by Garth Meyer

“And then there were 10, as they say,” said Bob Trombetta, a member of the Redondo Beach Yacht Club from 1994 to the end, on Monday. 

The club operated at the northeast corner of King Harbor for the past 31 years. Before that it was in a trailer. It began as the “Palos Verdes Yacht Club,” inside the Princess Louise, a former harbor attraction.  

Last week, the club’s final 10 members converged for the last rounds of clearing out their space.

The clubhouse – behind the S.E.A. Lab building – with open views of the marina, included a kitchen, a full bar, a main seating area and a patio overlooking the docks.

The calendar on the club’s website is now empty – is it because it hasn’t been updated, or is it really finished?

“I put a lot of blood, sweat and tears into this, I’m sad it’s closing under my watch,” said Commodore Kieran Harrington. “But the board members did the best they possibly could.” 

Trombetta noted rent increases since the King Harbor lease was taken over in 2020 by Allen Ginsberg’s Majestic KHM.

“A perfect storm,” Trombetta said. “The pandemic gave us a pretty good shellacking. We just kind of got priced out of business.”

Since the yacht club was a non-profit with no employees, it did not meet the requirements for government aid during the pandemic.

“We checked every box possible for not getting relief,” Trombetta said, a Hermosa Beach resident who joined the Redondo Beach Yacht Club (RBYC)…