L.A. Gives Farmers Market a Trial Run : Peachy Idea in Highland Park

Joe Bonilla skewers a dripping wedge of yellow plum with a knife and grins.

“Now you taste that,” he chortles, as a customer bites into the sugary triangle. “Look at the look on your face. You tell me when you enjoyed something better than that.”

Bonilla awoke at his Fresno farm at 4:30 Friday morning to make it to the farmers market in Highland Park for the start of its first day. He was one of 27 farmers in Sycamore Grove Park on the muggy day participating in the first farmers market subsidized by the city of Los Angeles.

The market is operating with $25,000 in city funds for a year as a pilot for possible future city-sponsored farmers markets. It was initiated by Los Angeles City Councilman Richard Alatorre, who said it is intended to bring the diverse Highland Park community together by providing a safe and friendly atmosphere in which to buy fresh produce and meet people.

There was certainly a lot of meeting going on Friday--among people who might not otherwise find themselves in the same place.

There was Raymond Lopez, a Highland Park resident with the day off from his job as a carburetor repairman. He was at the market because he said the produce is cheap.

And there was Edmund Barr, who said price was not the object. Stylish in wire-frame glasses, slicked back hair, black pants and black patent-leather “gorilla” shoes, he said he was there to get oranges for the fresh juice he drinks in the morning.

And there were the farmers, who traveled from as far away as Fresno and San Diego. They were there because they can make more money selling some of their produce at farmers markets than they can selling it all to wholesalers.

The mix of customers tasting and haggling made the market come alive. People with wicker baskets laden with fruit and vegetables exclaimed to friends about the redness of the tomatoes or a particularly crisp head of lettuce. And the farmers seemed to be doing a brisk business.

But Alatorre’s deputy in the community, Louann Rocha, wasn’t taking any chances. She was buying up produce from any stand where business looked slow.

“I want them to come back,” she whispered conspiratorially as she selected a basket of strawberries from a stand whose offerings looked virtually untouched.

There are three open-air markets in the city where farmers sell produce directly to consumers, but all were started and are run by private nonprofit groups. The Highland Park market will operate from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m. on Fridays, initially under the Department of Recreation and Parks, but eventually will be turned over to such a neighborhood group.

Festival Atmosphere

Six other cities in Los Angeles County subsidize farmers markets. There are about two dozen farmers markets in Los Angeles County in all, officials said,

At the balloon-festooned square Friday, the market had a character of its own. A mariachi band hired by Alatorre’s office strolled through the crowd of about 150 people. Representatives of community organizations and homeowner groups were canvassing the area with literature and people were enjoying an experience far removed from the usual trip to the supermarket.

“A guy sold us some garlic; he told us what to do with the part you want to save,” said Louis Mraz, a Mt. Washington resident. “He told us to put it in olive oil in the fridge so you get this great garlic flavor to the oil. Can you imagine? You’re not going to get a recipe like that from the guy behind the counter at Lucky.”