Farmers’ Market lacks charm during moratorium

Wednesday, March 4, 1998

Farmers’ Market lacks charm during moratorium

FOOD: Vendors deserve chance to compete with bigger village
businesses

Jell-O, again … It’s Tuesday; I guess that means it’s time for
Spicy Shrimp Ramen … Shakey’s again?

The eating habits of a college student can be somewhat limited
at times. The dorms are convenient and eating out is easy, but
sometimes, a little variety is nice. I mean, hey, how many meals of
grilled cheese sandwiches and Raisin Bran can you take? For those
of us who are looking for something a bit different, there’s the
Farmers’ Market.

On Thursdays from 2 to 7 p.m., Weyburn Avenue in front of Macy’s
is blocked off and turned into an outdoor market, where merchants
hawk their wares.

You can find just about any kind of uncommon, organically-grown
fruit, from pomegranates to jack fruit; delicious habaero peppers;
and popped-on-the-spot caramel corn. There’s usually a cool little
jazz trio creating a pleasant atmosphere, and various political
interest groups asking for support for whatever their cause is.

OK, this is starting to sound like a commercial here. That’s not
really my intention. I come to bury the Farmers’ Market, not to
praise it. Just suffice it to say, it’s generally the bomb. I guess
it’s a little expensive, compared with going to VONS, but then
again, you won’t find the same stuff, either.

For example, VONS definitely does not have the Juice Guy. I
rarely buy his stuff, but the Juice Guy is one of the most
entertaining vendors around. He says his juice has a magic
ingredient in it that has aphrodisiac properties.

I used to love to browse around the little craft tables and food
booths. You could find henna tattoo kits, flower jewelry and
handmade clothing at the tables, and some of the most delicious
food you’d ever want. Think about any imaginable dining hall meal.
Now think about what you would never find on the menu.

That’s what you’d find at the Farmers’ Market booths. Fried
plantains, horchata, Korean barbecue, homemade sausage, dirty rice
– if it was good, it was there.

Well, as long as we’re imagining things, I guess we’ll just have
to imagine that those food booths are still there. They’ve packed
up and moved elsewhere, because of a 60-day moratorium on hot food
and craft booths imposed by the Westwood Village Community
Alliance.

The closest thing you can get to a decent meal now is frozen
tamales. Crummy, no?

According to reports in the Daily Bruin, a possible reason why
the vendors were driven out was that their sales were cutting into
the business of local restaurants – Chasin’ Chicken, in particular.
Everyone wants to make a buck, but forcing out small vendors is not
the way to do it.

In preparing this column, I talked to a friend who has worked at
similar markets, and the more we discussed it, the more I realized
that sending the vendors packing is definitely not a good idea. Not
only does it wipe out a niche market for them, it impacts the
surrounding community and businesses as well.

When you go to the market, you don’t find McDonald’s or Burger
King, and there’s a reason why. These markets are designed for the
sake of small merchants, not major corporations. These aren’t
money-grubbers looking to squeeze more McDollars out of you; it’s
Mom, Dad and Uncle Chester busting it to cook up some food and then
hustling around the county to all the markets they can handle so
they can make a little bit of cash to make ends meet. Sure, there
are some larger businesses, but most of them are small,
family-owned ones.

They need this personal, direct way to sell their wares, because
they don’t have the major marketing dollars that the corporations
do. You can look behind the counter and probably see the chef
himself, stirring his pot. You can strike up a conversation, get to
know the people who work there and connect with them on a much
deeper level than you could with a cashier at Jack-In-The-Box.
Suppose you’re a little short on cash or don’t have the right
change; that’s sometimes not a big deal. I’ve seen vendors let a
little slide, saying, "Hey, pay me next week." Even if I’ve got to
pay a little more for the food, I’ll go to places like the market,
since the people who work there are genuine, real folks, not
carbon-copy corporation employees.

If I were a restaurant owner, and my business dipped a bit on
Thursdays, sure, I’d be a little put off. That doesn’t mean that
all the businesses should be eradicated, though. Chasin’ Chicken is
there seven days a week, from 11 a.m. to 11 p.m., not just five
hours on one weekday afternoon. That works out to be 84 hours a
week, or more than 16 times the amount of time the vendors’ stands
were open. I find it hard to believe that the vendors snare that
much business in their small amount of operating time. Presumably,
Chasin’ Chicken loses business to other local restaurants, too, but
that doesn’t mean that In-N-Out, Subway or any other place that
might impinge upon Chasin’ Chicken’s business has to move.

The food at the market was unique, too. You can find a lot of
restaurants in Westwood, but you couldn’t find homemade jambalaya
unless the Farmers’ Market had it. Most markets prohibit resale of
manufactured food and require vendors to prepare their cuisine
themselves. You aren’t paying for something out of a can; you’re
paying for something that was put together by hand. This is not to
say that the food at the local restaurants is somehow bad or
artificial, but rather that the things you could find at the market
were something different.

It might seem like a convenient fix to remove the booths, thus
sending customers back to the restaurants, but it’s not quite that
simple. For many UCLA students, the main reason for going to the
market was not to stock up on fruit and vegetables, but for the
atmosphere. It’s still a neat place to go and walk around, but
there aren’t so many things to see, and unless you want to eat free
samples and fruit, you can’t grab a bite to eat, either. There is
now less incentive to go.

As you can probably tell from my terrible photo up there, as
well as the oddball points of view I’ve expressed thus far, I’m not
a typical guy. Let’s forget that, however, and use me as the model
of a normal UCLA dorm resident. Back before they jacked it up, I’d
go into the market and wander around. I’d look at the produce for
sale, talk to the Juice Guy and browse the crafts a bit.

I’d head down to the food area, and maybe get an ice-cold cup of
horchata and savor that nice cinnamon taste for a while. Horchata
still in hand, I’d make my way to the Cajun booth and buy an order
of fried plantains. My hunger pang satisfied, I would wander back
toward the main area and saunter around a bit more. I like jazz, so
if I had some spare cash, maybe I’d toss some the way of the band.
Usually, I wouldn’t feel like heading back to the dorms, so I’d
screw around in Westwood for a bit, poking my head into stores and
checking them out.

I’m not as inclined to do so anymore, though. Sure, there is
still the popcorn and the band, but there is not quite as pleasant
an atmosphere anymore. By taking away the food stalls, the food
vendors aren’t the only ones that suffer. The band loses money, the
political guys don’t get their precious signatures, the produce
farmers lose customers and local merchants get less business as
well.

I’m not hopeless. The moratorium may be lifted, and the market
may return to its former splendor.

Hopefully, the Westwood Village Community Alliance will realize
that the expulsion of the vendors is not a solution, but another
problem. If not, oh well – there’s always the Juice Guy.