California Oktoberfest: Authentically German, Utterly American

The author with a formidable Fraulein team.

The author with a formidable Fraulein team.

It’s that time of year again.

Cincinnati makes sense. Upper Midwestern cities certainly. East Coast bastions of ethnic immigrant history absolutely.

The beach strip-style neon merged with alpine architecture of the Alpine Village sign, visible from the freeway.

The beach strip-style neon merged with alpine architecture of the Alpine Village sign, visible from the freeway. (yelp)

But Oktoberfest in Torrance, California?

That small city in the South Bay region of Los Angeles County that’s home to surfers, beachcombers, and a heavy Latino and Asian demographic?

Sure, why not?

After all, it does take place in a recreated alpine village called, well – Alpine Village.

Gateway to a uniquely startling experience.

Gateway to a uniquely startling experience. (yelp)

It may take more than ignoring the fact that the 110 Freeway shadows Alpine Village to convince yourself you are in the Bavaria region of Germany but come late September and early October, there are times when you can practically taste Munich.

Certainly there is no mistaking Alpine Village in Torrance for Munich in Germany.

German-American dental care.

German-American dental care. (yelp)

The complex does, however, offer a German deli and food store with imported specialties, a boisterous and exuberant dance hall, gift shops with rather possessed-looking dolls for sale, a wedding chapel.

There is even a dentist’s office, perhaps in case one takes a few too many hard bites on old pretzels.

(This is not to be confused with an actual town in California called Alpine Village, located in Alpine County, notable for its 2001 population total of 114 people, down from 136 a decade earlier).

The authentic Munich band playing before a fake view of Bavaria.

The authentic Munich band playing before a fake view of Bavaria.

Yet among the various southern California versions of Oktoberfest there is something startlingly unique about the one held at Alpine Village.

Beer and pretzel.

Beer and pretzel.

Yes, each year an oompah band from Munich comes to play for the crowds every day of the festival (against a wall-hanging backdrop of the Bavaria mountains and a castle).

Yes, there’s roast chicken, a multitude of German sausages.

(Bigtime alas, there is no offering of spaetzel noodles.)

Any receptacle can hold beer.

Any receptacle can hold beer.

An yes, of course, a variety of beers to be held and quaffed from a variety of massive steins or styrofoam cups.

Yes, many guys wear lederhosen (albeit with Seventies tube socks instead of the traditional type worn – it looks close enough).

Yes, many girls can’t resist getting into a dirndl dress, with as high a hem as possible to resemble the real deal.

Beer-drinking is only the most predictable of the many contests held each night at the Alpine Village Oktoberfest.

Beer-drinking is only the most predictable of the many contests held each night at the Alpine Village Oktoberfest. Stein-holding and “milking” a cow are some others.

Yet even were all the details of this Oktoberfest scrupulously authentic down to the last green feathered felt hunter’s hat (don’t worry, there’s knockoff versions in all colors available for sale), there’s still something so different about the Torrance version that one leaves feeling inexplicably uplifted.

About other people.

One of the Munich musicians in Torrance.

One of the Munich musicians in Torrance.

Oktoberfest has become an important part of that southern region of Germany, known for its own distinct culture which developed when it was the independent principality of Bavaria.

It became something of a foreigner’s conceptual stereotype of “German,” with oompha band music, big preztels and cutely-inscribed iced gingerbread, lederhosen pants for men and drindl dresses for women.

In reality, its a culture without boundaries found in neighboring Austria, Italy and Switzerland, each with slight national variations. Some like the Tyrolean culture in Italian Germany (or German Italy) are distinct to those familiar with the region.

Ludwig I of Bavaria, king from 1825 to 1848.

Ludwig I of Bavaria, king from 1825 to 1848. (Wikipedia)

Therese, Queen of Bavaria.

Therese, Queen of Bavaria. (Wikipedia)

Begun in 1810 when future King of Bavaria Ludwig I decided to host a massive public celebration in honor of his wedding to Princess Therese of Saxe-Hildburghausen in Munich, the event was marked by fire-roasted chicken, horse races and lots and lots of beer.

Oktoberfest soon became an annual feast in the region, the first to kick off the numerous ones during the harvest season, culminating in Christmas and other festivals of light at the darkest points in the calendar.

Naturally enough, when Bavarian immigrants came to the U.S. they brought the tradition with them and it was soon embraced by immigrants from other part of Germany as reminders of the “old country.”

Mini Me.

Mini Me.

Cincinnati Oktoberfest.

Cincinnati Oktoberfest.

Finding annual Oktoberfest celebrations in regions of the U.S. where there have been high numbers and multiple waves of German immigration like Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, New York, Wisconsin and Illinois makes perfect sense.

Oktoberfest  Zinzinnati.

Oktoberfest Zinzinnati.

Cincinnati’s, the largest in the U.S., can boast having had Weird Al Yankovic, Davy Jones of the Monkees, actor Verne “Mini Me” Troyer and Vince Neil of Mötley Crüe lead the half-million or so annual participants in the “Chicken Dance.”

But Torrance?

Old Town Torrance with vintage cars lined up for a show.

Old Town Torrance with vintage cars lined up for a show.

First established in 1912 with a central community design by Frederick Law Olmsted, Jr., the son and namesake of the famous landscape architect of Central Park, Torrance began with a white population majority of first- and second-generation Americans of Dutch, Italian, German and Greek ancestry. Today, Torrance’s 140,625 residents represent a white population of 51.3 percent, and nine percent of them self-identify as German.

The chicken plate with dumplings.

The chicken plate with dumplings.

