Farmers’ Market looks on bright side

As Neil Ins weighs his organic blue and pink potatoes, Lynn
Johnson displays her plants that grow from seashells and musician
Raymond Lee Parker plays jazz music for hours on the piano.
Hundreds of customers stroll through Weyburn Avenue in Westwood
Village.

It’s just another day at the Westwood Village
Farmers’ Market.

Despite the recent closure of the market’s Glendon Avenue
portion, which market manager Donovan Marshall said resulted in the
removal of about one-third of the total vendors and 30 percent of
the market’s revenue, the remaining sellers continue to have
a positive outlook.

“Everyone had to give up space. It’s better to be
here than not at all,” said Cecile Atalay, a fruit vendor
from Rosendahl Farms who has been coming to the Westwood market for
five years.

Aaron Shapiro, another market manager, said business at the
market is thriving and revenue has been increasing each week.

The vendors, many of whom have been with the market for over 10
years since it started, have had to adjust to the limited
space.

“We’ve gotten squeezed down smaller and smaller.
It’s been difficult. I have no room for crops,” said
Ins, a longtime vendor.

The market was cleared from Glendon Avenue in February to make
way for the upcoming Palazzo Westwood retail and entertainment
development by Alan Casden, but construction on the
multimillion-dollar project has still not begun. While Weyburn
Avenue is packed with crowds, tents and crates of produce, Glendon
Avenue is currently inactive and only inhabited by parked cars.

“We’re all crammed into one little spot when that
place is empty,” said Ins.

For the vendors, Marshall said that parking is “the issue
of all issues.” Vendors say they cannot park in the lot they
used before and must park their trucks on Glendon Avenue, reducing
the parking available for customers.

Mary Robles, who has been vending strawberries with The Berry
Best from Oxnard for eight years in Westwood, said she was selling
an average of 150 boxes of strawberries per week a few years ago
and is currently selling 80 boxes. She said one of the reasons for
this decline is the lack of parking space for customers ““ a
longtime problem for many Westwood businesses.

But the consolidation of the market has increased business for
some vendors. Due to the market’s reorganization, vendor
Danski Blue is able to sell her clothing on Weyburn Avenue in a
more prominent location than before.

Marshall expects business to increase for all the vendors in the
summer, and said he is “always hopeful” about the
future.

This optimistic attitude is embodied by the Farmers’
Market. Many vendors had to work throughout their lives to start
their own businesses to sell their products in this market, and
they continue to support themselves through their merchandise.

Vendor Lionel Kozaczinski, who sells granola and oat products,
came from France over 20 years ago and made his living by working
in cafes. He eventually found his own kitchen and equipment and
started his own business in Long Beach called The Sconeage Bakery.
He said he is able to maintain his business through loyal customers
at farmers’ markets across Los Angeles.

“Good produce brings more customers. Every market I go to,
the customers come back,” he said.

His customers agree.

“He has fabulous cookies. We come down every time without
fail,” said Roxanne Moster, who works as a spokeswoman for
UCLA Health Sciences, while at the market.

The vendors take pride in their products and enjoy working in
Westwood’s bustling market.

Blue said her job is “the closest thing to being free and
making a living.”

“Here, you’re your own boss. There’s no
corporation, there’s fresh air and there’s no one
breathing down your shoulder,” she said.

The personality of vendors like Blue is reflected in the
atmosphere of the market. The market on Weyburn Avenue is in its
own separate world, an arrangement of canopies isolated from the
tall office buildings and noisy traffic that surround it.

The market provides an escape in which everyone from
businesspeople to college students can come together to relax,
enjoy a freshly prepared meal and sample fresh produce.