I’ve heard mention here and there about Angel City Brewing moving to El Centro but it wasn’t until I finally saw their sign up on Alameda that I saw how close and convenient a location it might actually be. Time to do some grinding research.
Click ahead si te interesa el mundo de la cerveza.
This is what caught my eye. Even though I had heard about this brewery moving from their Alpine Village location, which I visited and saw from the outside since they were closed on that day, I admit I haven’t been too impressed with their available products. They have a huge banner that dominates the 5 skyline at that LH interchange, where the smokestack reads The Brewery. But “The Brewery” in Lincoln Heights is now only an art colony that brews gentrification exclusively. And maybe some bad art on the side.
I thought that art colony had made their peace with their LH location, being in the ghetto that only thinks about potholes and such, but some recent ads on KPCC shows that they still pretend to be part of downtown LA. Even though I like some people and friends that live there, I will continue to spit on everything the “art colony” represents until they get their shit together. But enough about bad news. Maybe this real brewery will want to remove their ads from the land of OZ.
I looked up the hours, figured out something convenient, and on a day after work I find some pleasurable drinks to drown out the misery of the work day. They had a few options on tap but they have others that will eventually get there. The Che lager I can do without, for a few reasons. Rename it Riots 92′ Ale and I will buy a barrel! You need to keep your Revolutionary tendencies a bit fresher.
Two Charlie Parker’s please! Its a flavorful and hoppy brew in line with what I like to taste. Beer is served in plastic cups which isn’t the best way to enjoy beer. But I’m mostly crying about my carbon credits going up! Horror! Currently they are only open Thurday -Sunday, usually after 5pm.
They have quite a few big tables and enough space to fit more than a few of your homies. I asked and yes, you can bring your own food to enjoy with their beers. Cemitas, tortas, and burritos, can now be properly paired with beer. Oddly we ended up sitting near the brewers and brewer’s assistants. Some were getting juiced up to hand out flyers at the Downtown Art Walk.
Not sure what this place used to be but there’s a big slide smack dab in the middle. You are not supposed to ride it, apparently it is becoming problematic.
This is what happens when you rely on the internet for translation instructions. “No fuera de la cerveza”, que que?
All lined up and ready to be drunk.
The smoking area seems to be in the parking lot. It wafts in to the regular area. Now is the time to invent the Smoking Pinto: the car you can smoke in! Yes, a Ford Pinto. Why not?
We got a brewery tour out of this excursion too! The brewery actually isn’t up and running though, they still have to connect a bunch of equipment together.
I think these are the mash and lauter tuns. Not hooked up yet though. They ramped up the brewing before the move but they expect to be brewing here within a month.
The working closet. This not-part-of-the-brewery-tour is where all the random pieces of stuff is most likely to be.
Fermenting tanks waiting to ferment.
I think this was the yeast break, where yeast will get stored for use in other batches. Joe our tour guide said they would be open to sharing yeast with homebrewers, I hope that ends up being true cuz that sounds good!
There’s an art gallery in the center of the place. They also have some weirdo art in the men’s bathroom.
That’s kinda creepy.
Yet more art in the WC.
Let’s check out “Bano de la Mujer”.
Either woman don’t make art or they don’t frequent beer places. Or maybe they are smart enough to not put their art in unsavory places.
The art gallery is underneath a sitting area up top. This is a big space, I can see it being a meeting point for lots of people. Speaking of unsavory places, this spot seems to be be a hit with the lawyer and prosecutor crowd, though they tend to migrate to any open space in downtown la. I hope Eastsiders start using this space as their own rather than just let the Downtowners have at it. Or worse, the Echo Park-Silverlake Hipsters and the USC student hordes. $5 a pint, we can afford a seat! Err, for a little while.
Later I spot a redeeming sign.
The upstairs area. A few tables but lots of space.
DJ wonders wtf I’m up to. Just taking a pic, sir.
The taps from above.
I like the wide open doors, can we please call on end on the dark and dank drinking rooms?
They also have a parking lot up the street.
They are just getting started but I’m already in.
