The Stronghold Climbing Gym

The Stronghold Climbing Gym opened its doors in March 2014. We pride ourselves on creative and professional route-setting, a friendly and knowledgeable staff composed entirely of climbers, the best in new and fresh holds and volumes, and being the home base for an amazing community!

Our many amenities such as yoga classes, climbing clinics, weights and cardio equipment, saunas, and shower facilities mean members can make the gym a big part of their lives.

We promote responsible enjoyment of outdoor climbing areas and Leave-No-Trace principles. We are committed to creating an inclusive and welcoming environment to train, learn, and develop a passion for climbing!


Want to get in touch?

Please email us at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it. with general inquiries.

Or give us a call at 323-505-7000.

Parking

Please park on S. Avenue 21, Main Street, Moulton Street, or on a street highlighted in green below when you visit the Stronghold (unless you require a handicapped parking space, which is available near the building). Please make sure NOT TO PARK anywhere else on the Brewery campus, as these spots are for Brewery residents, who may tow unauthorized vehicles. This will help us be good neighbors to the hundreds of artists who call the Brewery home.

The Brewery Arts Complex

The Stronghold sits within the 23-acre Brewery Artist Lofts Complex, a three-decades-old artist community housed in an old Pabst Brewing facility and the older California Edison Los Angeles #3 Steam Power Plant. The Brewery (as it is known) was started in the early '80s when the Artist-in-Residence (AIR) Ordinance started allowing residential use of disused industrial buildings around Downtown on the condition that the residents be artists and use the space for working as well as living. Since then the Brewery has developed into one of the most well-established and vibrant artists communities in the country.

Twice a year, the artists invite the public into their often remarkable studio/homes to view and purchase their art. The Brewery Art Walk happens each Spring and Fall, and draws large crowds. Art Walk is a great opportunity to check out some of the most creative work in L.A. and buy art.

Also at the Brewery, and of particular interest to thirsty and hungry post-workout climbers, is Barbara's. Only 400' from our front door.

The Building

The beautiful building housing the Stronghold started life in 1904 as the California Edison Company's Los Angeles #3 Steam Power Plant. It was designed by John Parkinson, the architect responsible for many of LA's iconic structures from that era, including City Hall and Union Station. The Stronghold occupies the space that originally housed a slew of boilers that generated steam that was piped next door to spin turbines that in turn spun generators that made electricity to run street lights and the Red Car electric railroad system.

The buillding was designated a Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monument in 1988.

Location:
650 South Avenue 21
Los Angeles, CA 90031
Google Map
 Hours Of Operation:
Mon-Fri 6AM - 11PM
Sat-Sun 8AM - 9PM
(323) 505-7000

