The Biergarten at The Standard Downtown Beer Garden / Rooftop Bar

Downtown, Los Angeles –

Perched on the east corner of the ultra-mod Standard Hotel’s rooftop is a surreal German wonderland called The Biergarten, where a kitschy ticket booth marks the entrance and $8 buys an oversized paper ticket – the only currency accepted in this adult carnival.

Beer-hungry bros, flannel-clad hipsters, and fashionistas who got lost on their way to the nearby Rooftop Bar can all be found here, their feet crunching along Astroturf as they grab a spot at one of the dozens of open tables set beneath large square umbrellas.

A sign above the sunshine-yellow bar touts three beers on tap, which – judging by the bleary-eyed birthday revelers struggling to lift their latest half-liter steins – seem to satisfy most guests.

True to the venue’s theme, the staff is clad in modern versions of classic German attire, with the faux Deutsch damen in T-shirts screen-printed to look like lederhosen.

Mammoth pretzels and beer in hand, jocks lay claim to the foosball table, while mustachioed hipsters lead their ladies to the projection screen at the rooftop’s edge to watch the nightly muted movies over plates of sausage.

No matter the time of day, the garden is abuzz with businessmen talking about finance and foosball, artsy-types lamenting the presence of the businessmen, and stone-faced pouters ignoring the advances of young men in soccer jerseys.

Although the theme may be German, The Biergarten at The Standard Downtown is a veritable United Nations of boozehounds.