Beloved Echo Park Dive Bar El Chubasco Has Given Up the Trendy Ghost

Long-running Echo Park dive bar El Chubasco has closed. As one of the last stops for cheap drinks in the neighborhood, the closure marks a milestone for the neighborhood and Los Angeles.

For over thirty years, Echo Park locals could find El Chubasco bartenders lighting an impromptu barbecue pit and offering a free carne asada plate with the purchase of a $3 dollar beer. Mariachis would sometimes show up day or night and play for hours, while Dodgers fans sipped game day $2 domestics — even through attempts at a hip new renovation back in March. But that’s all ended now, as The Eastsider reports that El Chubasco’s alcohol license expired on July 31, leaving nothing but a padlock behind.

Development throughout the city has rapidly changed neighborhood culture, typically with old businesses meeting new landlords and elevated rents, along with locals discovering fancy shops, bars and restaurants where their old favorites once stood. That’s certainly true of Echo Park, where Eightfold Coffee opened in late 2015 only blocks away from El Chubasco. Earlier that same year, Button Mash started serving beer and food with a side of Donkey Kong up the street, and chef Jeremy Strubel took over nearly the entire entire bottom floor of a remodeled apartment building to bring Winsome to life.

Of course, these changes are not without their problems. The Gold Room has been having a tough go over the past few years, with frequent and unannounced remodels, elevated drink prices, and a bit of violence that put multiple patrons in the hospital. Then again, the remodeled police diner not far away shows how the past and the future might be able to happily coexist.

Eater reached out for more information on the decision to close, but has not heard back. The Eastsider reports that the El Chubasco building has no buyer.

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