Opening multiple San Diego tasting room was a crucial component of Greg and Jade Malkin’s business plan when they opened Little Miss Brewing in 2016. The Miramar-based business was able to do so in Normal Heights in 2017 but faced major opposition from city officials and police when attempting to do so in Ocean Beach. So much that it was forced to abandon the space it secured after investing a significant amount of money in rent and tenant improvements. Undeterred, they started look for an alternate site and found it in downtown San Diego’s East Village neighborhood.
“It took us a year to rebound from Ocean Beach, but we believe we will find redemption with our East Village location and we will resume our planned pace of opening approximately one tasting room every nine months or so,” says Greg. “East Village is an awesome neighborhood and still going through a lot of changes. In a few years, we see it as being one of the best neighborhoods in San Diego for residents and businesses.”
Located at 545 Park Boulevard, the space comes in at 1,300 square feet. It will seat up to 99 people at a time via barstools and tables. And if the City of San Diego signs off, additional seating will be available on a 1,000-square-foot outdoor patio. The Malkins list close proximity to Petco Park and the Park Boulevard/Market Street trolley station as other key value-addeds.
Little Miss’ overall thematic is rooted in the World War II era. Each of its tasting rooms is outfitted in the motif of a U.S. ally country during that period. Normal Heights pays homage to Great Britain and the East Village venue will feature French design flourishes just as its OB predecessor was planned to. “This time it’ll stick,” says Greg.
The Malkins expect to soft-open sometime in January, and say they will plan an official grand-opening event in April. The East Village has seen major investment from local and out-of-state brewing companies. Little Miss’ tasting room is on pace to be the community’s sixth brewery-owned venue, with two other work-in-progress projects from Bay City Brewing and Nevada-based Two Roots Brewing THC-beer interest scheduled to open sometime in 2019.