Angel City Brewing
216 South Alameda St.
Los Angeles, CA 90012
www.angelcitybrewing.com
I like squatting down drinking beer out of a bag in an alley with my homies talking smack about rival neighborhoods.
i pass the place on a daily basis going to work. Had no idea the building was so large. I always thou it was a narrow building. Should have posted a picture of the Regan poster on alameda.
lol @ them using babel fish to translate their sign into Spanish. I’ve done that a couple of times for blog comments, and I still feel ashamed. It’s just so weak.
I think the building was the Robert Arranaga company. Some websites say it was a restaurant supply store. Wholesaler.
I don’t want to go off on a big gentrification tangent – but this is typical gentrification. A wholesaler operation is being displaced by “fun stuff for white collar workers.” The same is happening with SHG. Now, I heart SHG, but that is an art organization setting up where there was a food processing company.
Manufacturing and industrial zones are getting re-purposed for residential and light manufacturing. Jobs shift from line work and “working class” work to (usually lower paid) service sector jobs that immigrants can’t get, and won’t allow people to work for years and years.
This isn’t the only thing – the obvious change is that the warehouses and small factories of the eastern area of Little Tokyo (where the temples were moved to when the LAPD’s Parker Center wiped out two blocks of Lil Tokyo) are now occupied by lofts. Again, a job center that was blended with other uses (like Al’s Bar:) has been transformed into a residential area with restaurants and cafes. It took 30 years, but it happened.
The tear-down of Aliso Village was really the event that kicked it off. HOPE VI money did that back in the 90s. The average person wouldn’t have known it, but the tear-down of the projects was part of the process of gentrifying downtown and the eastside. (And the gentrification of Downtown has been happening since the 1950s, when Bunker Hill was targeted for elimination.)
I suspect the next phase will be along Broadway. It’ll be a gentrification between the Brewery and Downtown, with the areas in between (meaning Chinatown and the projects off Ann St.) will be gentrified, either by kicking out poor people, or turning non-residential zones into mixed residential and commercial zones.
With these jobs going away – what will the working class of the Eastside do for employment?
The building was originally built in 1913 as a wire manufacturing company owned by J. Augustus Roebling & Sons. Augustus Roebling is best known for building the Brooklyn Bridge. The slide was used for rolling down spools of wire.
Like most brewers, Michael Bowe is one cool cat. He’s real supportive of the creative community and I expect lots of exciting things at this space in the years to come. The comfort level of this place is great, Gold Line adjacent and every beer they make is over 5 % ABV!
@alienation
its seems like your using the effect as the cause. I dont agree that Angel City brewery and SHG are causing any gentrification. What low income people dont drink beer? poor people dont attend SHG events? Those companies who had previously occupied the building didnt leave to make room for these mix used/ residential usage. Recategorizing these industrial areas to residential mixed was a result of the areas/ building being vacated.
I believe it is more worth while to examine why these businesses and industries are leaving the area. I wont pretend to have the answers for that. but i do agree that the flight of these jobs is leading to gentrification.
Alienation does have a point about the gentrification issue though I don’t know anything about this area other than it is already a part of town with too much of it. The thing that bothers me most about gentrification is that places move in that try to keep out the wrong element via the usual methods of making it seem like a place beyond our social class, using the common practices of pricing us out, or as a last resort the good ol’ treating us like crap method. But I think this place has the potential to be open to the unwashed masses, big tables to bring in big groups and the food you want rather than some stupid foodie fare, and decent beer at not too hefty a price. A friend already told me about how much he hates this place, probably for a good reason. But I’m going to try to enjoy it while I can. Considering the alternatives available to people that like good beer, I’m hoping this doesn’t become just another hipster hangout.
I wanna go drink some cerveza afuera!
im currently on the search for a cemita, thanks to you, here in Mexico. im in Morelos but i might just have to wait till Puebla to have one. I always think about your blog when i try something new..most of the places here are opened air joints, no more locked doors! anyways homie i always enjoy reading your blog, its about the only one i do read, and its a fresh break from facebook. gracias. peace.