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Steady Brewing, 2950 Clark Avenue, Long Beach, California
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Pike Restaurant & Bar, 1836 East 4th Street, Long Beach, California
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Watch Me! Sports Bar, 6527 East Pacific Coast Highway, Long Beach, California
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Tracy’s Bar, 5511 East Spring Street, Long Beach, California
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The Eldo, 3014 North Studebaker Road, Long Beach, California
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Once again, before I start this column, I just wanted to quickly mention a beer my friend Victoria had on her recent trip to Crete. Although I haven't found out if she managed to locate any beers on tap, she did have a bottle at the Amphora Tavern in Chana that she really liked. Loki Pale Ale (5.6% ABV, Xaos Brewery, Chana, Crete, Greece). An unfined beer with Mosaic and Sabra hops, it made Victoria quite happy, although she was hoping to find something a bit more sessionable, because she obviously didn’t want to get too wobbly at that time in the afternoon. When I did some research, it looks like there are a few breweries in Crete, as there seem to be all over Europe now. Once again it’s a matter of too many brewpubs, too many pints to taste, and too little time...
Back to my trip in May and June: I spent a week and a half in my home town of Long Beach, where I stayed at my old friend Betsy’s house. Back when my mother was still alive and I would stop for a couple of weeks to visit her and whoever was looking after her, I would occasionally have the opportunity to check out some of the local breweries; but since my sibling group left Long Beach and moved up to Bakersfield, I haven’t had that opportunity. So this year Betsy and I made it to one brewery not far from her house, and we also visited quite a few bars that offer a range of local microbrews.
I had been wanting to visit Steady Brewing ever since they opened back in 2018, especially considering it’s only a mile and a half away from where my mother’s house was, but it didn’t happen. Seeing as how Betsy lives only a few blocks from where my mother lived, I talked her into stopping one evening to check it out. The place is very basic in decor, with a long bar underlit by pink neon lights, and the room is furnished with comfy bench and table seating, surrounded by flat screen TVs on the walls. It’s just kind of, well, a bit of a stark and weird atmosphere.
After the two of us checked out the equally simple and basic beer menu, I first tasted the Ddemon Double IPA (9.5% ABV), which tasted interesting. But at that leg-wobbling ABV I certainly wasn’t going to consider drinking a pint--so I ended up going for a pint of Reflection IPA (6.5% ABV), which was okay but not really anything to write home about. Betsy had a pint of Poolside Lager (4.0% ABV), which was very easy to drink, but just a bit on the sweet side in character. It was definitely more interesting than a standard lager: far superior to something like Carling, for instance, but not even as zingy as Stella Artois. Frustratingly enough, neither of us could really detect that much difference between the IPA and the lager, which was a bit frustrating. Oh, well, I’d only just arrived, so hopefully we’d find something a bit more stimulating.
Interestingly enough, you can order pitchers of any of Steady Brewing’s beers, just like in the old macro-lager days in which we both grew up. And if you want to keep your pint glass, they’ll charge you $10 rather than the $7, $8, or $9 of your pint of beer alone. So it’s a good place to pick up some souvenir pint glasses.
On another day Betsy and I headed down to the 4th Street Corridor, in the older part of Long Beach where each of us lived for years back in our 20s and 30s. We’d checked out this neighbourhood on my previous trip to Long Beach in 2023, when we strolled up and down East 4th Street to check out what had become of the old neighbourhood. This year I particularly wanted to check out the Pike Restaurant & Bar, because we’d stopped in briefly last time just to see what it was all about, and I was impressed with all the memorabilia from Long Beach’s legendary amusement park, the Pike.
Originally opened in 1902, the Pike was situated along the shoreline west of Pine Avenue. It was a very popular tourist attraction for decades, and I think my father’s swing band performed at a dance hall there at some point. After World War II the Pike was renamed the Nu-Pike, and it was finally demolished in 1979. About nine or ten years after that I recall attending a handful of punk and new wave gigs at what had formerly been the old Hollywood on the Pike cabaret; but that building was the only vestige of the Pike still standing at that time.
