Hawthorne
Common Space Brewery 6th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon in Hawthorne, at the Common Space Brewery, where they were joined by several hundred fans as they celebrated their sixth anniversary. It was a very pleasant afternoon which included not only nice weather, but several food popups, live music, a DJ, some very nice beer, and lots of doggies.
The food options were pretty diverse, with options provided by Yakitori Cartel, Enduro Pizza, and Bootsy’s BBQ. I have to admit, I almost regretted bringing Roxy (my new dog) because I would have loved to try some of that soul food from Bootsy’s but it just would not be fair to her since she seems to have a very sensitive stomach. My loss, it looked and smelled great. Continue reading
LA Ale Works 7ish Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Ale Works in Hawthorne, where friends, fans, and family gathered to celebrate 7ish years of brewing beer in Hawthorne. The reason they called it the “7ish” anniversary is that they actually had their grand opening in February of 2017, but as co-founder Andrew Fowler explained, moving the party back a few weeks will usually result in better weather; that policy definitely worked to their advantage yesterday.
Anyway, the very well-attended event featured live music, a myriad of food trucks, specialty drinks, a balloon artist, games for the kids, lots of cool dogs, and of course, the release of their anniversary beer, 7ish, an IPA. Continue reading
Photos from the Common Space/LA Ale Works Block Party
These photos were taken Friday afternoon at Common Space Brewery and Los Angeles Ale Works, where the two Hawthorne based production breweries teamed up to hold a block party as a part of the Los Angeles Beer Week 2023 festivities. Both locations had food, music, and games to accompany their plethora of craft beer.
I started off at Common Space where I met up with the guy that keeps more of the South Bay’s beer cold than any other single individual, my friend Phil and his wife Deborah.
While we were there, food was made available by Uncle Al’s BBQ, Long Beach Tacos, and Sad Girl Creamery to go along with the more than 20 craft beers pouring from their taps. I have to say, for being early Friday afternoon they had a pretty healthy number of customers. Continue reading
Common Space 5th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their fifth anniversary. The event featured food trucks, live music, DJs, tarot card readings, a caricature artist, live mural painting, and an anniversary beer to accompany the 20+ beers and seltzers that were available on tap.
I arrived around 1:00 and things were already popping with at least 100 Common Space fans, a few kids, and lots of dogs (which made my day). Continue reading
Common Space Brewery 4th Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, where they held their 4th Anniversary. The day included live music, food trucks, live art painting, a couple DJs, and the release of four new beers.
I arrived early with my buddy Phil, the refrigeration guy to the stars, and secured a good parking spot as well as prime seating at the bar. We were there for the first three hours, so that is what you will find in the photos.
There were about four food trucks there, with everything from burgers to oysters to tacos. The music was provided by the Del Ray Jazz Band. Continue reading
Common Space Brewery 3rd Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Common Space Brewery in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their third anniversary with an actual in-person event at the production brewery’s tasting room and patios setup outside.
Prior to today, the last time I attended a brewery’s anniversary was the Brouwerij West 4th anniversary in February 2020; that’s a long time considering how many brewery anniversary parties we have around here usually. Continue reading
Photos from the LA Ale Works 3rd Anniversary Block Party
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Ale Works, Hawthorne’s first production brewery, where they celebrated their third anniversary with a massive block party. The event featured a quadruple can release, four food vendors, DJs and live music, anniversary merchandise, and a michelada bar.
I had two events to cover Saturday; one was inside and the other, LA Ale Works’ Block Party, was outside. As it was a beautiful day in the South Bay it was not too difficult to decide which one I was going to do first.
After taking a few photos I decided it was time to try their “anniversary beer” which turned out to be seven different beers. They included Infinite Potential Munich lager, Cosmik Debris IPA, Flight Path DIPA, Scrappalicious Juicy IPA, From the Roots farmhouse ale, In For the Long Haul bourbon and rum barrel-aged barleywine, and Tropic Punch In mixed fermentation barrel beer; I opted to begin with Flight Path and had no regrets. Continue reading
Common Space Brewery 1st Anniversary Photos
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at the Common Space Brewery and Tasting Room in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their first anniversary with several hundred of their fans. The event featured their first can release, an anniversary beer, several food trucks, live music, and games that were enjoyed by adults and children alike. And there were dogs; lots and lots of dogs.
While I try to visit as many of the local breweries as possible, there has been so much growth around here that it just is not possible for me for me to visit everyone as much as I might like; Common Space would be one of those. One thing I noticed right away was that Common Space has become a very family and dog friendly taproom to visit. I think it would be safe to say that a large portion of the people attending had either a dog or a kid with them, and while I see a lot of whining on social media about kids and dogs at breweries, it was obvious that Common Space welcomes both with open arms. Continue reading
Photos from the 2nd Anniversary Block Party at LA Ale Works
These photos were taken Saturday afternoon at Los Angeles Ale Works (LAAW), in Hawthorne, where they celebrated their second anniversary with an 80s themed block party featuring several food trucks, DJs, live music, pop rock beer slushies, candy necklaces, Micheladas, a laser light show, a double juicy IPA can release, and lots of other L.A. Ale Works beers.
I arrived about an hour after the official start time and the block party was already filling up with LAAW fans along with their families and dogs. DJ Sundy was providing music and food was being served up by Bartz BBQ, Kogi Korean BBQ, Hustle & Dough, and Scoops on Tap.
Inside the tasting room, there were at least 25 beers on tap, including the two beers featured in their can release, Lazer Star and Night Beams. There was an outdoor bar set up for their Reserve Beers, featuring options like Celestial Blüme Berliner with tea, Channel Conditions Brett Saison, and Olivera Blanc and Olivera Noir, their beer/wine hybrids. Also available were the 2017 and 2018 Rush’n Attack Imperial Stouts, Heavy Impulse Barleywine, and Sled Dog Imperial Stout. The outside bar is also where you would go for the pop rock slushies and Micheladas. Continue reading
Taking a Craft Beer Tour of the SpaceX Corridor
I was going to begin this article by suggesting, “unless you have been living under a rock, you know of Elon Musk’s SpaceX” but I discovered there actually are some people that are unfamiliar with SpaceX; so I will presume that if you are into American craft beer and follow this site, you are at least somewhat familiar with Elon Musk and/or SpaceX.
What you may not be aware of is that SpaceX is headquartered in the City of Hawthorne and craft breweries and craft beer bars have been springing up in what I now call the SpaceX Corridor and all of them have been vying for the attention of SpaceX employees; and from what I have been able to see, those employees have been enjoying the attention.
Since I named it the SpaceX Corridor, I also get to define the boundaries. El Segundo Boulevard is a little over 5 miles long from the Harbor Freeway (110) and the San Diego Freeway (405). In that stretch there are now four craft breweries and one craft beer bar; all of which I have no problem recommending. Here is how you can complete the SpaceX Corridor Craft Beer Tour from one end to the other in one day, with relative ease. Be advised, this can currently only be done Thursday through Sunday; if you are reading this in six months or a year from now, the hours may be expanded by then.
The locations we will visit are State Brewing Company, Ximix Craft Exploration, Common Space Brewery, Los Angeles Ale Works, and Flights Beer Bar.
For the purposes of this tour, we will begin on the east end of the SpaceX Corridor, at State Brewing Company in Gardena. Continue reading