20: Torrance Cultural Arts Center

20: Torrance Cultural Arts Center
Designed by: Roseline Seng
Piano type: Spinet
Playability: Good
Weather: 57°F, overcast
How I got here: Car

I wanted to celebrate the milestone 20th piano with a trip down the South Bay and do a mini-concert. A few of my friends in that part of town asked if I was going to play the piano there and so I Tweeted/Facebooked the mini-concert announcement. My college friend Gil, who lives nearby and my other friend Irene, who lives not too far as well, made it down. There was another gentleman who was playing the piano with his kids when I arrived. It's always cool to talk with the other players and relate our experiences.

My local South Bay friends Irene (left) and Gil (right) each came down for my mini-concert.

This piano was in the courtyard of the Torrance Cultural Arts Center, which was admittedly hard to find. This was one of the few locations that I've never visited before. I've certainly been to Torrance before, but never to their Civic Center.

I parked on the other side of the block and had to hunt around, using the sound of a piano as a guide. There was an event in the nearby theater as well as a Japanese martial arts competition in another building. I played and sang selections from Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Bruce Hornsby, Luther Vandross and Howard Jones. I also played to a few passers-by and some of the martial arts kids leaving their event. Torrance's piano was a nice little player with good clean action. They also put a descriptive card on the music stand that talked about the "Play Me, I'm Yours" installation and an adjacent lamppost had a poster map of the street piano locations on it.

Here I played Howard Jones' "No One Is To Blame":