Best of the Beach Home Services 2024
Heating & Air Conditioning
Rusher Air Conditioning
Only some of the construction cranes popping up like an invasive species all over the beach cities, are hoisting Rusher Air Conditioning HVAC units onto new home rooftops. (HVAC stands for heating, ventilation and air conditioning systems.)
But all 40 midnight blue work vans with Rusher Air Conditioning painted on the sides in white, cursive lettering are undeniably delivering Rusher HVAC systems.
The cranes, Scott Rusher said, are needed, if only to cool the upstairs master bedroom, because new homes are increasingly three stories. At the beach, downstairs can be a comfortable 65 degrees and upstairs 80 degrees. Another reason for air conditioning in new homes, he said, is, need it or not, no one is going to pay $4 million for a home that doesn’t have it.
The 40 blue work vans are needed to keep up with the demand from a community that once prided itself on opening its windows to the prevailing westerlies when it got too warm.
The first business in Manhattan Beach to have air conditioning was the downtown Hallmark store. In the mid-’70s, the store owner asked Scott’s dad, David, to install air, not to cool the store, but to dehumidify it. The ocean moisture was causing the Hallmark card envelopes to stick together.
Scott, who has worked 34 years for the company his grandfather, George, founded in 1946, attributes the increasing popularity of air conditioning to the increasing use of glass on homes facing the ocean. The homes “heat up like fish tanks” as the sun crosses from the southwest to the north east, he said.
Rusher also believes the weather has gotten warmer, and stickier, and colder.
SoFi Stadium was 82 degrees at kick off time at this year’s Super Bowl, on Feb. 13. A few days later there was frost on Dosey Field, behind his home, Rusher said.
Rusher Air
4435 153rd St.
Lawndale
(310) 523-9696
Bob and Jim Cook took over the family business from their father Chuck, who took it over from his father Bert and Uncle Ed. Easy Reader file photo
Doors and Windows
Cooks Doors and Windows
It all started with Uncle Ed back in 1920, over 100 years ago. He was the first of the Cook family to leave Cedar Rapids, Iowa and try his hand in the South Bay lumber business. His company Tri Cities Lumber was located on Pacific Coast Highway in Hermosa Beach, where Learned Lumber is today. Business was good and it didn’t take long to persuade his brother Bert to leave the cold Midwestern winters behind and open his own lumber yard in nearby Lawndale.
Today, Aimee Cook, Bert’s great granddaughter, runs the business with her dad and uncle, Jim and Bob.
Over the decades, the Cooks have witnessed cycles in architectural styles, from Spanish Colonial to Italian Mediterranean, to the recent Caribbean Plantation. Aimee described today’s most popular style as Coastal Modern, characterized by clean, minimalist lines. A popular window for this style is their Western Windows System, which offers large, aluminum framed, energy efficient windows, and sliding and folding doors.
“We put in a lot to keep this a family-run business. We’re born and raised in the South Bay, we know the customers, and we know the location,” Aimee said.
Cook’s Doors & Windows
14410 Hawthorne Blvd.
Lawndale
(310) 679-2212
Best Plummer
Bob & Marc Plumbing
Shortly after Daniel Viens started helping out at Bob and Marc Plumbing, in 1989, owner Bob Setterburg approached his mother with a business proposal. She had been Bob and Marc’s business manager for over a decade. Bob wanted to retire. Would she like to buy the Hawthorne business? He offered to stretch the payments out over 10 years. Daniel’s mother accepted the offer and Daniel promptly got his contractor’s license. Over the ensuing years, he also earned contracting and sanitation licenses that qualified him to connect to LA County sewers. The company grew to 25 trucks at its peak during the 2000 construction boom. He still keeps 16 trucks busy. Daniel credits the steady referrals he receives to his company’s adherence to Christian principles in all phases of its work. Daniel’s mother is retired, but his wife Dena has stepped in to help run the business, along with sons Noah and Samuel.
Bob & Marc Plumbing
3336 Rosecrans Ave.
Hawthorne
(310) 970-1099
Electrician
B&M Electric
In an era of electric cars and e-bikes, upgrading home electrical panels has become increasingly important for homeowners. B&M’s the three-person teams completes the project in a day at an affordable cost. B&M has been in operation for 56 years, founded by a father and son team of Bill and Mike Bishop. They eventually passed it on to Charles Vargas, who worked for the Bishops since high school.
The company serves all of the South Bay, including Palos Verdes and El Segundo.
B&M Electric
3904 Del Amo Blvd. Ste. 85
Torrance
(310) 372-2545
TKO Painting’s Troy and Heather Kumprey and daughters Mayella, and Evelyn. Photo by Jen Coleman (jencolemanphotography.com)
Painter
TKO Painting
Troy Kumprey began TKO Painting in 2004 between seasons playing semi-pro rugby. He would hand out 100 flyers a day to homeowners until his calendar was filled.
Now in its 20th year, the Hermosa Beach-based painting contractor employs four crews to meet its ever full schedule.
“I don’t want to get bigger, I want to stay this size,” Kumprey said. “I can still run the company myself. I do all the bids, and take all the calls.”
TKO Painting
1658 Loma Dr.
Hermosa Beach
(310) 971-7455
(310) 663-1672