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The L.A. Farmers Market: Good Memories & One Horrible Breakfast

The L.A. Farmers Market: Good Memories & One Horrible Breakfast

Old Jul 23rd, 2012, 03:02 PM
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The L.A. Farmers Market: Good Memories & One Horrible Breakfast

Tracy and I took the short drive to the L.A. Farmers Market yesterday to relive a bit of my childhood, since I will embark on my second 60 years tomorrow. It makes for a pleasant stop if you're visiting L.A. and then you can capture the "new' by going to The Grove, with all the new stores and restaurants. Following is my report on yesterday's visit, including the absolutely WORST breakfast we have been served in quite some time.

"It was always a special Sunday morning as a kid when my parents would say, “Let’s go to the Farmers Market.” We would hop in the car and take the 40-minute drive to Third and Fairfax in Los Angeles, where an array of walkways with little shops selling everything from fresh fruits and vegetables to touristy trinkets awaited us.

I got my first job after finishing college at an advertising agency that was located two blocks from the Farmers Market. I would eat at one of their restaurants (including the famed, yet overrated Du-Pars...more on them later) two or three times a week back in 1975 and 1976.

It had been quite some time since Tracy and I had visited, so on a sunny Sunday morning, we decided to recreate my childhood (without all the screaming and yelling) and see how the old place looked. As we pulled in to the parking lot, the large Farmers Market Clock Tower welcomed us.

The Farmers Market Clock Tower was built in 1952 (a great year). When The Grove at Farmers Market was constructed, and the Market added the Plaza and North Market, the clock tower was dismantled (carefully). It was fully restored and put back up in 2002 complete with brand new clock works. A time capsule was put in the stone base."

The rest of the report (with photos) can be found here.

http://travelswithmaitaitom.com/Tom_...Hollywood.html

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Old Jul 23rd, 2012, 07:37 PM
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Fun report! I haven't lived in LA area in a very long time, but The Farmers Market was always a fun place.

Breakfast of crepes at The French Crépe Company was always a must. Nutella, bananas, strawberries and whipped cream - now that a meal. Coffee was always good too.

I used to love watching the ladies hand dip chocolates in the back, near Du Pars.

We had a Du Pars in Thousand Oaks when I lived there; it always reminded me of the TV show "Alice" and the waitress on it - Flo. BIG hair and a fancy kerchief done up in some origami like fold - that was the MO at our Du Pars.

I also liked the tar pits outside of the market.

Thanks for the memories. Last trip there was 2004 and it was fun then too.
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Old Jul 23rd, 2012, 10:18 PM
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Happy Birthday.....
Farmers Market is always fun to wander through
Thanks for the photos and report....
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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 10:07 AM
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The French Crépe Company is also my favorite restaurant at The Farmers Market. Our waiter at Du-Pars was Sub-Par, to be sure.

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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 10:13 AM
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Thanks!!!!!!!!! I also grew up in Los Angeles. Fond memories... the Farmers Market, Chinatown, Olvera Street, LeBrea Tar Pits, Griffith Park, etc.
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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 10:54 AM
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Great report, maitai, and in your usual inimitable style! Very enjoyable!

Last time I went was several years ago and we had a so-so Korean lunch which, like Du-par's, was subpar and not exactly inviting of another visit.
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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 12:51 PM
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Happy Birthday, Tom!

I very much enjoyed your report and the great photos.

We have eaten lunch a few times at M. Marcel and we have liked the food. The decor of their little indoor-outdoor alcove where the tables are is so cute and so French country seeming in the colors and the printed tablecloths and the cute bric a brac on the shelves.
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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 02:20 PM
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Looks like fun, and, by the way, a very happy birthday, young man. Your escapades of the past year must make you especially grateful for another glorious year!
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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 02:49 PM
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Hard to believe the first time I went to The Farmers Market, I was about 6 and now I'm 60. But as my dad used to say, "It beats the alternative!"

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Old Jul 24th, 2012, 03:55 PM
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Happy birthday, maitaitom! I'm glad to know we share a birthday.

Lee Ann
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Old Jul 25th, 2012, 08:49 AM
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Happy Birthday! Your website is so much fun. Loved seeing the pics. Will avoid DuPars next time we are there.
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Old Jul 25th, 2012, 09:52 AM
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Happy birthday, Tom!

My own memories of the Farmers Market center on Mrs. Magee's peanut grinding machine and her strange-tasting and amazingly oily peanut butter (delicious, but it hardened into a brick once you put it in the fridge back home.)

Also bouncing around my brain box are memories of whole days - morning to night - spent around the Farmers Market and vicinity. Donuts at the market, then a walk past the Pan Pacific Auditorium (where I remember catching my first trout in one of those indoor "trout pond" things associated with an outdoors show) over to Gilmore Field, where we would root against the hated Hollywood Stars, especially if they were playing our beloved LA Angels.

The Pan Pacific is long gone (declared an historic monument, then abandoned and left to catch fire at the hands of transients in the 80s) as is Gilmore Field (now part of CBS' parking lot.) But the market perseveres, even if Du-Pars is still pretty mediocre.

(Fortunately Canter's is still an easy walk up Fairfax, of course. More local color than Du-Pars IMO and there is the Kibitz Room.)
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Old Jul 25th, 2012, 10:02 AM
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Mmmmm- love Canter's too!
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Old Jul 25th, 2012, 01:16 PM
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I was just there last week -- a nostalgia-filled trip for me, as well.
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