So it was exciting to stumble upon the Pike Bar, which opened in 2002 in an abandoned building that had once been a diner called Chipper’s Corner. The Pike Bar is a seafood grill and bar by day and a live music venue at night, and it’s owned and operated by Chris Reece, former drummer of the band Social Distortion. I was really excited to learn that, because I love the band and I’d seen lead singer Mike Ness in concert back in 1999, just before I moved from Seattle to England.
Aside from that, there’s such a great feel to the place: sort of a punk-biker vibe, and along with all the Long Beach memorabilia, including items from the Pike, the walls also feature Social Distortion posters. We’d come in for a late lunch, so we sat at the bar (just like I always do with my beer-tasting friend Mistah Rick). While we chatted with Travis the barman, I ordered a pint of LBC IPA (7.1% ABV, Beachwood Brewing Company, Long Beach, California), which was nice and bitterly hoppy, great for an afternoon pint. (I hadn’t seen the rotating tap list before I ordered, or I may have gone for a pint of the 5.6% ABV Red Head Retention, brewed by the Long Beach Beer Lab.) For lunch I had a grilled mahi sandwich on a French roll, which was pretty damn good. Betsy’s fish and chips, on the other hand, were absolutely awe-inspiring, melt-in-the-mouth tender in a lovely tempura-style batter, with crescent-shaped chips. And before we left we both bought really cool-looking Pike Bar & Grill t-shirts.
I must say that the Pike is a great place, and I will most definitely want to stop in again next time I’m in Long Beach, and perhaps even make it to a live gig. Besides beer they offer wines, ciders, and lots of cocktails, including several kinds of margaritas and a bloody Mary swith ghost peppers. And the food menu features fish entrees, sandwiches, pasta, tacos including lobster, soups, salads, appetisers, pasta, and breakfast items on the weekend. And besides the inside space there is plenty of outdoor seating. To be perfectly honest, if I lived in Long Beach I would come here every week, because I fell completely in love with the place.
On another after, when we were driving back toward Betsy’s house, she mentioned having read about a brand new bar that we should check out. It took a bit of searching, but we finally found Watch This! hidden on the back of the Marketplace just off Pacific Coast Highway. It’s a women’s sports bar, which means it shows nothing but sports played by women. As we entered through a large shaded patio area and walked inside, we found a little U-shaped bar in the centre of the place, with two stools still available for us to have. As I looked through the drink menus I was impressed that both the draft beer and craft bottles specified which brands were women-owned, as did the extensive spirits menu. On this first visit I decided to go for a pint of Smog City IPA (7.3% ABV, Smog City Brewing Company, Torrance, California), and Betsy had a pint of Seafarer Pilsner (% ABV, 3 Weavers Brewing Company, Inglewood, California), a light-coloured Kolsch-style beer brewed with Hallertau Tradition hops and German pilsner malt.
My Smog City IPA was a good standard hoppy beer, and as my old friend was just starting to become interested in IPAs, she liked the taste of it more than her pilsner. I’ve been to both locations of Smog City Brewing--the original brewery in Torrance as well as the tap in North Long Beach at Steelcraft--but I had no idea that it’s owned by women. The other beers on the menu that day from female-owned breweries included Watch Me! Blonde Ale and Crown & Hops’ Hazy IPA. And the spirits produced by women-owned distillers included gins and bourbons by Freeland Spirits, a dark rum by Pelican Harbor, tequilas from Reposado, Yola Mezcal, Lodestar Bourbon, Redwood Empire rye whiskey, Kikori rice whiskey, and SIA blended scotch.
As we sipped our pints and chatted with two of the women bartenders, I noticed that this afternoon the many TV screens were airing a women’s basketball game. And then Betsy and I learned that the bar was having a special event. Maybelle Blair, the former All-American Girls Professional Baseball league pitcher who inspired the filmA League of Their Own, was there to autograph her new book. Immediately we were led to the table where she was sitting by herself, and we were urged to go talk to her. So we both ended up having our pictures taken with this pretty amazing 97-year-old baseball legend.
