Photos by JANA SUMMERS Victor Russo, a Westwood
Farmers’ Market vendor, uses all his energy to sell his
prized strawberries, which are often a crowd pleaser. Joe
Moua, a Farmers’ Market vendor, goes about his
weekly duties selling a variety of vegetables and fruits to the
Westwood community. Robert Randa of Frontier Kettle
Korn, diligently sifts the sweet popcorn that proves very
popular at Westwood’s Farmers Market.
By Matt Goulding
Daily Bruin Reporter For most consumers, the thought of a
farmers’ market conjures up images of simple products and
simple people: ma’s freshly cut vine-ripened tomatoes,
pa’s meticulously grown Fuji apples and a community sharing
in the splendors of independent farming. While traditional farming
concepts are still used for what you find in most grocery stores,
each Thursday, Weyburn and Glendon Avenues hold an arena where
local vendors use new and cutting-edge methods to turn the streets
into a produce paradise. Fresh herb biscotti, pluots (plum/apricot
hybrids) and everything organic exist as quintessential parts of a
market rooted in culinary progression. “I’m trying to
bring in cutting-edge growers all the time,” said Eric
Shapiro, director of the Westwood farmers’ market.
“People are aware of cultural trends, and we try to stay
similarly aware with what we offer to the consumer.” The
market, operating each Thursday from 2-7 p.m. year round, attracts
students, local executives and the village’s top chefs
looking for alternatives to Los Angeles’ supermarkets.
Articles and awards praising the independent growers adorn the
streets, composed of nearly 75 produce, meat and craft stands. On a
Thursday in early September, with the sunlight growing thin,
Shapiro swayed with the last few chords of one of the
market’s weekly jazz bands. The band, he said, surveying the
quickly dissipating crowd, is one of the amenities he and his staff
offer to market frequenters and newcomers alike. “These guys
are lions,” he said. “They’re rocking. This is
symbolic of where we’re going in the next year with the
market.” On bass is the veteran vendor Dennis Osborne, who
has been keeping loyal customers grooving with fresh-squeezed
juices since the market’s birth seven years ago. For Osborne,
fruits like the pomegranate are no longer seedy nuisances, but
powerful aphrodisiacs and effective natural cure-alls that
guarantee a higher quality of living. “Women drink this and
they want to get it on. Men drink it, but they always want to get
it on,” said Osborne, pointing proudly to the pint-sized
bottle of pure purple potion. “I know it’s enhanced my
sexual life, just like all those people who come by every week
saying, “˜Dennis, can I have more of that?'” Not
confined to the lascivious consumer, Osborne said pomegranate juice
has been known to provide important health benefits to faithful
drinkers. According to the Los Angeles Times article hanging on
Osborne’s Sherill Orchard stand, pomegranates are known to
reduce the chance of breast cancer. “It’s about time we
kick this thing in the butt” said Osborne, as he poured
another shot of the juice to a woman elated over the new discovery.
While his stand sells more than 10 varieties of juices as well as
fresh fruit, the pomegranate is clearly Osborne’s instrument
of choice. Another member of Shapiro’s carefully constructed
organic band is Kevin Mullaney, co-owner of Hollywood’s Soups
On and the hungry new saxophonist. Joining Osborne and other
seasoned veterans last October, Mullaney and his twin brother play
to the tune of homemade soups and frittatas. “Everything I do
is from scratch,” Mullaney said. “No shortcuts, no
cans, no powders.” Always the improviser, Mullaney said it is
necessary to change his soups every week. Since starting the
business two years ago, he and his brother have concocted more than
300 soups. While progression is key in Mullaney’s craft, he
said Soups On is an establishment that recognizes the importance of
well-seasoned classics. Tortilla chicken, a tomato- and onion-based
soup with chilis and pinto beans, has been a best-seller since the
family business opened. Other bestsellers include vegetarian and
vegan dishes like wild mushroom bisque and carrot ginger. Mullaney,
whose clientele is nearly 80 percent women, said the success of his
products is a result of an image-conscious market. “West L.A.
doesn’t eat beef or pork,” he said. “It’s
kind of depressing.” Finally, every band needs a steady
backbone, a member whose methods are rooted in tradition, and
Shapiro’s is no exception. Set up in front of the GAP on
Westwood Boulevard, Bob Polito and his family citrus stand anchor
this eclectic ensemble. Polito Family Farms, located in San Diego,
has operated as an independent grower since 1968. “For small
and medium growers,” Polito said, looking down a sparsely
occupied Weyburn Avenue, “this is the only way to make it. I
sell to some restaurants and a minor amount of wholesale, but the
major amount of my business is through these markets. They’re
my bread and butter.” In the past three years, Polito has
seen the steady decline of independent citrus growers in
California. Polito attributes the difficulties for orange growers
to the increasing supply and mobility from international markets.
While many of these suppliers spray their products with pesticides
and other chemicals, Polito, like most independent vendors, takes
pride in his simple, organic produce. For market groupies like
third-year physiology student Amber Van Arnum, it’s people
like Polito and his family operation that make Westwood’s
farmers’ market a better option than major supermarkets.
“The people who work at the stands are into what they
do,” she said. Van Arnum said the fruits and vegetables grown
by the market’s small, reliable farms demand consumer
confidence, while grocery store produce instill quality concern.
While organic products are a must for staunch vegetarians like Van
Arnum, she said the market’s environment is motivation enough
for her to visit weekly. One band compliments the other on the
product-laden streets of the market and, like any good manager,
Shapiro takes a cut from his players. Farmers give 7 percent back
to the organizers, while crafters hand over 15 percent of their
daily gross. As the jazz members return their trusted instruments
to their cases, vendors carefully place handfuls of neglected sugar
peas and unpurchased pounds of Ahi tuna into their lonely truck
beds. “Unfortunately, we’re losing some quality vendors
this year,” said Shapiro, still vibing to the notes played by
his devout band members. Their replacements, an optimistic Shapiro
said, will no doubt continue to perpetuate the rhythmic beat of
Westwood’s midweek heart.
Betty Hamilton, vendor for Pritchett Farms,
carefully rearranges her fruits and vegetables. Fragrant and fresh
flowers are sold regularly at the Farmers Markets. From colorful
wildflowers to delicate roses, vendors find them a hit with
customers. Fresh fruits and vegetables are some of the main
attractions at Westwood’s Farmers Market which prides itself
on the variety of unique products it sells.