The West LA Farmers Market
Sundays, 9am - 2pm
11338 Santa Monica Boulevard at Corinth Avenue,
on the Court House/Civic Center Plaza
Conveniently located just two blocks from the 405 is the highly expansive West LA Farmers Market in Santa Monica. I read about it by chance on the internet, and surprisingly have come across no word-of-mouth recommendations for this noteworthy market. Not only did it have a great assortment of fresh produce, prepared food, crafts, and WiFi, the welcoming bandshell off of Corinth housed live jazz. This one is even open an hour later than most weekend markets, until 2pm instead of 1pm, giving you an extra hour to get there if you are not a morning person. The city really needs to learn how to publicize this stuff better.
Like I said, there is an adorable, retro bandshell, around which are organized several vendors of goods such as made-to-order crepes by Crepes Dusigne and to-go plates and meats by Earnest “Pork Chop” Phillips. Other booths house crafts like pillows and swap meet-esque goods like “Madagascar hats” and hand-blown glass necklaces, made on-site. Obviously, this is one of those farmers markets reaches the level of destination or event, good for more than a quick produce purchase, especially on a nice Sunday morning.
One point I must criticize is the lack of organization at this particular market; traffic flow and ease of shopping were nonexistent. The whole bandshell square is entirely cut off from what seems like three additional areas of merchandise, which each have large spaces between them. When I arrived, I had to plan my path carefully so that I could sift through the various fruits before buying what I deemed the best. This strategy did not work out all of the time, as on the furthest end of the market I found better nectarines than the ones I had already purchased. Oh well, not a huge deal, but centralizing the thing will at least appease finicky people like me. One booth with an ideal spot was Smart Fish Fresh Seafood, and I promised the vendor I was taking notes on his respectable assortment of fish, which was, without bias, not bad.
This week I finally saw some sweet corn out, and at good farmers market prices of course. There was a lot of competition in the strawberries department, and all of them were giant and shiny, though I would not doubt that the best ones are put at the top. I was also impressed by one berry salesmen who had black, gold, and blue berries and raspberries for sale. You could buy a box with each type for only $11, which is a lot to spend at a farmers market, but very impressive when compared to the seven or eight dollars you would spend for a single container of inferior ones at the grocery store.
Maybe it was just me, but the prices here seemed to be more competitive in general, at least compared to my last two farmers market outings. Heirloom tomatoes were only $2.50 a pound, while I paid two dollars more last week (they were just coming in to season earlier, in their defense). I have not patronized nearly enough farmers markets to create a full-fledged hypothesis, but perhaps these smaller ones do in fact have lower prices, due to a smaller customer base and less in-demand locations. But it seems counterintuitive that so few people would be at this farmers market; Santa Monica is one of those communities perfect for such an event, it is right off the 405, and meter parking in the area was plentiful and free due to it being Sunday.
All-in-all I was impressed with the West LA Farmers Market, especially since I had not heard of it before. I mean, live music, the same or better assortment and quality as any other farmers market, crepes to meats to baklava. Like its Santa Monica brother, it has probably fallen in the shadow of the all-important 3rd Street Promenade market, which I mentioned with ambivalence so often.
Photos by Shelby Chambers
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1 Liana // Jul 21, 2008 at 12:02 pm
I recognize those berries anywhere! I buy them occasionally at the Santa Monica Farmer’s Market on 2nd street, they are delicious!
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