Oom pa pa-brass band music can be heard from all directions and men dressed in traditional lederhosen trousers are dancing in the biergarten, holding steins full of frothy hofbrau.

Busty waitresses in low-cut dirndl smocks are serving bratwurst and sauerkraut to patrons who worked up an appetite after performing the “Bird Dance.”

This is the scene of the 34th annual Oktoberfest that has returned to Alpine Village in Torrance.

Oktoberfest is an eight-week event, and Alpine Village has the largest Oktoberfest celebration in Southern California. It is open until Oct. 31 and features wood sawing, stein holding and cow milking contests, authentic German food, signature homemade beer and chicken dancing.

“It’s a country festival brought to the U.S. to celebrate Bavarian customs,” Alpine Village employee Florence Prestwood said.

“Everyone should come down; it’s a way to get away from the rapid pace of the real world and have fun,” she said.

Oktoberfest’s biergarten is only open to adults 21 years old and older for two days of the week.

On Fridays, it is open from 6:30 p.m. to 1 a.m. with a $5 admission, and on Saturdays it is open from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. for the same price.

Families are welcome to visit on Sunday for family day from noon to 7 p.m. for a $4 admission, and children under 12 years old are free if they come with an adult.

Free coupons may be found on the Alpine Village website as well as inside the Daily Breeze.

Anthony Liaw, 23, a resident of Redondo Beach, has been attending the festival for many years.

“I’ve been coming to Oktoberfest ever since I was able to fool people into thinking I was old enough to drink, so that’s probably more than five years,” Liaw said. “People should go because everyone is friendly there and they have the best beer you can get.”

The festival serves a variety of sausage including knackwurst, Polish sausage and bratwurst, which are all made fresh at the village.

They are served with a choice of German potato salad, German fried potatoes or sauerkraut and a dessert such as apple strudel. The portions are large, with a price range of $8-$10, depending on the entr?e.

“Germans know how to make the best of three things: firearms, gummy bears, and beer,” Liaw said. “I love drinking out of a huge oversized stein I can barely lift the food usually gets in the way of my drinking, but I do love bratwurst,” he said.

The famed Oktoberfest started as a royal Bavarian wedding in 1810.

The groom, King Ludwig I, needed a celebration to honor his marriage to Maria Teresa of Saxonia, so he proclaimed a state fair in Munich.

The festival also celebrated the fall harvest and the region’s most renown product: beer.

Oktoberfest activities included examining the fall harvest, singing songs, dancing, and sampling the first beer of the season.

Today’s festival patrons are a mixed bunch of longtime older patrons and teenagers who are eager to celebrate an event where they can drink to their heart’s desire.

Many people do the chicken dance to the music of the various bands that are flown in from Germany just for the annual Torrance event.

Many patrons can be seen wearing chicken hats, German hats and even homemade hats created out of the Styrofoam cups used for the beer. It’s a rowdy crowd full of wild dancing, yelling and of course, lots of drinking.

Traditionally, home-brewed beer held a prominent place for the people of ancient Germany, who used the drink in religious ceremonies and as an offering to their gods.

Visitors may enter one of the many contests such as stein holding, which entails holding a 32-ounce mug of beer, weighing 8 pounds, for as long as possible with prizes consisting of an Oktoberfest T-shirt or a stein.

More information can be obtained at (310) 327-4384.