A Market on the Move
By JOYCE TSE
RAFU STAFF WRITER
Sunday, July 22, 2007

Local farmers’ market prepares for grand opening at City Hall on Thursday.

MikeyHiranoCulross/Rafu Shimpo
A customer reaches for a pomegranate at the farmers’ market.

The smell of fresh produce inter­mingling with just-popped kettle corn, barbecued meats and sizzling pupusas came to signify something special to patrons of Weller Court on Tuesdays: farmers’ market day.

But this week, the Tuesday Arts District/Little Tokyo Farmers’ Market moves to its new day and location. Pa­trons of the two-year-old market will instead find an expanded version of this weekly event on Thursdays, from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., on the south lawn of City Hall at the corner of First Street and Main Street.

“To secure this location, we had to do it on a day when the city council doesn’t meet. When they meet Tues­days, there is media parking right where we will be,” said Jonathan Jerald, the farmers’ market assistant manager.

The move is bittersweet, according to Susan Hutchinson, the market’s manager.

“Weller Court is a beautiful loca­tion, and I’m sad to leave that place,”

Hutchinson said of the market’s home for the past year and a half. But with businesses like Bank of the West and gelateria Piccomolo having opened recently, there is less space available in Weller Court and expansion of the market has become impossible.

What started as a market with about five farmers was reduced to one with three or four farmers and food ven­dors. Critiques were that the Tuesday Arts District/Little Tokyo Farmers’ Market was more of a food court than anything else.

Hutchinson added that occasional tensions arose—not unlike ones ex­perienced at most farmers’ markets elsewhere—between vendors and local merchants.

“It happens everywhere. Some­times merchants see vendors as setting up near their locations without having to pay for overhead, and they feel the vendors take away business from them during peak times,” said Hutchinson. “Weller Court wasn’t totally occupied when we first came there in January 2006. This move is brought on by a combination of shrinking space, not being able to set up in front of businesses and some of the resulting tensions.”

The lush green south lawn of City Hall, albeit one block farther from Little Tokyo, will provide open space and even more shade to farmers, ven­dors and customers.

“It’s very pleasant,” said Jerald, who has witnessed the market’s changes in location and growth since its inception in mid-July 2005. “A lot of vendors are enthusiastic about the move. We’ll have many more vendors offering wider varieties of products from fruit and veggies to breads.”

Also on the list of newcomers are a vintner and vendors offering every­thing from couscous to salmon and even handmade ice cream. Other spe­cialty food item vendors will also sell items like fresh pastas and sauces.

“I’m not sure how many of those people will be with us on the first Thursday, but we have a waiting list of
people who want to come and join the market,” said Jerald, who is also on the board of the Los Angeles River Artist and Business Association (LARABA), a group that supports the farmers’ market. “In the next few weeks it’ll be substantially larger than it was in Weller Court,” he added.

Hutchinson said an indication that the move has already made an impact on the market include the addition of harder-to-entice farmers and vendors.

“The fact that we are finally able to attract an organic peach farmer bodes well for the market,” she said. “It means we’re getting more selective vendors and farmers. That’s exciting!”

Farmer Jorge Zaragosa of Lore’s Farms in Oxnard has high hopes for the new location where he will con­tinue selling strawberries, artichokes, asparagus, and cucumbers. “I think it’ll be good,” said Zaragosa. “The other place was too hidden. Nobody could see us from the street. But we’ll see how it goes on Thursday.”

Similarly, Hawaiian Chicken vendor Eugene Hong, says the move is bound to have a positive effect on the market, al­though he’ll miss Weller Court. “There’s so much potential to grow. The market will do better because once it grows and stabilizes, it’ll be so much better for the community. Look at the other local markets. They’re flourishing. We’re not far from there,” he said.

Both Hutchinson and Jerald have credited Councilwoman Jan Perry and her office with helping the farmers’ market to live on, just as arts activist Joel Bloom, who passed away on Friday, July 13, did when the farmers’ market first launched at Joel Bloom Square at Traction Avenue and Hewitt Street, near Bloom’s General Store two years ago.

“We were in the Arts District, and they were developing. … Our space was shrinking, and dust and dirt were all around us. … Joel Bloom helped us find a space in Little Tokyo. I see him as really the true angel who gave us our original sponsorship,” said Hutchinson, who added that Bloom also contributed money out of his own pocket to pull the market out of particularly rough times.

This time around, Councilwoman Perry played a pivotal role in finding a location where the market would be near lots of foot traffic and buildings where people live and work, essentially providing a built-in customer base.

“I enjoy farmers’ markets,” said Perry. “They’re a great way to get fresh fruits and veggies that are timely and seasonal, and they are also an opportu­nity to encourage healthy eating.”

The main concern Hutchinson and Jerald have about the farmers’ market’s current move is the impact this will have on many of their most loyal patrons from Little Tokyo, many of whom are elderly.

“We were thinking about working with Little Tokyo Service Center and seeing if we could get a shuttle bus, but then we were reminded by seniors in Little Tokyo that the Dash bus goes virtually from their door to the market’s new location,” said Jerald.

That should help out some, and in reality, for the Arts District/Little Tokyo Farmers’ Market’s younger patrons full of vim and vigor, the market is re­ally only moving one block north of its Weller Court location. A little walk and (sort of) fresh air might do some good. Just follow the rhythmic sounds of sing­ing jazz drummer Carl Tassi, who will be playing at the market from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. this week.

“I’m very excited about this,” said Perry. “They’re (this market) very tenacious, and I appreciate the fact that they’ve hung in there and didn’t give up.”