No, /usr/local is normally 755 root:root (or whatever the effective equivalent is). Homebrew wants it to be 775 root:admin, so that users with the admin bit can write to it. That's not standard.
People keep writing here as if El Cap removes /usr/local entirely. It does not. /usr/local is there by default. You only have to go into recovery mode if you've somehow removed it yourself.
quesera's reply points-out just how bad it is, but even for just 775 root:admin I would have to use sudo (plus edit the sudoers or /usr/bin/login -p first) anyway:
Yeah, the more I read this thread, the more I'm thinking "why is that?" - `apt-get` et al have no problem with you using sudo, why does `brew` scare you into an alternative? 'because Mac'?
People keep writing here as if El Cap removes /usr/local entirely. It does not. /usr/local is there by default. You only have to go into recovery mode if you've somehow removed it yourself.