A Trip to the Original Farmers Market

July 10, 2019

If you are unfamiliar with the address 6333 W 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90036, you should check it out. Something you will notice if you look up is the sign saying “since ’34”, i.e. 1934. Yep, pre-World War 2, pre-cyber age, pre-you or almost anyone you know. The address is home to the Farmers market, which has been around for a while, and why not? It is a glorious mix of sounds, smells, good food, fresh produce, and the joy of life.

Pic courtesy https://ileadexploration.org

I never knew about the Farmers market until a friend came to visit last Saturday and I discovered this place while searching for non-mainstream things to do in LA. We decided to visit it and were thrilled to find a place like this in the midst of LA. Maybe it is the friendly chaos of the market amidst the general orderliness of LA, maybe it’s the rustic feel of the market amidst the urbane feel of LA, or maybe it’s seeing more people than cars – whatever it is, the Farmers market looks out of place in LA and I’m saying this in the best way possible.

We first visited a grocery store inside the market which had a lot of imported stuff from all over the world. Labels such as wine from Italy, chocolates from Peru, and spices from India caught the eye. They cost quite a bit though, expect to pay $15 or so for a bar of chocolate about the size of what you will get for $4 at Ralph’s. Exoticism has its price I guess!

Then, after strolling through several food stalls, we settled on an ice-cream store. They advertise themselves as selling home-made ice-cream. We ordered floats, which I had never had before. These turned out to be a scoop of ice-cream inside a cup of soda. The choices are fairly standard – vanilla, chocolate chip, etc for the scoop, and Sprite, Coke etc inside the cup – however, it is the novelty of the concept and the taste of two awesome things which had me delighted. Be wary of calories though, it’s almost too much of a good thing!

Just next to the Farmers market is the Grove – an outdoor shopping mall with a train running through it. Contrary to the Farmers market, The Grove is filled with branded stores such as Apple and Barnes and Noble. It’s a nice contrast to step out from the rusticity of the market into the urbane feel of the Grove. Overall, these two combine to make the area worth checking out on a weekend!

Published on July 10th, 2019

Last updated on April 1st, 2021


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