Modern Times Plants a New Flagship Brewery in Downtown LA

Farley Elliott is the Senior Editor at Eater LA and the author of Los Angeles Street Food: A History From Tamaleros to Taco Trucks. He covers restaurants in every form, from breaking news to the culture, people, and history that surrounds LA's dining landscape.

Downtown’s burgeoning craft beer game just got a huge boost thanks to Modern Times. The San Diego-based brewery has expanded its opportunities up north, opening a satellite brewpub called The Dankness Dojo right in the heart of Downtown LA’s South Park neighborhood.

Founder Jacob McKean has landed his new Dojo right on Olive Street, offering more than two dozen taps to go along with a full kitchen and cafe up front. There’s coffee and pastries in the morning (the beans are Modern Times branded, of course) and a full vegan lunch-through-dinner menu filled with dishes like battered and fried seitan starters, salads, and a Beyond Meat burger that contains no animal protein. As for the beers, expect plenty of stuff that’s been made on site, including some more unique offerings from the brewery.batter

The South Park stretch of Downtown is quickly becoming one to watch on the craft beer scene, thanks to players like Mega Bodega and the popular Mikkeller bar just around the corner. Not that Modern Times needs to be especially worried — the company has a great reputation in beer circles, and the addition of a casual restaurant and morning coffee means one more fine option for the multiple new residential units coming online in that stretch of the city this year. Hours for The Dankness Dojo run Sunday through Thursday, 7 a.m. to midnight, with an extension to 2 a.m. on Friday and Saturday.

Modern Times Dankness Dojo
832 S. Olive St.
Los Angeles, CA