Westwood to welcome new tastes
By Christina Brown
Nov. 12, 2008 11:49 p.m.
The northernmost part of Glendon Avenue, just behind Ralphs, has been newly renovated and will feature a number of new businesses opening next month.
A specialty grocery store, a coffeehouse and two eateries will be opening after several permit and construction problems changed their original opening dates.
At the corner of Weyburn and Glendon avenues, the new Trader Joe’s will be opening Dec. 5 after construction delays pushed back the original plans to open on Halloween, said store manager Tom Darrow.
The staff has already been hired, including some UCLA students.
Trader Joe’s has a large variety of eclectic specialty foods and drinks and will be open seven days a week from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“Eighty-five percent of our products are privately made for us,” Darrow said, adding that the food is different than at other grocery stores.
The store will also feature familiar decor for students, with UCLA decorations, he said.
“There will be a touch of Westwood inside the store for the UCLA community,” he said.
Right next door is It’s A Grind Coffee House, which owner Arnold Tarin said he hopes will open right after Thanksgiving.
Tarin said the coffee shop has a welcoming, grassroots feel and plays jazz and blues music.
“We want people to come in and sit down here,” Tarin said. The shop has free wireless Internet, lots of seating, and will be open from 5:30 a.m. till 11 p.m. every day, with extended hours during finals week, he said.
On the other side of the coffeehouse is Jersey Mike’s, a 52-year-old sandwich chain originally from New Jersey. The restaurant in Westwood is opening on Dec. 3 and will be the first one in Los Angeles.
They serve hot and cold subs, wraps, soups and salads, and there will be big-screen TVs and seating inside and outside the restaurant for students.
Jersey Mike’s will be open from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. Sunday through Wednesday, and then will be open until midnight on Thursday and Friday.
The president of Jersey Mike’s, Marvin Barsky, said that Jersey Mike’s is also a community-oriented business and will be teaming up with the UCLA student group Hunger Project.
Barsky said they will be giving away free sandwiches in exchange for donations to the Hunger Project, which serves food to homeless and low-income people in the L.A. area.
“We are going to give up to 10,000 sandwiches away and hope to raise $10,000,” Barsky said.
In the new complex there is also a large apartment building and a Pastagina, which is an inexpensive pasta place where customers can choose which kind of noodle and pasta sauce they would like.
The new buildings, all along the block of Glendon Avenue from Weyburn Avenue to Kinross Avenue have a completely different look than the rest of Westwood, with large sandstone-colored, Adobe-like structures and decorative tiling on the buildings and sidewalks.