When you wind your way along the entrance line and into the tent, the oompah music blaring, the Bavarian costumes from the authentic to the outlandish, and the comforting scent of roasting chicken and fresh vats of beer all distract from one element to the next.

The ubiquitous chicken headgear.

The ubiquitous chicken headgear.

Meanwhile there’s crowds of friends laughing, dancing, drinking., many clumped in corners standing, others seated at the long wood tables.

More chicken hats.

More chicken hats.

Among them an assortment of both traditional and outlandish hats, the most popular being the various “chicken” hats.

"Heino" and friend.

“Heino” and friend.

At the center of a large and well-lit front-stage is “Heino,” the host of the Oktoberfest “show,” the man who keeps everyone laughing, coaxes them up on stage for the contests and begins the familiar group songs requiring the vast sea of an audience to respond with call-out lyrics.

Heintje the German kid who was a pop sensation in the 60s.

Heintje the German kid who was a pop sensation in the 60s.

He is a parody of “Heintje,” a kitschy German kid who made pop records in the 60s.

And once you get your chicken and beer and sausage and pretzel…

Once you push a pal up to join the lumber-sawing contest or another to join the chicken dance demonstration…

Lederhosen dude.

Lederhosen dude.

Once you find a place to stand or table to sit at, you find an infectious joy has hit you.

The daring young girls in their flying dirndls.

The daring young girls in their flying dirndls.

And you realize your smiling isn’t all the result of the beer or the music or the Heino antics.

Its a deeper sort of happy state and if one even wants to waste good fun time analyzing the reason for it is soon silently apparent enough when one looks up into the individual faces among the crowd.

They may be dressed, singing, and eating German but they are entirely American.

An A.P. O'Fest legend.

An A.P. O’Fest legend.

There’s a Filipino fellow who hasn’t missed an Alpine Village Oktoberfest for over a decade. He said he learned everything he needed to know from watching The Sound of Music.

All ages get into it.

All ages get into it.

Still, now in his genuine lederhosen, he dances with every Fraulein available.

There’s old German people speaking German with Korean kids who studied in Berlin. And crowds of friends with someone from every ethnicity. Maybe even Reds and Blues. And it goes on and on like that.

They love Oktoberfest.

They love Oktoberfest.

That’s the thing about Oktoberfest in Torrance. Along with a good number of those with German background, or Russian, Irish, Italian, Israeli, Australian, Slavic, Greek or Norwegian are those with ancestors from Brazil, Korea, Mexico, Japan, Guatemala, Korea, Ecuador, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Thailand, Cuba, the Philippines, Argentina, and other nations of Central and South America.

All for one.

All for one.

You can explain it away by looking at more Torrance demographics, such as the fact that some 17 percent of the population is Latino and 32 percent is Asian.

Or you can explain it by seeing just how all these people of different ages and backgrounds really love the beer.

Expect all kinds of people in all kinds of costumes.

Expect all kinds of people in all kinds of costumes.

And how, further, the beer breaks down barriers and everyone seems to be getting to enjoy everyone else a little bit easier, to the point where nobody is capable anymore of noticing who is who or what is what.

Or you can drink more beer and just enjoy it.

Beer, the great binder.

Beer, the great binder.

In that unpredictably zany way that the American interpretation of so many non-American cultural customs ricochet and boomerang off to morph into its own unique version, what began as a day of nationalistic pride in what was once a small German kingdom ways has resulted in an oddly patriotic event.

Genuine celebration.

Genuine celebration.

It’s not a waving of the old red-white-and-blue or a chant of what’s number one type of patriotism. It’s far more authentic, because it is felt and not thought.

Rather, it is the very realization for even just a brief few hours of what this nation still aspires to as an ideal, a pluralistic culture.

From one, many. E pluribus unum.

Happy O'Festers.

Happy O’Festers.

And when you exit into the parking lot, you can feel a little sad, because it will be another whole year before Oktoberfest in the shadow of the 110 Freeway is back again.

And maybe sad too because you leave wondering why life on the outside of the tent can’t be like life inside the tent.

Every day.

Alright, watch the video so you can hear some of the great music:

Why can't everyone just drink beer all the time?

Why can’t everyone just drink beer all the time?


Categories: California, Diversity, History, Holidays

Tags: , , , , , , ,

6 replies »

  1. Funny enough, I was just reading a bio on Dick Cavett, and never realized this joke originated with him.

    “I went to a Chinese-German restaurant. The food is great, but an hour later you’re hungry for power.”

  2. What a kick! I know Alpine Village only too well as our International Printing Museum is a block east of there right on Torrance. The flavor you mention is still there on Saturdays when some of us stop by for lunch and it is fun to listen to the german intermingle with the various asian languages and some farsi for good measure. Heck you should make it over to our Printers Fair Oct. 5th or dress victorian for our Dickens Celebration in mid-December. These wonderful little bergs have so many surprises that are fun to explore. Glad you discovered it and looks like you had a blast!

    • Dear Phil – Pretty amazing coincidence that you’ve been there to lunch at Alpine Village on Saturdays! With my work here, plus other writing, plus proposal work…plus, dealing with the downside of writing too much,I’ve got little to no time to relax and wander a bit, at least not for the next few months. But thanks for the invite to the Printers Fair – you never know, I might actually take a Saturday off from work. Regardless, thank you very much. And you should try to get to Oktoberfest in the next month.

  3. You have created a beatiful blog mr carl anthony. Thank you for the creativity and hard work. And iadmire your ssensitivity toward animals. Beatiful stories. Keep up the great work.

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