Inspired by his war-hero father, Michael Morales learned early to overcome obstacles and improve things—be they leaky pipes or the character and charm of a city.

“I was raised by someone who only had one arm,” Morales, 54, said in the colorful surroundings of Harmony Works, the Redondo Beach gallery he owns with his wife Royce. “I learned to do things differently.”

Morales spoke movingly about how his father, Adolfo, a sergeant major in the U.S. Army, continued to give cover to fellow soldiers after losing his left arm in a firefight with the Germans in WWII, only to see his “leg pretty much shot up” due to a land mine explosion while being rescued.

Yet Adolfo’s post-war spirit remained indomitable, his son said. “He did plumbing, carpentry, electrical...”

So did Michael, his older brother and three younger sisters. “That’s what we did on weekends. No cartoons on Saturday—(we were) under the house, on the roof or doing something to improve the house.”

His father was also creative, turning his attention to drawing when he could no long play the violin or guitar, a sort of “Renaissance person,” said Morales, who inherited his father’s love of art and devotion to philanthropy.

Where Morales Sr. worked tirelessly for WWII veterans, his son works tirelessly for Redondo Beach, especially the Riviera Village.

Whether it’s the cable lights that lend Catalina Avenue its special ambiance at night, the banners that decorate village lampposts or the decorative wooden benches painted by local artists—all came about due to Morales’ leadership.

President of the Riviera Village Association for the past dozen years, he took the helm of the Riviera Village Business Improvement District (RVBID) at its inception eight years ago.

His influence is felt in numerous other organizations, from the Redondo Beach Round Table (72 city leaders discuss major issues and sway legislation) to the South Bay Workforce Investment Board, a federally funded program “tasked with reeducating and finding work for the unemployed,” Morales said.

Ron Zagha, a member of the Riviera Village Association and owner with his wife of clothing store Lisa Z, calls Morales’ contribution to the area “huge.”

“He’s been a leader here ever since I can remember,” Zagha said. “Mike’s the liaison with city officials, the city council, the chamber of commerce, and he keeps everybody on board with what’s going on in the village. He’s done a great job and he keeps coming back for more.”

Morales’ leadership and countless hours of volunteerism are what led Patch to select him for the Greatest Person series.

• Nominate: Who is Redondo's Greatest Person?

A slight man with a graying goatee and silver-rimmed glasses, Morales said he “learned about helping out, about being involved in things” from his father.

The second oldest of five children, he grew up in Inglewood, a bright kid who excelled at math. Intending to become an engineer, he went to El Camino College—and soon collided with calculus.

“Calculus has to do with variables,” he said. “Math, to me, is numbers.”

(At a later point, asked how long he and Royce have been married, he reeled off, “26 years, two months and two days. See?” he said. “Numbers.”)

Morales turned from math to drafting, a sort of numerical art. A job with the U.S. Census Bureau in 1980 drew upon those skills when he became “one of six people actually drawing the map of Los Angeles” that hadn’t been updated in 30 years.

“There were freeways and streets and cities that weren’t even on the census maps,” he said. “I loved it, just amazing stuff.”

Organizing a softball team for the census bureau led to his next job, designing T-shirts. “I did the artwork for the uniforms,” said Morales, who eventually branched into his own T-shirt business in Santa Monica.

He met his future wife, Royce, a teacher of metaphysics, when renting her garage for his T-shirt equipment. The two married and eventually settled in Lomita, branching into the world of art and meditation 18 years ago with their Harmony Works—a gallery dedicated to serenity and a healthy environment.

Most everything inside the gallery, all the shelves and such, were built by Morales who also constructs special display racks for artists.

His natural proclivity to refurbish things led to his recognizing the need for improvements outside the gallery, his involvement in the village association and ultimately the business improvement district.

“1960 was last time a major renovation was done in the village,” Morales said, explaining how a beautification grant from Lady Bird Johnson resulted in the installation of trees, sidewalks, cement benches and planters.

Initially, Morales, Zagha, Mike Ward of Village Runner and a few others decided to charge businesses voluntary dues to restore the village. When that failed to work (“There was no way to enforce it,” Morales said), they “came up with the idea of a business improvement district.”  

Businesses in a designated area of the village, in other words, would agree to pay additional taxes that would be collected by the city and returned to the district for beautification purposes.

“Usually the city goes to business district,” Morales said. “But we went to them. We were so motivated down here; we wanted a way to keep improving.” 

Although the initial beautification designs proved too extravagant (everything from wishing wells to fountains to a path to the ocean), a more practical plan eventually emerged.

Just as Morales’ knowledge of Redondo history enlivens his conversation, his multi-faceted background stood him in good stead lobbying city officials.

When it came to cable lights (Zagha’s idea), for example, Morales not only knew a thing or two about electrical wiring, he knew how to research the project and educate city officials who claimed “there was no process in the city to do that,” he said.

“We went to Santa Monica and found they did [cable lights]; we researched The Grove and West Coast Plaza and came back and said, ‘OK, this is how you permit it,’” he said.

As a member of the Public Art Task Force charged with setting up the Public Art Commission to encourage art in the community, Morales convinced the Leadership Redondo Class of 2005 (he was Class of 2003) to place their class project—decorative art benches—in the village.

Morales currently chairs the multi-city South Bay Association of Chambers of Commerce, as well as Redondo’s Economic Development Council (EDC), which is aimed at retaining, attracting and helping local businesses.

In his EDC leadership role, Morales is in the process of revising the “Student Leader for a Day” program so that it concentrates on business instead of city government. Regardless of the focus, working with young people is one of the things he enjoys most.

When chaperoning a group of four students on a trip to Sacramento last March, he was impressed at how they confronted State Senator Ted Lieu of Torrance on teachers’ tenure, pensions and school funding. “They were really on top of this,” Morales said, grinning.

With all this, he manages to illuminate the art scene, specifically “ArtSeen in Redondo Beach,” the official title of a new business Michael and Royce Morales launched last year. “We represent artists in the South Bay and set up shows for them.”

One novel approach was to locate businesses willing to show local artists’ work, ArtSeen events Morales calls ArtScapes. Chez Melange, Lisa Z, Salon Riviera and Moon Dancer have all participated, including hosting openings in which artists answer questions and demonstrate their art.

“We believe that if people get to know an artist, it makes it easier to buy their artwork,” Morales said.

In the end, it's all about helping local businesses, whether it's an individual artist or a neighbor in the area shopping district. Standing outside his gallery, Morales looked across the street at Moon Dancer, a shop that sells American Indian art, furniture and jewelry, and pointed to the decorative planters that grace the sidewalk.

“(The owners) added the planters,” he said. “If you inspire businesses to make things better, people want to jump on board and do things themselves.”

That, Morales added, is his richest reward.