On our second visit to Watch This! we both had pints of Smog City IPA. At this point in my visit my friend Betsy had truly become a hops aficionado. So for our second round Betsy went for another pint of Smog City, and I had a pint of Crowns & Hops BPLB Hazy IPA (6.5% ABV, Crowns & Hops Brewing, Inglewood, California). The second round put Betsy over the edge a bit, as she wasn’t used to the stronger ABVs, although she really enjoyed the pints. To temper the alcohol we shared a soft pretzel, which was quite tasty and served with an unbelievably heavenly mustard sauce. On this visit, several of the screens were airing a women’s European football match (proper football, not that American men-in-spacesuits stuff), featuring Rouens v Norway.
I discovered later that Watch Me! offers beer flights as well, which is always a good way to go about things. So next time I come, Betsy and I will have to share a flight or two.
By the second half of my visit to Long Beach, Betsy was having a bit of trouble with back pain, so we were staying pretty much in and close to suburban Long Beach. We did get up to the top of Signal Hill one day, where I was hoping to see the spectacular view of the downtown LA skyline and mountains that one gets when it’s not too hazy. Unfortunately this didn’t happen, but we did enjoy decent views of the Los Angeles/Long Beach Harbour and on down the coast. We also found the lookout points erected at Hilltop Park quite interesting, explaining Signal Hills’ history from when the native Americans used the hill to communicate with their island relatives, up through the early 1900s, when oil was discovered.
Naturally, at this point we were feeling a bit thirsty, and Betsy suggested a stop at Tracy’s Bar. When we pulled up outside the tavern on Spring Street, close to where I grew up, I was expecting to find the typical neighbourhood tavern that I would never have gone to when I was younger. But I was quite surprised.
When we entered, Betsy and I headed to the bar, where we seated ourselves, and I was quite surprised to see a pretty great selection of craft beers available. There was table seating on the other side behind us, and the place was pretty noisy, with "Hit The Road, Jack" playing on the jukebox. The song reminded me of a performance act that I’d wanted to pull off back in the 1980s with my female party performance friends, where we’d enter a corner tavern and stage a whole fictional scene -- singing, of course, "Hit The Road, Jack". So I felt quite optimistic at that point, and contrary to the song, the place seemed very friendly.
Both Betsy and I went for pints of Space Dust IPA (8.2% ABV, Elysian Brewing Company, Seattle, Washington). And it was really great, just like the last time I had this brew, back in 2019 at the original Elysian Brewing in Capitol Hill. We decided to order a snack, so we perused the large food menu and ordered some of the Ultimate Fries for a snack, with the bacon on the side for Betsy. As we sipped out pints and nibbled we chatted with the barmaid Stacy. We found out that Tracy’s was established back in 1994 on St Patrick’s Day by former Long Beach police officer Mike Tracy and his wife Suzi. And in 1999 it was taken over by new owners Kristi, Jill, and Stacy, who named themselves the KJNS Corp. It was such a surprise to me to find this place at this location, considering when I was a little girl the same corner was dominated by a supermarket called Market Basket and a Thrifty Drug Store. I guess that just shows how old I am...
On my final afternoon in Long Beach, after doing some miscellaneous shopping around Los Altos, Lakewood, and Cerritos, Betsy and I ended up for a final pint at the Eldo. Located on the corner of Spring and Studebaker across from the original section of the now-expansive El Dorado Park, this restaurant used to be called the El Dorado and catered a lot to the patrons of the golf course. I used to come here occasionally as an adult, the first couple of times with my parents for a celebratory meal and later, after I’d moved away, with my mother and her friends. We always came for a nice meal, and although the restaurant specialised in steaks which I didn’t eat, I remember the halibut and other seafood meals being very good.
It was 3:55pm when Betsy and I showed up, just before the Eldo was due to open at 4:00pm. We parked in the car park and watched as a crowd of people gathered outside the door, obviously intending to have a meal. When the doors opened, Betsy and I headed directly for seats at the bar. And once again I was completely blown away by the 29 beer taps behind the bar. The first thing I spotted was Bombay By Boat IPA, which reminded me of one of my visits to the Toronado Pub in San Francisco. But as I was excited to see a unique brewery I once visited, I ended up ordering a pint of Spiritless (7.2% ABV, There Does Not Exist, San Luis Obispo, California). An American IPA, this offered a wonderful mix of hops buzzing around and hopzzzinging against each other. Betsy had a pint of LBC IPA (7.1% ABV, Beachwood Brewing, Long Beach, California), which was another American IPA. I’d had this several times before, and it’s just a nice, drinkable, hoppy brew.
