Ludwig Biergarten Has Stopped Pouring at the Original Farmers Market

Los Angeles is still waiting for the rise of the biergarten, as many over the years have promised to bring casual outdoor beer drinking to the masses but very few have been able to deliver in a meaningful way. Case in point: Ludwig Biergarten at the Original Farmer’s Market on Fairfax, which took over the former Johnny Rockets space less than a year ago, but has now already faded into dust.

The forgotten drinker’s enclave at the Grove/Farmer’s Market complex never seemed to catch on much at all, with their last social media updates coming last month amidst a less-than-stellar Oktoberfest celebration. Sometime soon after, the place turned off the lights for good, taping a yellow CLOSED sign to the door and clearing out.

While L.A. has a wealth of patio options, the casual beer drinker’s outdoor beer garden remains mostly out of reach for some reason. It’s certainly not the weather — look at a restaurant like Maré, which doesn’t even have a roof — or the willingness to drink beer, yet places like Loreley continue to struggle to get up and running, either thanks to tough permitting requirements or some other unknown cause. At least there’s hope for Salazar, which is still in build-out phase in Frogtown.