Clinker bricks or ‘clinkers’ are bricks that were left too long in the oven and burned. Brickyards considered these Clinker bricks to be defective because they were charred and misshapen and threw them out. The clinkers were discarded into large clinker piles. The name “clinker” comes from the unusual sound these bricks make when they are banged together. It is a high pitch sound *clink* or a *clang*.
These burned bricks have twisted and contorted shapes and volcanic textures. In the 1920s, the Arts and Crafts movement discovered a use for clinker bricks by incorporating them as decoration into normal brick patterns. Famous Los Angeles architects like Greene & Greene incorporated clinker bricks in their designs. The brick’s eccentric, irregular shapes and colors appealed to the Arts and Crafts aesthetic of things having imperfections, a hand made quality, and something that made each brick unique.
Today clinker brick buildings dot the los Angeles urban landscape. Miracle Mile, Hancock Park (especially on Rossmore), and Pasadena are great areas of the city to visit to see examples. Clinker bricks houses are treasured for their quirky and unique charm.