If you've driven to the Sam's Club lot before 7:30 a.m. on Thanksgiving with a family of runners in the car, where do you go this year?
You still park there. You just don't stay. The City of Torrance has moved check-in and the start/finish for the Harry Sutter Memorial Turkey Trot to the Lowe's parking lot across Skypark Drive. Runners park at Sam's Club or Torrance Crossroads and walk over. It's a small shift. It's also the only real change in a holiday calendar made up mostly of traditions Torrance's own institutions have kept going for decades. The run is in its 46th year and the Torrance Memorial Holiday Festival is in its 43rd. Most of the season is free to attend, and much of the money it does raise stays in town.
Thanksgiving morning, step by step
The 46th annual Turkey Trot is Thursday, November 26, with the 3-mile fun run starting at 8 a.m. Here's how the morning works with the new layout:
- Park at Sam's Club or Torrance Crossroads. Enter Sam's Club from Lomita Boulevard. The Torrance Crossroads lot is the one by Home Depot. There's no event parking at Lowe's.
- Walk across Skypark Drive to the Lowe's lot. Check-in and the start/finish area are there.
- Check in between 6:30 and 7:30 a.m. The run starts at 8.
- Leave the dog and the wheels at home. No pets, skateboards, rollerblades or bicycles are allowed on the course.
- Bring a can. The city is collecting canned food for a Thanksgiving Day food drive.
- Stay for the drawing. After the run there's an opportunity drawing with prizes such as mountain bikes, gift cards, gym memberships and apparel.
The 2026 entry form lists $30 early, $35 regular and $40 late registration. You can register online at Torrance.rec.us, where a card processing surcharge applies, or by mail or walk-in through Friday, November 20. The city won't take registrations on November 23 or 24. Late registration opens Wednesday, November 25, from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the Community Services Department's City Hall West Annex, 3031 Torrance Boulevard. The $40 late fee is cash or check only. Every registered runner gets a commemorative shirt while supplies last. Since every participant has to be registered, the whole family needs an entry, not just the runners. For questions, call Community Services at (310) 618-2930.
Skypark Drive has always been the starting line
In recent years the run staged out of the Sam's Club lot, as the Daily Breeze noted in its calendar coverage. Go back further and the address hardly changes. In 1990, the Los Angeles Times reported that the 11th annual run started at 8 a.m. at Madison Street and Skypark Drive, near Torrance Airport. So this year's move covers about the width of a street.
The same 1990 story explains the name. Harry Sutter was a recreation employee of 10 years who came up with the Thanksgiving run but died before the first one was held. That year the entry fee was $12, and the previous year's run had drawn 2,300 people. Runners were asked to bring a can of food for neighbors in need, and drawings for frozen turkeys were planned after the race. Thirty-six years on, the fee has roughly tripled and the prize list runs to mountain bikes and gym memberships, but the 8 a.m. start and the request for canned food are the same. The tone hasn't changed much either. The recreation supervisor at the time told the Times:
"This is more of a family event than a physical-type run. The philosophy is: 'Come on out and give yourself an excuse to eat as much as you want on that day.'"
The other long-running tradition, also off Lomita Boulevard
The Turkey Trot's parking lot opens off Lomita Boulevard, and five days after Thanksgiving the season moves down that road to 3330 Lomita Blvd for Torrance Memorial's 43rd Annual Holiday Festival. Public admission is free. The festival has decorated trees, live entertainment, holiday shopping, children's activities, a food court and free health screenings. All proceeds go to the hospital's Emergency Department Campaign.
Hours change every day, so check before you go:
- Tuesday, Dec. 1: 1:30 to 3:30 p.m.
- Wednesday, Dec. 2: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Thursday, Dec. 3: 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
- Saturday, Dec. 5: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
- Sunday, Dec. 6: 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
The foundation has set aside 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on December 2 and 3 as senior and accessibility hours. In the Grand Lobby of Lundquist Tower, a 12-foot Heroes Tree takes donations from $100 to $5,000. The ticketed nights fill the gap in the public schedule. The Gala and Live Auction is Friday, December 4, with a silent auction, cocktails and appetizers at 6 p.m., then dinner and the live auction at 7. Now that the November 6 early-price deadline has passed, Gala tickets are $550 per person and the holiday fashion show is $350.
December 2 is the busiest day on the calendar
Wednesday, December 2, is the one day two of the season's biggest free events overlap. The festival is open until 8 p.m. that day, and downtown Torrance holds its Holiday Stroll from 4 to 8 p.m. The stroll is free. It has vendors, games, carolers, music, snowfall, photos with Santa, holiday characters and an Elf on the Shelf hunt. The Downtown Torrance Business Owners Association organizes it, so the downtown merchants are hosting their own evening.
With a free afternoon and an evening out, you can do both. Visit the hospital festival during daytime hours, then head downtown once the stroll starts at 4. If one weekday is too much, Saturday, December 5, has the festival open until 8 p.m. again, with no stroll crowd to plan around.
Two Saturdays for buying gifts made in town
The season starts before Thanksgiving with a crowded Saturday morning. On Saturday, November 14, the city's annual Holiday Arts and Craft Sale runs from 9:30 a.m. to 2:30 p.m. at Ken Miller Recreation Center. Senior artisans sell handmade gifts. That same morning, Del Amo Fashion Center at 3525 W. Carson St. welcomes Santa from 9 to 10 a.m. with retailer samples and giveaways, holiday crafts and Santa photos. The mall's event wraps up an hour before the craft sale's busiest stretch, so one family can catch Santa and still shop the sale before lunch.
Three weeks later, on Saturday, December 5, Ken Miller Recreation Center hosts another handmade market. The Hana Holiday Craft Show runs 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. with free admission and parking. It falls on the same day as the festival's second long day on Lomita Boulevard, which makes December 5 the other date to plan around.
One night at the Civic Center
The last date on this calendar is a ticketed one, also at the Civic Center. The Torrance Cultural Arts Foundation presents Irish Christmas in America at James Armstrong Theatre, 3330 Civic Center Drive, on Friday, December 11, at 8 p.m.
So the season runs from November 14 to December 11. Two Saturday craft sales and the theater night happen around the Civic Center. The Thanksgiving run and five days of the hospital festival happen along Lomita Boulevard, and downtown gets its four hours on December 2. Apart from the Turkey Trot fee, the gala and fashion show, and the theater tickets, everything above is free to attend.
Whether you're walking the 3 miles with your family on Thanksgiving or going to the stroll after work, we hope Torrance's traditions make your season feel at home. If a holiday move, a new house or a question about your current one is on your mind this winter, the team at Deborah Naumovski is just down the road. Let's Connect.
