The Brewery sits on ground that was once a flood plain of the Los Angeles River, which became agricultural land supporting the newly incorporated and growing population of Los Angeles, and in 1888 developed into one of the industrial sections of the city with the establishment of the Eastside Brewery.

After WW II the 16 acres of land and buildings were sold to Pabst Blue Ribbon for a brewing and bottling plant. Pabst modernized the facilities and built the structures that now face Main Street. In 1977, after a $400,000 fire and drop in sales, Pabst sold the property to its present owners in 1981.

The Brewery was born as a home for creativity in 1982, shortly after the Los Angeles City’s Artists-in-Residence (AIR) ordinance was adopted. For the first time, artists were allowed to legally live and work in industrial structures

Ten years later, one of Los Angeles’ first power plants,the Edison Electric Power Station #3, registered as Historic Cultural Los Angeles City Landmark #388, with two other smaller parcels, was incorporated into The Brewery. It shares with other architectural icons – Union Station, Los Angeles City Hall, Bullocks-Wilshire, and Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum – the distinction of having been designed by the architectural firm of John Parkinson and Associates, one of the major shapers of downtown Los Angeles.

New buildings expanded the new community utilizing modern materials and applications, while some materials came from very unlikely sources. Heavy steel framing, salvaged from the dismantling of an aircraft assembly plant in Burbank, was transformed into The Brewery’s newest studios, a dark green, two-story metal building along Moulton Avenue.