My second pint was Swami’s IPA (6.8% ABV, Pizza Port, Carlsbad, California). I’ve had this in cans, but this was my first time on draft. And ooh, it was nice: bitterly piney and resinous. Betsy went for a pint of Big Swell IPA (6.8% ABV, Maui Brewing Company, Kihei, Maui, Hawaii). And ooh, yes, this also offered a gorgeous hops bouquet, with Cascade, Chinook, Mosaic, Citra, and Simcoe hops. So no wonder it was so most definitely Yes!
What a dream this place is--at least the bar side. I imagine the restaurant side is probably still really good, although the menu has changed with the times. Perhaps the next time I visit we’ll have to treat ourselves to a meal here.
Related Links
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PUB UPDATES:
- THE HALLAMSHIRE, SHEFFIELD: I just realised I’d forgotten to mention some pints I tasted back before my trip to America in May and June, but they’re worth mentioning. Just after the tap takeover from Turning Point, who I’m beginning to think may be a brewery from some other planet, I tasted the three cask ales on. Astral Voyage Oceans Apart Pale Ale (4.0% ABV, Turning Point Brewing Company, Knaresborough, North Yorkshire). With Galaxy and Idaho 7, this was much more interesting than what you’d expect at that low ABV. I also tasted Wrong Sized Space Suits DDH Pale (4.2% ABV, Turning Point), hopped with Ekuanot and Talus and zippily nice. I ended up going for a pint of Oceans Apart Pale Ale (4.0% ABV, Turning Point). Brewed with Galaxy and Idaho 7, and featuring an ocean and a giant Mars in the background as well as volcanos on the pump clip, I was drawn to this because I knew I would be seeing some Hawaiian volcanoes soon. These are all vegan beers, for those who care. I also had a taste of an interesting keg, Hard Pivot Blueberry and Coffee Sour (5.0% ABV, Turning Point), which was surprisingly tastefully done and rosy in colour.
And on the day just before I left for my trip, I had a pint of Headland Hazy Pale (4.6% ABV, Talking Tide Brew Company, Longbeck, North Yorkshire), which was very hazy but tasted like a maelstrom of pleasant hoppiness. I also had a taste of my friend Mike’s pint of Equinox Triple Berry Sour (5.0% ABV, Atom Beers, Kingston upon Hull, East Yorkshire). Brewed with raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries, this is an excellent dark-fruit sour, the same colour as some blueberry sours I’ve had, and zingy in its multi-fruited sourness. I mean, I could have had this as my second pint, but I’d already gone for another pint of Headland. Too bad, because I doubted very strongly that it would still be there when I returned to Sheffield. Oh well, perhaps it will be reprieved.
Very recently I had a sneaky taste of Baize (5.5% ABV, Thornbridge Brewing Company, Bakewell, Derbyshire), simply because it was described as a Mint Chocolate Stout. What the…? It sounded so dreadful I had to try it. And you know what? It wasn’t bad at all. It wasn’t sweet, so I could see sipping and actually enjoying perhaps a third or even a half pint of this. But barman Finn agreed with me that any more than that would get to be too much. And perhaps having it on a cold snowy night, not the warm muggy afternoon that it was. So I decided to go for a cask pint of Sabro Simcoe Pale Ale (3.9% ABV, Redwillow Brewery, Macclesfield, Cheshire), which was a fine demonstration of that wonderful hops, Sabro, paired with the highly underrated Simcoe, and with a most tolerable and eminently drinkable ABV. Fine job, guys!
More recently I’ve tried two versions (cask and keg) of Bliss Point (5.0% ABV, Thornbridge Brewing), a hazy American pale ale that is quite suggestive of blissfulness. But at 5.0% ABV it’s also quite suggestive of more intoxication than I really want these days, unless the flavours in the beer just knock me out and send me to heaven. It is quite a nice beer, but it’s not quite up there with something like Quiet Storm.
