Alpine Village home to Old World brews in Torrance
“For many years,” says Otto Radtke, the general manager at Alpine Village, “we were one of the only places in Southern California to buy some of the best old world beers available.” It may also be the only place in Southern California where Oktober Fest, which continues through October 27, is celebrated to the beat […]
A toast to beer in the South Bay
Waves of Grain: the Beer Issue explores the South Bay’s emerging craft beer scene.
Hermosa Beach news briefs: retirement contributions, city website and pancake breakfast
Some city council members on Tuesday said they were misled by city staff as to whether they could pay their employee share of their retirement contributions.
Simmzy’s: good beer is here to stay
Like so many things done well, what the brothers Simms did in downtown Manhattan Beach in retrospect seems inevitable. But three years ago, when they took over the little 1,200 sq. ft. storefront at 229 Manhattan Beach Boulevard, tore down the front wall to let ocean air and sunlight in, then opened a venue called […]
Steve Roberts: the South Bay’s palate shifter
Steve Roberts goes his own damned way. Others tend to follow. Never was this more apparent than when he opened Café Boogaloo in 1995. The concept wasn’t complicated, but it was plenty audacious: a blues and roots music bar serving downhome Southern food, fine wine and beer. By beer he meant craft beer. When he […]
Smog City Brewing Co.: new brew on the block in Torrance
A new craft beer movement has begun, and husband and wife Laurie and Jonathan Porter arrived just in time. Smog City Brewing, the couple’s craft brewery, recently celebrated its one year anniversary and its recent expansion to a new brewery in Torrance. Porter, the head brewer at Tustin Brewing Company, started brewing his own specialized […]
Sophie’s Place in Redondo Beach: not your typical gastro pub
Sophie’s Place, in the heart of Redondo Beach’s Riviera Village, looks more like a French café than one of the South Bay’s heavy hitting gastro pubs. Small tables dot the outside patio. Inside, behind large French doors, large black chandeliers dominate the room. Covering the wall near the bar is a large chalkboard. The middle […]
Monkish Brew Co.: Belgian by way of Scotland
Monkish Brewing Co. is one of the newest microbreweries in Los Angeles to call the South Bay its home. And while it’s located at 20311 S. Western Ave. in Torrance, it really began in Scotland. Henry Nguyen decided to open a brewery while pursing his PhD in theology in Scotland. While there, his interest in […]
Naja’s Place: the people’s bar in Redondo Beach
In search of Najah, the godmother of good beer, the beloved founder of Naja’s Place.
Bottle Shop R(evolution): the South Bay’s purveyors of brew
It was a dark time before the revolution. For ages, men wandered far and wide just to find a liquor store with a decent beer selection. A refined thirst drove them to search beyond the standard display of yellow-fizzy domestic offerings; beyond the feigned attempt at carrying “good beer” by stocking Samuel Adams Lager and […]
Two men and a van: Strand Brewing Co.’s hard-working road to success
One day early in 2009, Rich Marcello picked up the phone to find his old friend Joel Elliot on the other end. Elliot, as is his way, was short and to the point. “Hey,” he said. “Do you want to do a brewery?” “Sure,” Marcello replied. “I’ll be there.” Marcello was working for a small […]
MBMS to roll out eco-friendly lunchtime clean-up
Manhattan Beach Middle School students will soon learn that dumpster diving can actually help the environment, thanks to a new initiative called Trash Free Lunch Program. For the 2012-2013 school year, Manhattan Beach Middle School is partnering with the nonprofit Grades of Green and Waste Management to integrate the lunchtime waste-reduction program, which focuses on […]
Abigaile: handcrafted goodness in Hermosa Beach
Some restaurant environments are so associated with certain cuisines that any variation is jarring. Consider Hermosa’s Abigaile, which some people insist on calling a gastropub. The rationale seems to be that since Abigaile is a beer-centric place and they’re not serving banger sausages and mushy peas, it fits that definition. When you walk through the […]