The Tavern on Main - El Segundo, CA

123 Main Street, El Segundo, CA 90245

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Main Street runs north-south for all of 10 blocks in El Segundo, California, and then it dead ends on both sides: at Imperial Highway near Los Angeles International Airport on the north and at El Segundo Boulevard to the south. Because it’s not easily accessible, The Tavern on Main owner, Kristian Krieger, says that people who come to Main Street, “intend to come here.”

Since 2002, patrons have come to Krieger’s establishment with regularity. The building housed a dive bar from the early 1960s through the late 1980s. In 1986, when it was known as The Keg, the bar was featured in the Jeff Bridges film, "8 Million Ways to Die." Krieger says that an auto garage tried to make a go of it in the space for a while before it became a dive bar again, right before he purchased the location.

While a student at UCLA, Krieger organized numerous frat parties and, while majoring in geography, always wanted to open a restaurant/bar. After college, he worked for a college nightlife newspaper selling ads. That’s where he really got to know the businesses in the area. Soon after, he began to manage some of those establishments.

When he had the opportunity to strike out on his own, he had the concept in mind, but the purchase of the building came about so quickly, he really didn’t know what to call his place. People referred to it as “the tavern” and the name stuck.

Krieger has renovated the space twice since he moved in. In 2006, he expanded square footage by 50 percent. In 2014, he again enlarged the space and now it is double the size from his original floor plan. Today, patrons can catch numerous sports on more than 20 monitors. UCLA alumni often frequent to watch their teams.

The menu features typical bar food: burgers, hot dogs, sandwiches and appetizers. Kreiger tips his hat to his family’s native Philadelphia by putting cheese steaks on the menu as well. The beer menu includes imports, domestics and microbrews.  He is also quick to help out his neighborhood craft brewery. “El Segundo Brewing Company across the street always has two or three of our 14 [draft] handles,” he says.

Located on the Santa Monica Bay, El Segundo, which means “the second” in Spanish, was named such because it was the site of the second Standard Oil refinery on the West Coast (the first refinery was in Richmond, California). Taken over by Chevron in 1984, the refinery still exists and employs many in the area. Wyle Laboratories, toy manufacturer Mattel, satellite TV provider DirecTV and medical company DaVita are all headquartered in the city. Boeing, Northrup Grumman, and Raytheon Space and Airborne Systems are also some of the larger employers. As big as it may appear, with a population of 16,654, El Segundo still comes across as a small town. Krieger says locals call it "Mayberry by the Sea" (referring to the sleepy fictional town that was the setting for “The Andy Griffith Show”).

Being so close to Los Angeles does mean an actor may pop in from time to time, but Kreiger says The Tavern “isn’t a hot bed for celebrities.” Instead, he points out that he’s always wanted his place to be an “everyday place” for people: those who stop after work, meet friends to watch a game, visitors who come in for the holidays and even families who come in for weekend breakfast or early dinners. “They come in for food and then the [20-something] crowd comes in later in the evening,” he says.

Krieger serves patrons well. For eight years in a row, The Tavern was named as having the ”#1 Happy Hour" by the El Segundo Herald Reader’s Poll. The Beach Reporter readers voted the restaurant/bar as the "Best place to meet people.”

This is not lost on Krieger who says, “It’s not just about packing it in every Saturday night, it’s about having something for everybody and keeping busy all the time.”