Highland Park Brewery Taps Into a New Chinatown Home

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.

The mighty Highland Park Brewery is small no more. The upstart operation began life with a minuscule amount of square footage in the back of The Hermosillo bar on York, but has now officially moved into its new home at the far edge of Chinatown, across from the park and a stone’s throw from buzzy new David Chang restaurant Majordomo.

Unlike some of the newer tenants moving into the area (with the exception of Nick’s Cafe across the street), Highland Park Brewery has been hanging around for a while. The brewery has won awards for its beer at the highest national levels despite issues of growth and space with its original property, and they secured the rights to open up at this corner plot back in 2016. Architects Raveled Studio and Knowhow Shop ultimately brought the property to life alongside the CLTVT contractor team, with room for a patio, inside tasting area, long bar, and full kitchen.

The shiny new brew system in the back offers double the capacity as the previous iteration, though that first system will also stay online so the company can jointly brew and continue to scale up its wholesale operation. And, because of the full kitchen, Highland Park Brewery can also sell beer from other breweries, do tap takeovers, and the like. The opening drink menu is below.

Owners Bob and Tiffany Kunz (along with co-owner Ross Stephenson of The Hermosillo and Hi-Hat) are now spending their time getting this new Highland Park Brewery location up and running in Chinatown. Now Serving’s Ken Concepcion helped to craft the opening menu of simple bar snacks like chips and queso, cauliflower tacos, and Bub & Grandma’s bread and butter, while chef Michael Ruiz stays on hand to oversee the food moving forward. Ross Connolly is the day-to-day director of brewing operations.

Highland Park Brewery is open now in Chinatown, keeping hours Wednesday and Thursday from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m., with an expansion of hours from noon to midnight on Friday and Saturday night. Sundays operate from noon to 11 p.m.

Highland Park Brewery
1220 N. Spring St.
Los Angeles, CA