Climbing Glossary

Aid Climbing
(noun) a form of climbing in which the climber suspends her weight from an anchor, and makes upward progress by placing successively higher anchors and suspending her weight from each higher piece in turn. Aid climbing is to be distinguished from free climbing. A good article on aid climbing can be found here.
Anchor
(noun) a secure point of attachment to the cliff or climbing wall that is used for protection. A belay anchor is a set of (usually) two or more anchors at the top of a pitch. In sport climbing the anchors are bolts with bolt hangers, in trad climbing most if not all of the anchors are removable devices such as chocks or spring-loaded camming devices.
Belay Device
(noun) a device used in belaying which applies a controllable amount of friction to the rope passing through it.
Belayer
(noun) a person who belays. The belayer is the roped climber's indispensable partner. The belayer controls the rope that will suspend the climber in case of a fall or when the climber gets to the top of the pitch or requires a rest. The belayer pays out or takes in slack as the climber progresses up or down the wall, and holds the rope fixed with the help of a belay device when the climber needs to be suspended.
Belay
(verb) to control the rope that is attached to the climber. Belaying involves paying out and taking in slack as the climber progresses up or down the wall, and holding the rope fixed with the help of a belay device when the climber needs to be suspended.
Beta
(noun) information. Perhaps the most colorful and common piece of climber argot, "beta," comes from a storied progenitor of American sport climbing named Jack Mileski. He coined it in the '80's before VHS defeated Betamax as the dominant video format. Climbers are constantly acting out climbing moves with their hands in order to convey information about the routes their friends are working on, and Mileski thought that this miming was like video replay so he started referring to it as "beta," short for "Betamax." That, however, was just the seed, and the word "beta" has blossomed into probably the most widely used word in the English-speaking climbing world, coming to mean any kind of information at all. You can ask your buddy for the beta on a route and he might tell you there's a bomber jug just after that slopy crimper, or you can ask him for the beta on good beer after your session at the Stronghold and he would certainly tell you about Barbara's 16 taps just across the dog park. NB: Route beta should be administered sparingly and only with permission of the recipient. If you spray beta at someone who has never been on a route you might ruin her on-sight, and besides, sometimes people just want to figure things out for themselves.
Beta Flash
(noun) a flash in which the climber had beta about the route. To be distinguished from an on-sight flash.
Bomber
(noun) short for "bomb proof"; very solid. Bomber rock is rock that is not chossy. A bomber hold (as in "that hold just over the roof is a super-bomber jug, dude") is one that is easy to grasp, and so one on which the climber has solid purchase.
Bouldering
(noun) a form of free climbing in which the climber ascends shorter routes on smaller pieces of rock than in other forms.
Boulder Problem
(noun) the equivalent of a route in roped climbing.
Choss
(noun) loose rock. (adj) consisting of choss, as in "choss pile;" which is a crag on which a large amount of loose rock is found.
Crash Pad
(noun) a pad used by boulderers to cushion a fall. See, for example, Stonelick crash pads. Crash pads usually fold up and have straps allowing it to be carried like a backpack.
Crimper
noun) a handhold consisting of a small edge sufficient to accomodate only the tips of the fingers. The climber "crimps" it by pressing the very fronts of the fingers downward on the edge that forms the crimper. The hand in the Stronghold's logo is crimping.
Flash
(noun) a send accomplished first try; (verb) to send first try.
Free Climbing
(noun) a form of climbing in which the climber ascends the route or boulder problem solely by means of her hands and feet. Free climbing is to be distinguished from aid climbing. A common misconception is that free climbing is climbing without ropes. Climbing without ropes is referred to as free-soloing. Free climbing is most often (when it is not bouldering) accomplished with ropes running through points of protection to a belayer who can arrest the climber in case of a fall. A good article on free climbing can be found here.
Jug
(noun) a large, positive climbing hold that can be gripped with curved fingers.
Lead
(verb) to climb while trailing the rope; the opposite of toproping. The lead climber passes her rope through carabiners attached to protection as she ascends the route so that her belayer can arrest a fall by preventing the rope from running any further through the belay device; the leader's fall then stops when the rope goes taut. Climbers refer to the leader's end of the rope as "the sharp end" because leading is substantially more serious than toproping. The lead climber can fall for much greater distances than the toprope climber -- if the leader is above her last piece of protection she will fall a minimum of twice the distance to the last piece plus the slack in the system plus the stretch of the rope -- and belaying the leader requires substantially more skill than toprope belaying.
Madonna Flash
(noun) a send of a route the climber has been on before, but it was so long ago that the climber really doesn't remember anything about it (really!), so it's just like a flash because it "feels like the very first time."
On-sight
(verb) (also called "on-sight flash") a flash in which the climber had no beta regarding the moves or holds on the route aside from (perhaps) the grade and whatever can be gleaned from the ground; (noun) an instance of on-sighting.
Pitch a Wobbler
(verb) to throw a wobbler.
Protection
(noun) a secure point of attachment to the cliff or climbing wall through which the climbing rope can pass. In the case of a fall or the climber's request for a take, the belayer can prevent the rope from moving any further, and the climber will end up suspended from the highest of these points.
Red-point
(verb) to send after the climber has practiced the moves beforehand; (noun) an instance of red-pointing. The red-point is distinguished from the flash. The red-point process, in which the climber gets on a route that is initially over her head, but which she is able to complete (that is, send) after practicing the moves and working out a precise choreography (which climbers call "the sequence") that solves the problem presented by the route, is the essence of sport climbing and was extremely controversial when it was introduced into the United States from Europe in the 1980s. Bolting and red-pointing ran contrary to the very stringent ethics that had prevailed before. Though pockets of resistance can still be found, sport climbing and the red-point have gained wide acceptance and popularity today.
Route
(noun) a path, or way, up a rock wall. At the Stronghold, the routes are comprised of climbing holds all of the same color, and with tape of the same color, provided to make the path very clear.
Send
(verb) to succeed on a route or boulder problem. In free climbing, a climber "sends" a route when she ascends without transferring any of her weight to the climbing protection before reaching the belay or lowering anchor at the top of the pitch; (noun) an instance of sending.
Sloper
(noun) a climbing hold that is downward sloping and lacking a positive feature to grab. The climber holds it by contacting it with as much of her hand as she can, much the way she might palm a basketball.
Spray
(verb) usually used with "beta". To spray beta is to loudly and obnoxiously offer unsolicited beta on a route. See the note to beta. Spray is also often used as a synonym for "brag," and indeed, spraying, though sometimes merely an over-exuberant attempt to help, is often a form of bragging.
Take
(verb) (an action by the belayer) to take all of the slack out of the lead climber's climbing rope so that she can weight the rope without falling any distance. The lead climber instructs her belayer to "take" when she needs a rest or needs to figure out the next move.
Toprope
(verb) to climb while the rope passes from the climber's harness through anchors at the top of the pitch to the belayer. The toproping climber should descend only a negligible distance in the case of a fall. In roped climbing, toproping is the alternative to leading.
Wobbler
(noun) a screaming, shivering fit of frustration usually incidental to a failure to send.