Highland Park’s First Brew Pub May Open by September

Highland Park has no shortage of bars and restaurants licensed to sell beer and wine. There are currently 24 such establishments in the 90042 zip code, according to the California Department of Beverage Control.

Now, Highland Park may be getting its first neighborhood brew pub—located within the premises of Hermosillo, the York Boulevard wine and beer bar that was a “club” until about a year ago and still retains the old sign outside.

On June 6, the Historic Highland Park Neighborhood Council voted in support of Hermosillo’s request for a conditional use permit from the city to brew and sell its own brand of beer within the bar’s existing space.

“We’re sill going through the whole process,” Robert James Kunz, Hermosillo’s owner, told Highland Park-Mount Washington Patch, adding that the proposed brewery would be called Highland Park Brewery and that he recently posted the ABC notice for the brewery. 

The conditional use permit application is expected to come up for a public hearing in early August, Kunz said, adding that besides the HHPNC, the proposal enjoys the support of the City Council and the Los Angeles Police Department.

“We’re thinking maybe by September we’ll be able to brew beer,” he said, adding: “We’re excited, but you never knew how things move with the bureaucracy.”

On paper, Highland Park Brewery will be a separate entity from Hermosillo, located to the rear of the bar’s premises. “But we’re under the same roof, so it’ll be a symbiotic relationship,” said Kunz, explaining that the brewed beer will be sold at Hermosillo and some of it will also be sold outside.

Highland Park Brewery will brew craft beers, which, given market trends, probably isn’t such a surprise. “There are just a lot of new beers these days,” said Kunz, who formerly worked for Craftsman Brewing Company in Pasadena. “People like variety and creativity.”