By Ralph Doyle
A Labyrinth of toys
Landis’ Labyrinth toy store in downtown Manhattan Beach will celebrate its grand opening on Saturday with raffles that will include tickets to OVO (Cirque du Soleil). Owner Devoney Wolfus opened her first toy store in Hancock Park two years ago. The Manhattan Beach store opened October 1. It carries toys from Hasbro, Mattel, Melissa & Doug, Folkmanis, Haba, LEGO, and Manhattan Toy.
919-E Manhattan Ave., Manhattan Beach. (310) 374-4554. landislabyrinth.blogspot.com.
Catalina Coffee bikes north
Micro coffee roaster Catalina Coffee Company at 126 North Catalina Avenue in South Redondo Beach is opening a North Redondo Beach shop this spring, to be called the Catalina Coffee Café. The café will share space with the recently opened Mysterious Galaxy bookstore at 2810 Artesia Blvd., Redondo Beach. The design is described as “urbanism meets the bygone European café.”
Wahoo Fish Tacos skates south
Wahoo’s Fish Tacos will celebrate the opening of its new location at 1767 South Elena Street in Riviera Village this Saturday with a “Skate the Coast” fundraiser for B4BC.org (Boarding for Breast Cancer). Spare Parts for Broken hearts and Fortunate Youth will perform. Participants in “Skate the Coast” will meet at Redondo’s Veteran’s Park at 8 a.m. where they will board a shuttle to the Santa Monica Pier, and then skate the 18 miles back to the new Wahoo’s. The suggested donation is $25. The grand opening party begins at 3 p.m. To register for the skate visit B4BC.org.
Yellow Cabs turn pink
South Bay Yellow Cab is painting half a dozen of its signature yellow cabs pink for the month of October in support of Breast Cancer Awareness Month. The company is donating $1 from each ride to the American Cancer Society and is providing $1,500 in taxi vouchers to cancer patients for rides to their medical appointments.
Save the ta tas
“Save the ta tas” is the name Hermosa Ink has given its Breast Cancer Awareness fundraiser. The Tattoo shop is donating 20 percent of October tattoo sales to breast cancer awareness programs. Tattoos up to three inches are $75 to $100.
802 Hermosa Ave., Hermosa Beach (310) 376-0451.
Beirut Mix’en it up
Beirut Mix in Hermosa Beach has opened a second location in the El Segundo office/retail center that also houses a new 5 Guys Burgers and Malibu Fish Grill. Moroccan-born chef Jat has over two decades of experience preparing Mediterranean food, said owner Sam Sabra, who also owns Amigos Tacos. The ambitious menu includes the Beirut Mix mezza combo for two, consisting of, grape leaves, cucumber, feta cheese, olives, kibbeh, baba ghannouj & falafel.
400 North Sepulveda Blvd., El Segundo (310) 607-9999.
Embassy Suites gets new bistro
1440 Bistro & Bar in the Embassy Suites Hotel held its grand opening last week. The restaurant is operated by Dallas-based Culinaire , which has brought a contemporary twist on classic American fare. Lunch is served in the bar from 11 a.m. and transitions into dinner until midnight daily. For reservations call (310) 640-1070 or online at www.opentable.com.
1440 E. Imperial Avenue, El Segundo
Kinecta “Bucks” marketing trend
Kinecta Credit Union has launched a new marketing campaign that showcase the talents of local artists. The first artist to be featured is musician Jeremy Buck. Kinecta marketing director Shannon Doiron said Buck was selected to launch the campaign because of local involvement, including his six-year-old Toys for Tots charity concerts.
Doiron enlisted local branding and marketing agency Stray Dogs Creative to develop the concept and design the Kinecta Rocks! website and accompanying “Live Like a Rock Star” sweepstakes.
The website features three of Jeremy Buck & the Bang’s music videos as well as a VH1 “Behind the Music” style mini-doc. Site visitors are invited to watch the music videos and vote for their favorite — which automatically enters them in the sweepstakes.
To enter the sweepstakes, which runs through October, visit www.kinecta.org/kinectarocks,
Manhattan Bread & Bagel’s Knead the Dough
Manhattan Bread & Bagel’s School Gift Card Sale allows customers to earmark a percent of $100 gift cards they purchase to the school of their choice. The school with the most purchases will receive double the donation. Manhattan Bread & Bagel, will also double the donation to the school with the highest percentage of participation, based on enrollment. Three schools will win a bagel and cream cheese for the entire student body.
1812 N. Sepulveda Blvd.
Westside boutique to open at Metlox
Jill Roberts will open its third store in November in Metlox Plaza in downtown Manhattan Beach. The clothing and lifestyle boutique’s first location opened in 1995 on Montana Avenue in Santa Monica. It also has a store on Beverly Drive in Beverly Hills.
