[dropcap size=big]G[/dropcap]rand Central Market opened in Downtown in 1917. By 1926, some 40,000 people visited the market a day, “a seething mass of elbowing, pushing humanity laden down with shopping bags,” as one Los Angeles Times reporter put it back then. Times have changed since then, and so, necessarily, has the market, especially over the last few years as vendors closed and others moved in. But while we all probably have our favorite stalls, the significance of Grand Central Market has never depended entirely on just one vendor; rather, it’s the totality of the experience, the ability for anyone, laden down with shopping bags, to walk comfortably through and pick up a few ounces of dried chiles at Chiles Seco, lunch on wonton soup at China Café or a bowl of adobo fried rice at Sari Sari, and end with a slice of the Brown Derby Grapefruit Cake at Valerie’s for dessert. The recent changes were overseen by Adele Yellin, who owned Grand Central Market up until late last year, when she sold the property to a Beverly Hills real estate firm. The spirit of the market, the firm promises, will be preserved. We hope it will be.
317 S. Broadway, downtown
(213) 624-2378
http://www.grandcentralmarket.com
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