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Overview

This early Los Angeles brewery, known from about 1874 until 1882 as the "Philadelphia Brewery," was sited on the Tongva Indian village, Yang-Na, that had existed for over one hundred years.

Building Notes

The Philadelphia Brewery was built near the site of Yang-Na (or Yangna), a village established by the Tongva (Gabrieleño) Indians, the first known people of the Los Angeles area. The village was formed around El Aliso, a large, venerable sycamore tree that was removed for brewery expansion in the 1890s. (See Nathan Masters, KCET.org, "From Eastside Lager to Maier's Select Malt Tonic: A Brief History of L.A. Beer," published 07/28/2011, accessed 07/10/2019.)

In 1882, Los Angeles had two breweries operating in the city, the Philadelphia Brewery at 95 Aliso Street, and Phil Lauth's New York Brewery, located at 4 3rd Street. (See Los Angeles, California, City and County Directory, 1881-2, [Los Angeles: Southern California Directory Company, 1881], p. 159.)

The Los Angeles brewer, Joseph Maier (d. 1904) and George Zobelein purchased shares of the Philadelphia Brewery in 1882. It would later become known as the "Maier and Zobelein Brewing Company." After Joseph Maier died, a rift occurred between the sons of Joseph Maier, Eddie and Fred, and Zobelein. Nathan Masters, writing of a history of Los Angeles brewing for KCET.org, said, "Maier died in 1904, leaving his share of the brewery to his sons. A legal dispute between Zobelein and his new partners ensued, and in 1907 Zobelein split with the Maier brothers and purchased the ten-year old Los Angeles Brewing Company, located on the L.A. River near Lincoln Park. Zobelein crafted a line of beers, ranging from a pale lager to a stronger, darker bock, and sold them under his new Eastside brand." (See Nathan Masters, KCET.org, "From Eastside Lager to Maier's Select Malt Tonic: A Brief History of L.A. Beer," published 07/28/2011, accessed 07/12/2019.)

During Prohibition, the Maier Brewery, like many others, tried to sell non-alcoholic, 0.5% alcohol by volume, "near beers" to the public, with limited success. In desperate straits, a handful of brewers continued to brew illegally, supposedly Eddie Maier among them. After the repeal of the Volstead Act, the Maier Brewery began selling beer again, 07/16/1933, but Maier got into trouble with the law, and lost control of his brewing operations. Masters wrote: "On March 30, 1932, federal agents raided the Maier Brewery and discovered what they called 'unshakeable evidence' that the facility had been producing full strength, 4% ABV beer. Prohibition officers arrested Maier's sales manager and one of his employees. Owner Edward R. Maier denied knowledge of the illicit brew, but authorities seized the brewing equipment and bottling plant. Maier would not regain control of his business from a court-appointed receiver until 1940, seven years after Prohibition ended. (See Nathan Masters, KCET.org, "From Eastside Lager to Maier's Select Malt Tonic: A Brief History of L.A. Beer," published 07/28/2011, accessed 07/12/2019.)

The ABC Brewing Company obtained control of the Maier Brewery during the 1950s. Paul Kalmanovitz, a San Francisco brewer bought the plant in 1958, and the plant went defunct in 1972. The plant became vacant henceforth, visited only by squatters, and was razed in 1985.

Alteration

In the 1950s, the brewery experienced some prosperity and rebuilt its production facilities. Cecilia Rasmussen and Wendy Thermos wrote in 2005: "Old brick buildings of the quaint Bavarian brewery came down and new, hulking, no-frills industrial ones went up. The state Department of Transportation was forced to curve around the formidable obstacle when the freeway was laid out in the 1950s. At its height in the 1950s, the company was turning out 370,000 barrels of Maier, Brew 102 and other private labels each day." (See Cecilia Rasmussen and Wendy Thermos, Los Angeles Times.com, "Death at a Historic Site," published 06/09/2005, accessed 07/10/2019.)

PCAD id: 14826