Years before Whole Foods was a household name, or Erewhon became an paragon of influencer cool, there was the Hollywood Farmers' Market on Ivar and Selma avenues. Like so many of Southern California staples, this venerable institution is struggling to stay afloat. When the Hollywood market started in 1991, there was just a handful like it in California.
The intervening three decades saw explosive growth in people's appetite for clean, healthy food — the places that cater to the new outlook. Last year, nearly 700 farmers markets were certified by the state, according to data cited by The Press Enterprise. The Hollywood Farmers' Market arrived in the neighborhood decidedly more rough-and-tumble than it is now — a neat decade before Kodak Theatre (now known as Dolby Theatre) and its adjacent shopping center planted a stake in the area's revitalization.
I first started going there in the 2000s — as it was one of the only places that peddled organic produce and fruits in the Eastside. I remember a slight carnivalesque atmosphere to the Sunday affair, with vendor after vendor of farm fresh stuff, mixed in with a coffee or kettle corn stand here and there. There were musicians performing, people passing out flyers for this or that cause.
I remember biting into my first heirloom tomato that reset my expectations for all tomatoes to come. Today, this Hollywood landmark is L.A.
's largest farmers market, hosting more than 160 vendors. If Goop is anything to go by, the outdoor mark.