"'You Can't Dismiss It Just Because It's Small': U.S. City of 17,000 Transforms as 4,000 Become Millionaires"

A Small City of 17,000 Near Los Angeles
Dining Scene Thrives After SpaceX Goes Public
Upscale Restaurants Open One After Another

A quiet small city near Los Angeles is emerging as a new hub for upscale dining. The listing of nearby aerospace company SpaceX has created thousands of millionaires, bringing changes to the local business scene.

According to the New York Post and other U.S. media outlets on October 20 local time, El Segundo, California, is a small city with a population of about 17,000 that has recently drawn attention as a new dining destination in Southern California. Located near Los Angeles International Airport (LAX), El Segundo has long been considered a center of the aerospace industry.

EZPZ, a pizza restaurant that opened in El Segundo, California, last June. EZPZ Instagram.

SpaceX Goes Public, Creating More Than 4,000 Millionaires

While restaurants across Los Angeles are closing one after another amid financial difficulties, upscale restaurants, wine bars, and pizzerias are opening in El Segundo.

The initial public offering (IPO) of SpaceX, led by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, is seen as a key factor behind the change. SpaceX went public on the U.S. stock market last June, and an estimated 4,000 current and former employees became millionaires in the process. Many of them are said to have ties to El Segundo and nearby communities.

SpaceX moved its headquarters to Texas in 2024 but still operates a large facility in Hawthorne, adjacent to El Segundo. In addition to SpaceX, around 100 small and medium-sized aerospace companies are based in El Segundo. According to local authorities, these companies have recently attracted a total of $6 billion in venture capital (about 8 trillion won).

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Upscale Wine Bars and Restaurants Open One After Another

As the aerospace industry grows and the local economy gains momentum, the dining scene is also changing. One notable example is EZPZ, a pizzeria that opened last June. The restaurant serves New York–style pizza from Brooklyn and offers premium California ingredients and organic soft serve.

New types of restaurants catering to demand for upscale dining are also emerging in El Segundo. Vinoteca, a natural wine bar, recently opened inside Blum, a wine and flower shop near Pacific Coast Highway. It serves carefully selected wines alongside simple upscale dishes such as vegetable platters and charcuterie, a selection of meat products made through processes such as curing, smoking, and drying.

Julia Blum, a sommelier and co-founder of Blum, told SFGATE, a San Francisco-area media outlet, "Natural wine was a somewhat unfamiliar concept in the South Bay. We thought people needed a place where they could experience a variety of wines."

Popular Los Angeles dining businesses are also expanding into El Segundo. The wine bar Barsha and Japanese-style pasta restaurant Unico have entered the area, while HomeState, a dining brand known for breakfast tacos, opened a location in September at The Point, an open-air shopping center.

Chef Jackson Kalb, who opened the Italian restaurant Jame Enoteca in El Segundo in 2018, has also seen the local dining scene grow. Kalb has expanded his business in the area, including opening the Mexican restaurant Jaime Taqueria last year. "I think more good restaurants benefit everyone," he said. "Our restaurant has been doing better every year. Since opening my first restaurant in El Segundo, I've expanded the location three times."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.