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 Sierra Nevada Pale Ale. And once they found one, a “bottle shop,” it was like belonging to a secret inner circle. In fact, the term “bottle shop” wasn’t even en vogue yet, while the concept and popularity of carrying more than domestic lager and malt liquor still remained a trickle in the greater Los Angeles market. Admittedly, the almost mythical Beverage Warehouse has sat in our outskirts in del Rey since 1970, Trader Joes and Whole Foods Market have always done a good job with their selections, but places like Beverages & More (who hadn’t re-branded as BevMo! until 2001) and Total Wine weren’t even around yet. Sure, innovative watering holes like Naja’s Place and Café Boogaloo catered to the South Bay’s minority demographic of beer connoisseurs and experimentalists as far back as the ‘80s and ‘90s. But good beer or no, when you linger around the bar too long…
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