A night at 1642, a new beer and wine bar near Echo Park, is not nearly as medieval as a night at the Gold Room

My prayers have been answered: A new beer and wine bar has opened within walking distance of me in Echo Park. The best part? 1642, as the bar is called, is on Temple Street, near Glendale, on the border of Filipino Town, and not on Sunset Boulevard.

That's important because these days, the section of Sunset between Taix and the Short Stop has come to resemble a mini Sunset Strip at night; only instead of fratty types in flip-flops staggering to the House of Blues for another Bud Light, Echo Park has guys with ironic mustaches and pastel wolf shirts staggering from the Little Joy to the Gold Room for another beer and tequila combo meal.

For a while, the little hole-in-the-wall beer and wine bar El Prado managed to remain separate from this troublesome vibe, but it recently succumbed. What was once a respite from the possibility of being hit on by a guy wearing a fedora over his baseball cap has now become precisely where you go to receive such attention.

Which is why I'll now be heading to 1642 for my fermented refreshment. Like El Prado, the slender bar was once a divey Latino beer hall called Lupita's. It was purchased by a woman named Elizabeth Fischbach,  who remodeled it, uncovering some of its original 1940s architecture in the process. The floor is polished concrete, the walls exposed brick. There is a long wooden bar illuminated by candles as well as a row of benches and tables toward the back.

To drink? Four to six craft beers on tap, including Eagle Rock Brewery's Red Velvet, and three red and three white wines by the glass. Also on offer, salted peanuts for snacking and occasional live music from local bands. Go now because apparently 1642 has already served as the ending point for a bike scavenger hunt. It can't be long before word of this quiet little gem drifts north toward Sunset and the madding uber-cool crowd.

1642, 1642 Temple St., Los Angeles.(213) 989-6836.

-- Jessica Gelt

Photo: Courtesy of 1642

Comments

[gettysburg address]

idiocy.

[heather]

Your article made me want to check out the bar. So, that's cool. I do agree that the establishments on Sunset are getting ultra trendy and can suck sometimes. However, that's what happens when fancy wine and beer bars open all over a neighborhood.... but geez, hipsters are sensitive... then again what do you expect from a bunch of dudes that wear tights?

[violet]

Funny article.
Four things:
a. ) Obviously, by writing about how you don't want this bar to be discovered, you are doing the opposite.
b.) Saying "divey Latino beer hall" isn't so PC, and that's probably pissing people off.
c.) I work in Westlake, and it is not diverse by any means. Gentrification would actually make it more diverse.
d.) I live in Echo Park, and I think you are spot-on with your observations.

[tommy]

Really, it's not the hipsters that are the problem on the Echo Park strip at night. It's the USC students and Bridge and Tunnel Crowd. They're rude, don't dance, don't tip and don't socialize. It's really annoying. Why bother coming to this part of town if you aren't willing to open yourself up to the possibility of meeting new people and having fun? I don't get it. Stay in the Valley, Whittier, on campus or where ever the hell you come from. You're no fun and worst of all, you're ugly and have no style. You people are the reason every bar in Hollywood has a velvet rope. Don't make it like that in Echo Park. Go find some other neighborhood to crap on.

[C]

I could have done without 3 paragraphs of whining Yelp-type rant to get to the actual establishment. We're all well out of high school. I'm sure the bar owners don't care who comes as long as they come to drink. We live in a major metropolitan area largely populated by actor/musician/artist/*insert overused adjective here*. If you want to go to a hole in the wall without the uber-cool crowd why don't u hop on the 2 north until you get to Sunland or La Crescenta.

[Ron]

I can definitely forsee an explosion of new gentrification on Temple and into westlake within the next 1-5 years... And I totally agree that the Echo Park Sunset, er, 'strip' has gotten really crowded. Despite all the folks here defending it, you are absolutely correct in your assessment that the crowds on Sunset have gotten out of hand in an unreasonable and obnoxious way.

Not even to bust on hipsters or anything, its just simply an over crowded mono-culture at this point. I guarantee it will subside in time, but at the moment the folks who helped start popularize the area 5 years ago (er, guilty... blame me) are now moving on to less saturated areas, and Temple is definitely ripe with empty historic store fronts and under-utilized mexican dive bars just holding their breath until the tidal wave of post-hipster gentrification reaches their shores...

[nick]

seems pretty inconsistent to :

a ) bemoan the changing landscape of echo park.

while

b ) endorsing a swanky beer/wine bar that used to be a "divey Latino beer hall called Lupita's"

b doesn't exist without a.

[xx]

I don't think Jessica is totally off base (although making fun of hipsters is getting old fast, but then again so are hipsters). As far as the neighborhood, I tried going to the Thirsty Crow last weekend only to find a staggering line and valet parking, not too far off from what I find in West Hollywood. One of the perks of going out in Echo Park/Silver Lake/Los Feliz is that you have your neighborhood places where you don't have to deal with the BS that is unavoidable farther west. It sucks when that vibe manifests itself here.

[Sean martin]

This bar is right around the corner from my house... I love it.
PS. It wasn't a "bike scanvenger hunt"
It was an Alleycat. A Street race that was over 40 miles long through Los Angeles.
We had the afterparty/ awards here. I won. Bewm...
We are throwing more events here not just bike related....

[JudgieMcJudgerson]

Are we hanging out at the same bars?

I have never EVER seen a dude with a fedora and a soul patch in an Echo Park bar.

Atwater Village rockabilly crowd MAYBE.

[C Cliveden]

Seriously, it's time to lose the tiny brimmed fedoras and soul patches. Ditch the uniform and breathe freely.

[MW]

Oh Jessica,

YOU are the uber cool crowd!

[Jessica Gelt, LA Times]

Apologies, I love Echo Park and perhaps feel fine making fun of hipsters because I have been accused of being one. I do, however, stand by my statement that the bar corridor has become really obnoxious of late. Loud and often rude. That's not to say I don't still love El Prado and the Gold Room and sometimes even, gasp, the Little Joy. Just that I find it hard to go to them on the weekends. And Amy, I went to 1642 last night and met the owner, Liz. The place is really wonderful and so is she. And I hope lots of Echo Park and HiFi's fine neighbors walk through its doors.

[anonymous]

Was this article written by a 12 year old who just discovered her mom's stash of vintage Vice magazines?

[JudgieMcJudgerson]

With the risk of sounding as irate as a commenter on LAist, I think your snarky value-judgement of the Echo Park neighborhood is neither funny nor professional, especially as a writer for an acclaimed publication like the Los Angeles Times. Your summation of our neighborhood is completely inaccurate and instead of focusing on the apparent merits of the bar it sounds like you are going into some hipster-loathing diatribe.

Echo Park is culturally rich, diverse in it's representations of all class systems, and these 'troublesome' hipsters may have brought a different energy to the neighborhood, but they have also brought positive influences too.

Including wine and beer bars walking distance from your house.

[Amy]

Less poorly written value judgments of the neighborhood surrounding the bar and more information about the actual bar would be nice.

[Anjali]

"Go now because apparently 1642 has already served as the ending point for a bike scavenger hunt."

How perfectly this sums up our neighborhood. Great article, Jessica!