I first went to the Grand Central Market in downtown L.A. back in the mid 1970s while I was freelancing for a couple of the big department stores that remained in the old heart of the city. We went there once for tacos for lunch and I’m willing to bet that Tumbras Tacos, which has survived the recent gentrification of GCM, was probably where we bought lunch.
There was another taco place–I think it was called Tacos al Carbon–nearby which had much better tacos so I don’t think we went back to GCM. Shortly after that I landed a job writing copy for a company in the mid-Wilshire district and GCM vanished from my mind. It did not vanish from the minds of Ira and Adele Yellin who purchased the building in 1984.
Decades passed and in 2011 I went to GCM to take photos for this blog. While it had recently been brightly painted and new red and black chairs had been added, the overall scene was so sad, so desolate, that I decided not to post the photos. Few people were there at lunchtime and there was vacant stall after vacant stall throughout the market. Most of the people were obviously at the lower end of the income scale.
By 2014 there had been a radical change. Eating places like Eggslut and Wexlers Deli were thriving. The customers were a mix of office and blue collar workers. By 2016 there wasn’t a vacant space in the huge market and the place was jammed with Millennials who have moved into downtown Los Angeles. How jammed? I counted 61 people standing in line to order at Eggslut! Outdoor tables under fire-engine red umbrellas have been added to a pocket street park on the Broadway side of the building. And they now have entertainment some evenings. And in 2017 the Yellins sold it to Adam Daneshgar, a local L.A. investor.
So here are some of the photos I took in 2011 and others taken last weekend.
