Militant Locationist Rant
Recently in our humble corner of Los Angeles, a brewery opened. Which is great news to anyone, (especially myself) who enjoys what Benjamin Franklin said was, “proof that God loves us.”
Microbrewing is something I have supported for a long, long, and expensive time. Having a new microbrewery nearby is a wonderful thing. The only problem is the name. And what is in a name? To quote Shakespeare, “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet.”
Maybe so, but out of the millions of names to engrave on your mast, the brewers of this new brewery have chosen to name their venture after a location here in Northeast Los Angeles. It’s good to represent, right? The name of this new establishment is Eagle Rock Brewery. Great, Eagle Rock is a fine place; home to many of my favorite festivals, restaurants, stores, and newspapers. The only problem is the brewery is not located in Eagle Rock 90041, but in Glassell Park 90065.
So the question is, why is it called Eagle Rock Brewery? Maybe if it were on Eagle Rock Boulevard, but it’s off San Fernando Road near Fletcher Drive. From my understanding, the brewers, father & son team of Steve and Jeremy Raub were long-time home brewers. Did this start in an Eagle Rock garage, and they didn’t want to let go of the name? What is the inspiration?
The reason I bring this up now, is what Jeremy Raub recently wrote in response to an accusation made by Brian Frobisher, regarding the name choice on the The NELA List:
“I suppose you’re the type of person who avoids a “Hollywood Video”
located in Burbank, or a “Patagonia” located in Pasadena, so I don’t
expect to see you at Eagle Rock Brewery (in Glassell Park) anytime
soon.”
His response never answers the question as to why they choose the name of Eagle Rock, for a place located in Glassell Park.
If they wanted to name it for a place, why not just Glassell Brewery? Or Northeast LA Brewery? Heck, being where it is, it could have passed as Atwater Brewery. Or how about Avenues Brewery? (The notorious Drew Street being just bullet shot away.) Or even Angel City Brewery would have been more location-appropriate. (Angel City is brewed in Torrence, outside the City of Angels.)
The thing is, if you are going to name your place after a place, don’t you think it should at least be in that place, in the first place?
Glassell Park has a bit of Culver City going on with it. The community has long had its traditional industrial area, now being used by such companies as Playboy Enterprises, Intelligentsia Coffee, and the latest being Eagle Rock Brewery. A lower-profile place with higher-profile companies moving in. Culver City’s once traditional industrial warehouses with lower rent, have now been replaced by boutique production houses and studios.
Whatever the direction Glassell Park is going, as for this beer drinker, there will be an extra bit of bitterness not derived from the hops in the Glassell Park-brewed Eagle Rock Brewery beer.
Authenticity, eh? I grew up in Studio City where we had studios. First the Mack Sennett Studios, which became Republic Studios (known for low budget westerns and Gilligan’s Island) and finally CBS Studio Center. When I was young, Studio City was overshadowed by the larger adjacent North Hollywood. I was always offended when people said my house was in North Hollywood. No, Studio City! The very name North Hollywood was bogus. In no sense was this area geographically continguous with Hollywood. It was originally called Lankershim, but locals wanted to cash in on the Hollywood fame.
In recent years, Studio City has become prominent, even chichi, while North Hollywood has gone down scale. Residents have broken off bits and renamed them to shake the stigma, such as Valley Village or my favorite, West Toluca Lake. Even North Hollywood central calls itself NoHo to seem hip.
Avenues Brewery would have been excellent.
We all know why they wouldn’t call themselves Glassell Park Brewery. Because Eagle Rock is considered “Nice,” and “Gentrified,” and Glassell Park is considered “the ‘hood” or “the armpit” or “never heard of it.”
Glassell Park deserves better. They could have put it on the map by calling themselves Glassell Park Brewery. But no, God forbid they take a chance like that. I’m sure just venturing into the neighborhood was a chance enough for them. As a former resident of GP, this makes me quite sad.
I was wondering the same thing. They are almost close to Silver Lake that they can claim if they really want to sell some beer. But ya know, we are still excited for their venture. Good luck Eagle Rock Adjacent Brewery!
Ave 55 hit the nail on the head; calling it Eagle Rock Brewery will also likely attract more Occidental students, as they rarely dare venture out of Eagle Rock.
The Los Angeles Brewery of Anaheim
Who cares? They called it ERB because they’re from Eagle Rock, want to promote their home neighborhood, and are hoping to sell some beer after investing tens of thousands of dollars into the local economy. They can call it the Beverly Hills Brewery for all I care as long as the beer is good.
Martha
Interesting report on Studio City and the shifting demographics of chichi-ism. Honestly, is there anyplace left that isn’t going through some level of gentrification? Even Tujunga
Eagle Rock adjacent (of course)
Is there ANYTHING that some whiny losers won’t bitch about?? Those people have thousands and thousands of dollars invested in this and if they think they can make even one cent more based on the name then they can call it whatever they want. Don’t like it? Don’t go. Or, here’s an idea, get off your ass and start your own business instead of moaning like a jerk! I for one can’t wait to check it out.
