By Stephen Witt, Los Angeles County Politics
The City of Hawthorne threw itself a party last night, and just about everyone who matters in the city showed up — except the belle of the ball, Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
The company was originally headquartered in Hawthorne, but announced in July 2024 it was moving its headquarters to Starbase, Texas — with Musk citing California’s SAFETY Act, which limits schools from disclosing a student’s gender identity to parents without the student’s consent, as “the final straw.”
Despite the move, SpaceX still maintains a massive operational presence in Hawthorne, occupying roughly 1 million square feet of the former Northrop Corporation aerospace complex at 1 Rocket Road since 2008, where it builds its Falcon 9 and Falcon Heavy rockets and Dragon spacecraft.
SpaceX is Hawthorne’s largest employer, with more than 6,000 people working at the Rocket Road campus, according to the city’s own communications team.
Yet despite that, the company didn’t buy a booth, wasn’t among the sponsoring businesses listed on the State of the City banner, and wasn’t mentioned in Hawthorne Mayor Alex Vargas‘s roughly 25-minute State of the City address.
Asked during the event why SpaceX wasn’t among the banner’s sponsors, a city Public Works employee helping run the event said he had no involvement in sponsor discussions and referred the question to the City Manager’s office, confirming only that “we do have others” as sponsors.
When LACP approached both City Manager Vontray “Von” Norris and Vargas directly after the speech and asked about SpaceX, both officials mumbled something about emailing questions and abruptly walked away.
Vargas’s address, delivered under the banner “Building Tomorrow, Together,” centered on a pitch of nearly $150 million in city capital investment.
“Today, we have completed approximately 27.9 million dollars in capital projects,” said Vargas. “Another 54.4 million dollars worth of projects are currently under construction or moving towards construction, and an additional 77.5 million dollars in projects are under design.”
Vargas credited much of that spending to outside grant money rather than city reserves. “Hawthorne’s not waiting for someone else to invest in the city of Hawthorne,” he said. “We aggressively pursue the resources that are necessary to move Hawthorne forward.”
On economic development, Vargas touted new business openings and streamlined permitting.
“We have welcomed more than 34 new businesses, including Sports Basement, McDonald’s, Simply Salad, [and] the new South Bay Classical Academy,” said Vargas. “We will remove the barriers. We attract investment. We support entrepreneurs, and we plan for the future.”
Vargas also highlighted the police department’s use of technology, including expanded aerial surveillance. “We are expanding the use of drones as first responders, and a new drone nest will provide real-time information to officers in the field,” he said.
On homeless services, Vargas cited the city’s outreach numbers over the past year, in which 167 people were placed into interim shelter. 28 people were also permanently housed, and 26 people were connected to substance use or detox services.
Among the event’s main sponsors was Archer Aviation, which is developing eVTOL air taxis and holds a 75% interest in the master ground lease for Hawthorne Airport, next door to the SpaceX facility.
LACP plans a follow-up story after formally questioning Hawthorne and SpaceX officials.
