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d. Feb. 28, 2019. A successful Hermosa Beach real estate developer who spent years luring Trader Joe’s to his beloved Park Pacific Shopping Center, has died. Bacon, who helped create Hermosa Beach’s Surfer’s Walk of Fame in 2003, was known for his tenacity, showmanship and ability to influence the city on how it should develop. He died Feb. 28 from pneumonia. He was 88. Over the years, Bacon brought a S t a rbuck s to Park Pacific and a Mc-Donald’s next to the Community Center, and helped renovate the famous Vetter Windmill. After graduating from Redondo Union High School in 1948, Bacon followed in his father’s footsteps, opening his own foreign import business, BB Sales, where he sold Porsche and Volkswagen automobiles. Bacon then worked full time at his family’s dealership, gaining notoriety for his ads on KTLA, where he encouraged viewers to “Get off your couch and get on down to Bacon Ford.” Bacon then went into real estate. Owning Park Pacific Shopping Center was “one of his proudest achievements,” his family said; when Trader Joe’s opened in 2016, it was the culmination of years of work. “Always the showman,” the family-supplied obituary read, “ Roger once staged a parade down PCH for the opening of McDonald’s while riding an elephant.” Bacon had strong opinions about city business and policy and was not afraid of a fight over issues that were important to him. Bacon is survived by his brother, Robert S. Bacon; his son, Stephen Fleming Bacon; his daughter, Robin Bailey Geissler; and multiple grandchildren, great-grandchildren and nieces and nephews.

As of: Mar 7, 2019