Visiting LA/Santa Monica next week

Father's office on Montana has a fairly large tap line up of craft beer. It is more of a bar then a restaurant. They do have a small food menu but the food is good. This place is generally a bit to crowded for my taste, but if you don't mind crowded bars its worth a stop.

The Library Ale House on Main street has a smaller tap line up then father's office, but it still always has a very good selection. Its more of restaurant than a bar. So if you are looking to get a table and have some food with your beer, you may want to give this place a try.

 

First, one quick request: please don't judge LA based on the Westside (and/or LA Live). All the time people come to LA, walk around santa monica, drive through Beverly Hills, and hang out at LA Live and then conclude that LA sucks. Not that that's necessarily what you're gonna do (and even if you do I don't think that's necessarily a bad trip), but LA is huge and wonderful and those three places aren't exactly good representative samples IMHO.

Now, in response to your question: I like library alehouse and father's office in santa monica, among other places. If you search through this forum there are tons of recs for other stuff in both locations. Right around staples is a little barren, but if you're willing to drive/uber/metro there are lots of options in places like little Tokyo (far bar), echo park (sunset beer, mohawk bend), and koreatown (beer belly). And if you can spare the time, Beachwood BBQ in Long Beach is outstanding.

 

Wow.

I have always found Santa Monica to be a very pleasant place to live, visit, walk around, and of yes, drink beer

To each his own.

 

Me too. I love the Westside. Sure, most of the best breweries in the greater area are in the OC but that's an easy weekend drive. We've got some solid bars and beer stores.

If you want a divey-er craft beer bar on the Westside with an excellent tap list, check out the Daily Pint. As mentioned, Father's Office and The Library Alehouse are both excellent. If you're in downtown Santa Monica, West 4th & Jane usually has a good tap list. I'm not a big fan of that place but it's not bad.

 

Oh I didn't mean to imply that Santa Monica is unpleasant or that I dislike the entire Westside - I went to UCLA, and have plenty of fond memories west of La Brea. There are lots of great things about Santa Monica, too. I just think that it's good to remember how big and diverse LA is, and a lot of the negative things people say when they say they hate LA really only apply to a certain segment of those Westside neighborhoods/cities. Also, I fully admit to my Northeast bias - I'm a born-and-raised Silver Lake/Echo Park kid. But as with beer, cheers to diverse preferences!

That's totally awesome! I hope I didn't sound like too much of a hater - you'll definitely have a good time both at Beer Belly and in downtown. There's lots of cool stuff beyond beer around there, too, if that's at all interesting: nice restaurants (Baco Mercat, mo chica, Rivera, among others), The Last Bookstore, great coffee in the arts district (Handsome for a little while longer, Stumptown, etc), ramen and sushi in little tokyo, and a quick jaunt to some great stuff in Boyle Heights (Guisados, Elvirita's, Ramirez Liquor) Echo Park or Highland Park.

 

You might want to go check out Venice beach. Drink a beer at one of the places with a patio. If you like to people watch you'll see all kinds of weirdness. You can rent some cheap bikes and ride on the path from sm to Venice in 10 min.

 

Bottle shops,
Check out Wally's Wine on Westwood blvd for some hard to find stuff on your way to SM. Make sure to ask the young pasty kid who is the beer buyer what's in the back.....

 

When you are staying DTLA get urban, stroll around downtown theres lots of chill bars, Spring St, Library, Far Bar, Golden Gopher, Angel City. You could take the bus up to Echo Park/Silver Lake, Sunset beer is awesome, Mohawk Bend is also awesome. Maybe take the Red line up to Hollywood, Blue Palms is probably my favorite bar in LA, Purple Line to Beerbelly in Koreatown....You could even hit up Long Beach too, Beachwood, Congregation.

Then get beach life in the Westside. I second the post above, Rent bikes and booze cruz Santa Monica and Venice. Main st and Downtown SM have cool bars, Library Ale house is fantastic, Venice Ale house is decent but its right on the beach/boardwalk. Venice Whole foods 100%. LA is HUGE, relax and enjoy.

 

Yes, if you go to Venice Beach, the Venice Ale house is worth a stop, if nothing else, to just enjoy a craft beer while your on the Venice boardwalk.

Also, if you are near Wally's you might want to stop at the Wine House in West LA. They have a good selection of bottles, albeit a bit small, combined with some of the best prices that I've seen in town.

There is also the BevMo on Wilshire in Santa Monica.

 

On top of Venice Ale House, the Venice Whole Foods (on Lincoln) is a great option for you -- bottles or taps (they do have a small bar with a nice selection, too). Whole Foods on 6th & 23rd in Santa Monica also both have decent selections, just not as good as the Venice one.

Father's Office in Santa Monica is a solid option, though if you can swing over, I might recommend the Culver City location a bit more -- it's about three times the size of the original.

 

You could easily walk to/from the Venice Whole Foods, Simon's (new bottle shop on Rose), Library Alehouse, Davey Jones Liquor Locker (I feel like they are getting less and less good stuff), Venice Ale House.

Father's Office, as everyone has said, is amazing, but not as walk friendly to other stuff. I actually think Library Alehouse has a larger and more local-focused tap list these days. They always have stuff from Smog City, El Segundo, etc.

 

Venice Ale House turned me into a skateboarder at the ripe old age 37 if you can believe it...

 

Take a 35 minute drive south on the 110 FWY to Beachwood in downtown Long Beach for the best brews made in So Cal and fantastic bbq. Consecration Ale house in 2 minutes down the esplanade from Beachwood. Hit up Belmont Shore for great shopping and more great taps like Zimmzys, Tavern on 2, and Quinns. Make it a beach day in style !

Cheers,

 

Might be a little out of your way but Tony's Darts Away over in the Burbank/ Glendale area is worth a trip. While you're there stop by Golden Road Brewery just a mile or two away. Both places still have the Darts Away IPA available, an excellent limited release double IPA. Both also have some awesome vegan and non-vegan grub.

In Santa Monica, The Daily Pint may not have the best crowd but they usually have some damn good beers on tap.

 

Hey OP,
Let us know what you end up doing and what you enjoyed. Curious to know what the tourist experience is.

 

definitely get the burger at Father's Office