields of battle!

About Stone Oven Gourmet Sandwiches

In 1993, Tatyana Rehn had a craving for the luscious, crusty breads of her European homeland and could not find them in her new home in Cleveland, Ohio. She began making her own bread and before long found herself working at all hours of the night to shape loaves for friends and family. What started as a passionate hobby later turned into a business, providing many Clevelanders their first experience of hearth-baked European bread. In 1995, after several years of selling wholesale to restaurants and grocery stores, Tatyana and her husband John surfaced a new concept – the bakery/café. Combining elements of a European café with a bread and pastry bakery, The Stone Oven Bakery & Café opened its doors in Cleveland Heights to an enthusiastic and supportive community. Over the next ten years, The Stone Oven opened two additional stores – one in the Galleria at Erieview in downtown Cleveland and one in the Eton-Chagrin shopping center in Woodmere, Ohio. Today, the stores continue to serve European breads and pastries, along with a full menu of soups, salads, and sandwiches. For more information, visit www.enjoystoneoven.com.

About Ginza Grill

New to the Los Angeles scene, Ginza Grill is a high-end Japanese restaurant featuring traditional Japanese cuisine prepared teriyaki, teppan or other Japanese-style barbecue, sushi, “maki style” rice rolls, chicken, steak, rice and cabbage, combined with an assortment of Japanese-style sauces.

About Blaze Pizza

Blaze Pizza uses an interactive ordering format that allows guests to create their own custom artisanal pizzas at freakishly fast speed – each for around $7.00. Every Blaze Pizza restaurant makes its own dough from scratch using a recipe that requires a 24-hour fermentation period to produce its signature light-as-air, crisp crust. Guests watch as each perfectly proofed dough ball is pressed into a generous 11-inch crust. Next, they travel down the assembly line to “co-create” a signature pizza or design one of their own — choosing from more than 40 fresh-made sauces, hand-selected vegetables and a variety of artisanal meats and cheeses. Pizzas are “fast-fire’d” in a blazing-hot oven and ready in a scant 180 seconds. Blaze Pizza’s menu also features signature salads, fresh lemonades, craft beer and wine, and house-made S’more Pies. For pizza fans with specific dietary needs, Blaze Pizza offers gluten-free dough and vegan cheese. The prototypical store is 2,400 square-feet with seating for about 60 guests. A creation of Elise and Rick Wetzel (founder of Wetzel’s Pretzels), the concept is backed by investors including Maria Shriver, movie producer John Davis and Boston Red Sox co-owner Tom Werner, and includes the talents of highly acclaimed Executive Chef Bradford Kent. The company, which has been featured by CNBC, The Wall Street Journal, Forbes and Good Morning America Live, was founded in Los Angeles and is now expanding nationwide. For more information, please visit www.blazepizza.com orwww.facebook.com/blazepizza.