- WALKLEY BEER COMPANY, SHEFFIELD: Recently I had a pint of Lightbulb Extra Pale Ale (4.5% ABV, Verdant Brewing, Penryn, Cornwall). I’d had this before at another pub and really liked it. This time I was impressed by the really genius mix of hops (Magnum, Centennial, and Simcoe), and it was truly a lightbulb moment. As Andy was pouring my pint I had a quick taste of Sauvignon Pale (4.3% ABV, Three Blind Mice Brewery, Ely, Cambridgeshire) on the handpump, because it attracted the wine-loving part of my imagination. And it was indeed quite lucious, as the Nelson Sauvin it’s hopped with is a fine, fine hops. But alas, I’d noticed it at the last minute, and my pint of Lightbulb was already in front of me.
- TWO SHEDS, SHEFFIELD: Recently I had a slightly unique pint of Bermondsey Pale (3.4% ABV, Anspach and Hobday Craft Brewery, London), unique because it was another surprisingly drinkable and perfectly enjoyable low-ABV beer. This appears to be a trend these days, which is not a bad thing at all.
BOTTLED/CANNED BEER UPDATE:
- Bunny with a Chainsaw (8.2% ABV, Paperback Brewing Company, Glendale, California). This is a dank double hazy IPA with Idaho 7 and El Dorado hops. On my first night of this year’s USA trip, I split a can of this with my old friend Betsy at her house in Long Beach. Not only is this a mighty tasty beer, which introduced lager-drinking Betsy to the joys of hoppy IPAs, but the graphic on the can is wonderful, featuring a cutesy cartoon bunny wielding, of course, a chainsaw. "His cuteness will cut you to pieces."
- Optical Haze 6.7% ABV, Smog City Brewing Company, Hawthorne, California). Azacca, Cashmere, and Amarillo hops, offering citrus and tropical fruit. This beer is part of the brewery’s Smog Days Haze Craze IPA Series. On my visit to Long Beach, I split a can of this with Betsy, who thought it tasted like cannabis. I explained to her that it was the dank character, and it definitely tipped her over into a lover of IPA, especially because it was "bubbly", as she put it. And it was a vast improvement from the draft lager she had just had at a microbrewery. So good work on my part! This beer also offers a bit of perfume, like I get from Cashmere hops, along with tropical fruit and citrus.
- Everlasting Hopstopper (6.0% ABV, Hop Secret Brewing Company, Monrovia, California). A West Coast IPA with Krush, Mosaic, and Simcoe hops, this imparts both citrus and pine, which is a great combination. In fact it was so, so good that it hooked and pulled Betsy right into the passionate love of hoppy beer. It was indeed a light, crisp introduction to my novice friend to the wide, wide world of hops. And to myself, an experienced pro in the hops universe, this was simply a delight. The can featured a great graphic of a pinwheeling multicolour splash of paint, which seemed to me like a metaphor for the hops.
- Free Fall Hazy IPA (7.2% ABV, Mother Earth Brew Co, Vista, California). Brewed with Strata, Citra, and Nelson hops, and also oats, wheat, and Pale 2-Row malt, this beer is part of the brewery’s rotating HIPA Series, Project X. The custom label art on the can is by Leandro Costa Machado, a digital artist from Brazil. Betsy wondered why this was hazy instead of clear, and then she finally understood the wonders of haziness. Whoo-hoo, yes, I do love Strata and that classic Nelson. Drinking this beer was like experiencing an excellent dance of quality hops.
- Forbidden Marionberry (7.5% ABV, Hop Secret Brewing Company, Monrovia, California). This is a pastry sour brewed with Papua New Guinea vanilla beans, graham crackers, plum puree, and cinnamon. It was really quite odd, and Betsy didn’t like it, so I drank most of it. It wasn’t the best sour I’ve had, I have to say, and it was definitely not the tastiest pastry sour, either. Oh well, you can’t always win.