Here here Joe I agree with you completely. These guys are never satisfied they always seem to find something to bitch about. I’m with you it’s great that people are investing in our area and that it’s not a bunch of chain stores popping up. I like the fact that its local guys doing this. I as a home owner appreciate all the efforts being done and the diversity of these establishments opening up in our neck of the woods.
So first of all, you’re defending the identity of Glassell Park by suggesting that people name their businesses after the local gang? Next time, perhaps you should direct the gun away from your foot.
To review — Culver City is a separate municiplity. Eagle Rock and Glassell Park are neighborhoods of Los Angeles. “Eagle Rock” is a geographical feature. And you, sir, desperately need to find some less ridiculous border to engage your ranting, provincial, self-defeatist jigoism.
I for one am proud of our newest Los Angeles brewery, by any name.
PS: your snowflake effect is really annoying.
Thanks for all the attention! That curious about the name huh?
http://eaglerockbrewery.wordpress.com/2009/12/28/yes-its-a-rock/#comments
When people have questions, they should ask before making assumptions and hating. Cheers!
Thanks “ting” for making a statement on this. Too bad people had to start ranting before some explanation was given.
As far as “Hating.” I think you may have confused it with the term, Criticism, or Critiquing. This is the internet after all. Everyone is a critic. Hatred is a powerful word. It shouldn’t be tossed around so willy-nilly.
Hot damn, that’s a good answer. The actual rock is the symbol, not the community with named after the rock. That works nicely.
Zota, the snowflakes are especially for you.
Where is the Eastside?
Watch this:
http://www.vimeo.com/7871595
Shouldn’t the 90042 blog only be commenting on things occuring in 90042? This brewery is in 90065. I’m just trying to follow your logic.
It might have been cool for the brewery to have used Glassell Park in the name–I too would love to see this neighborhood get it’s upandcomance. Then again, that name might not have attraceted enough attention to actually make a successful business. My guess is that they are trying to attract a lot of people to come here, not just the NELA List Serve. There are very few people across the river who have ever heard of Glassell Park, or if they have it has not been positive (“something about gang shootings, right?”) The brewery’s main obligation is to market a business and succeed, not be a neighborhood booster. People in Glassell Park should just be pleased that someone has invested in this sad little corner (have you SEEN Roswell?).
I’m with Craig. From what I gather, the “Eagle Rock Brewery” name was chosen before the location was secured, and changing the name would be a major hassle. (Also, it’s super-cool name that makes me thirsty.)
If we’re getting the pitchforks out, how ’bout we go down to the Rose Bowl Motel on Colorado in Eagle Rock? Or the Eagle Rock Best Western Inn, which is in Glendale? Or the Glendale Korean 7th Day Adventist Church, which is on Eagle Rock Boulevard?
This craziness with neighborhood names is (mostly) not business owners’ fault anyway. Since the inclusion of most of L.A.’s little hamlets into the City of L.A. proper early last century, neighborhood names have been fungible and their borders fuzzy, and it’s almost all been defined by Realtors. Example: Consider how much Silver Lake has grown in the past 10 years. When I lived there throughout the 90s, only a few streets south of Sunset and east of Silver Lake Blvd. were considered “true” Silver Lake; now that Silver Lake is the coolest place to live east of West Hollywood, the neighborhood goes down to the 101 and over to Alvarado — or at least your local Coldwell Banker office would have you believe.
Imagine the uproar if the Eagle Rock Brewery folks had decided to locate in Glassell Park, but name their brewery after their chichi 90065 neighbor: Mt. Washington? (Mt. Washington Brewery: another cool name, btw.) So many folks I know who live in Glassell Park 90065 claim to live in Mt. Washington — and get all worked up when I point out that it’s called “Division St.” for a reason. Their property values, and their self-esteem, are wrapped up in living in the safe, erudite neighborhood of hills and views, vs. the lowland wilds of San Fernando-adjacent. Change these homeowners’ (and their real-estate agents’) minds, and then you’ll have your Glassell Park pride.
Argh. Hollywood Video: “Hollywood” refers to the movie, not the town- so using “Hollywood” relates to the purpose of the business, not the location.
And yeah, the Los Angeles Angels of fricking Anaheim bugs the crap out of me. It’s an Orange County team- OUR team is the Dodgers.
As a proud citizen of Glassell Park and a huge fan of good beer, I’m happy that ERB has located here and I am looking forward to trying their stuff and maybe even talking about it on my Podcast which is recorded on the GP side of Division.
As far an neighborhood confusion is concerned when I bought my house I thought it was in Mt. Washington so that’s what I told people, when it was pointed out to me that I was in GP I was cool with that. All you have to do is walk up Cazadore to get some great views and see some cool houses. There’s more to GP than most people know.