Remembering Craig Hoffman

You may not know the name Craig Hoffman, but if you have ever visited the Santa Monica Pier or attended any event on the Pier, it was because of Craig.

Over the past eight years, Craig served as the Director of Strategic Partnerships for the Santa Monica Pier and helped build the Twilight Concert Series from a free community concert to an internationally acclaimed gathering. Craig secured the sponsors and funding to have world-renowned artists like Khalid, Rufus Wainright, Marcia Griffiths, Jimmy Cliff, Psychedelic Furs, Borns, Morris Day and The Time and Trombone Shorty perform so that the community could enjoy this event for FREE on the iconic pier. Craig fought to keep the Twilight Concert Series and ensure that the free concerts would take place for years to come.

Not only was Craig responsible for building the concerts , as we have all come to love and enjoy, he also created other unique and free to the public programs like ROGA, the Paddleboard Races/ Pier 360 event, Front Porch Cinema, Pro/Con and many more.

For all of us who had the great opportunity to work with him and call him a friend, we will be forever grateful and a better person because we knew him. He was a jovial, and kind-hearted spirit with a great charisma and zest for life. His passion for the pier was un-paralleled. He was able to bring together big corporations while maintaining the small town feel and vibe of the Pier.

We at Spin PR had the distinct pleasure of meeting and working with Craig in 2013 on the PR for the first Front Porch Cinema series. We were lucky enough to call him a friend in addition to a client. There was never a meeting or an event where he wasn’t smiling. A meeting with Craig was always inspirational and we always walked away with new ideas or excitement on the projects that we were working on.

On Monday, June 11, Craig lost his battle with stomach cancer, many of his colleagues and community associates like us thought he would make it because we knew what a fighter he was. Our lives have not and will not be the same without Craig as part of the Pier family, and in our circle of trusted friends. We hope that all who visit the Pier from this point forward will remember Craig and all of the amazing music and events we enjoyed on the Pier because of him. Summer in Santa Monica will not be the same without Craig but we will keep his memory alive in all that we do to give back to the city that he loved.

A plaque will be dedicated in his honor by the Santa Monica Pier Corporation at the West end of the Pier to keep his memory alive for years to come.