- The Apprentice IPA (7.2% ABV, Societe Brewing Company, San Diego, California). The description of this West Coast IPA was "Savvy-Pine-Grit". And that’s what immediately sold me. And yes, it was quite great.
- Stress Dissolver Mango Sour Beer (5.0% ABV, Common Space, Hawthorne, California). Hopped with Mosaic, this beer was malted with Rahr Pale, Carahell, and Acidulated Malt, with mango puree added. It was quite interesting, although I can’t remember much about it. Too many cans of beer, I suppose...
- Expatriate IPA (6.9% ABV, Three Weavers Brewery, Inglewood, California). A West Coast IPA brewed with two-row barley and a touch of English crystal malt, with new-age American hops, this was a brightly tropical brew, and a good bon-voyage can for my final night in Long Beach.
- Mary Lou Pale5.2% ABV, Verdant Brewery, Penryn, Cornwall). Meanwhile, back home in the UK, I had a can of this New England pale with Loral, Citra, Mosaic, and Nelson Sauvin hops. And mmm, she sure tastes pretty! There’s almost a frosty sort of zoolooopy hoppyoppity flavour, like a tangy fruit salad. The description on the can suggests peach, apricot, tangerine, and white grape, which I can just picture mixed together in a glass bowl. I had this can a few days before leaving for my California and Hawaii trip, and it seemed perfect for getting me prepped,, with my hair freshly wildly coloured, while the tree pollen in Sheffield was making me sneeze and wheeze and drip and blink. I was definitely looking forward to getting away and having some good ol’ ocean breeze!
- Huck the Faze (7.0% ABV, Accidental Brewing, Morecambe, Lancashire). Very recently I had this NEIPA, brewed with Columbus hops and then dry hopped with Citra. Brrr, this suggested icy fruit like a mango, nectarine and raspberry slushie. It was most definitely fruity, but not sweet -- and only 5 IBUs. It was like sipping a perfectly fun slushy crushed-ice drink.
- Ossian Golden Ale (4.1% ABV, Inveralmond Brewery, Inveralmond, Perth, Scotland). Last week my friend Mike and I visited Edinburgh for a few days. And on our first night, back at our accommodation I had a bottle of this. Yes, an actual bottle. Described as a "refreshing" golden ale, it tasted very Scottish, meaning malty, but with a suggestive touch of citrus.
- Joker IPA (5.0% ABV, William Brothers Brewing Company, Kelliebank, Alloa, Clackmannanshire, Scotland). Described on the bottle (yes, another bottle) as "wickedly hoppy", it’s a decent brew, but again with that very traditional Scottish maltiness, but a nice grapefruit and pine from the hops. Clear and golden, it was quite drinkable.
- Foggy Lemonade (5.5% ABV, Vault City Brewing Company, Edinburgh, Scotland). A collaboration with Rivington Brewery of Chorley, Lancashire, and hopped with Citra, Mosaic, Simcoe and Nelson Sauvin, this is another gorgeously brilliant idea of a beer. A good hops bursts into a smooth lemonade setting, producing a lemon backdrop to a multilevel hops structure.
- Cloudy Lemonade (4.2% ABV, Vault City Brewing). Dry hopped with Citra and Nelson Sauvin, this is a most pleasant and easy-drinking sour beer.
- Little Feeling (5.5% ABV, Left Handed Giant Brewing Company, Bristol). On the can is a cartoon of a hatted man sitting on a wooden bench, which makes me wonder just what his story is. The beer itself is decently hoppy, which is not surprising considering the wonderful trip of Nelson, Rakau, and Strata hops.
- Lychee, Pear, and Rose Lemonade Session Sour (4.6% ABV, Vault City Brewing). Oh my god, what a wonderfully unusual experience! Picture Lychee, which is a really unusual exotic fruit taste. Combine that with Rose, which I find gorgeously, heavenly exotic as a flavour. And the result is this in a lemony sour beer. It's not too sour, so it's really quite perfect, quite delicious, quite ohmygod symptuously wonderful. My friend Mike had bought this at the brewpub, and it was much later he gave me a tiny taste of it. And I so wish I had bought a can of this as well, or perhaps an entire case of this stuff. It is truly a rhapsodic experience.
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