Bountiful Harvest--City Style : Both Buyers and Sellers Love Going to Farmers’ Markets

There was tension in the air--not to mention a strong aroma of basil and dill--as dozens of anxious customers lined up at makeshift sidewalk stands laden with fruits and vegetables, waiting for the starting bell. They elbowed for the best positions, peering across plywood tables at the farmers, who had backed their small pickup trucks to the curb and were finishing the job of unloading that day’s harvest.

The variety and abundance of vegetables, displayed along the length of two city blocks, was matched only by the plethora of shoppers. Grandmothers and grandfathers, slightly punk teen-agers, European and Middle Eastern couples, workers on their lunch breaks--in three-piece suits or paint-spattered overalls--and moms and dads minding their babies all converged to pick out the best of the fresh-cut flowers, nuts, honey, health breads and pies, along with seasonal fruit and vegetables.

Customers compared prices, quality and recipes in French, Spanish, Arabic, Farsi, German and English, trying to pass the last minutes before the horn would signal that shopping could begin.

At precisely 11 a.m., the horn went off and the race was on. Idle spectators were wise to move aside as the Chinese eggplants, red and green bell and chili peppers and bags of juice oranges and grapefruits practically flew from the tables into the shoppers’ waiting baskets, string bags and wire carts.

It was a typical Wednesday at the Santa Monica farmers’ market on Arizona Avenue between 2nd and 4th streets, started in July, 1981, in an effort to get fresh produce into the community and to increase activity at the old Santa Monica Mall.

Largest in County

It is the largest, in size and gross revenues, of the 19 outdoor farmers’ markets in Los Angeles County operated by local government agencies or nonprofit organizations.

The first outdoor market was started in 1979 by the nonprofit Southern California Interfaith Hunger Coalition.

“Over the years, what has been most impressive has been the interest by city governments,� said Vance Merrill-Corum, who set up that first market and is direct marketing specialist in Southern California for the state Department of Food and Agriculture, which administers and regulates the state’s farmers’ markets. “This year, Bellflower will open a farmers’ market, and I have been talking to several other municipalities which hope to open markets soon,� Merrill-Corum said.

All of the markets charge farmers a fee of up to 5% of their day’s revenues. Depending on the market, the fee goes to the municipalities or, in some cases, is shared with the Southland Farmers’ Market Assn., a private organization established in 1981 to provide technical assistance for farmers who want to participate.

Last year, the fees collected in Santa Monica totaled $90,000, enabling the city to pay all of its costs for the operation.

‘The Sweetest Grapes’

After about an hour of intense shopping on a recent overcast day in Santa Monica, Jewel Scott of Venice stood waiting for her sister, guarding her wire cart chock full of mustard greens, lettuce, radishes and other healthy things. But those weren’t what she had come for. Digging down under the greens, she pulled out a few little ruby red grapes. “These are the sweetest grapes you’ve ever eaten in your whole life,� she said as she popped a few in her mouth.

Just then, her sister walked up. “I’m ready to go,� she said, dropping her turnips into the cart. “I’m broke.�

If she was, chances are she got more for her money than she could have bought elsewhere. That Wednesday, carrots and leaf lettuce were 39 cents a bunch, or three for a dollar, as were bunches of fresh dill, basil and parsley. Celery was 39 cents a bunch. Bags of grapefruit were selling for a dollar, tomatoes were 50 cents a pound and sugar peas, hard to find as the weather gets colder, were available for $2 a pound.

In a nearby supermarket, celery was available for the same price, but basil and dill were selling for 89 cents a bunch, snap peas were $1.98 for half a pound and leaf lettuce was 59 cents a head.

Although their prices are attractively low, the 60 small farmers who participate in the Santa Monica venture benefit too.

Doug Hatano, 30, owns 50 acres and leases 60 in San Luis Obispo County. He doesn’t mince words when he talks about the market’s effect on his business. “I probably would have lost my ranch if not for this,� he said, in between ringing up sales of the leaf lettuce, spinach, Brussels sprouts, beans and red bell peppers spread on the table in front of his red pickup.

He and his neighbor, Jerry Rutiz, drive from their farms in San Luis Obispo every week to sell their produce at the farmers’ markets in Santa Monica and Torrance.

Rutiz, 29, farms about 24 acres of leased land just outside of Arroyo Grande, near San Luis Obispo. “I’ve been in vegetable farming for four years,� he said recently, as he walked among the rows of broccoli on his farm, looking for bunches he could pick for the next day’s market.

After two years in the business, Rutiz worked only 18 acres. “I just wasn’t making any money shipping wholesale. As time goes on, I market more and more through direct marketing,� he said. “With that I know that most everything I grow I can market at a profit. It takes a lot of the gamble out of farming and a lot of the middleman out. I’m not going to get rich, but you don’t expect to out here. I just want to make a living.�

Loading their trucks and starting the 4 1/2-hour drive before the sun comes up, Hatano and Rutiz bring the freshest produce they have to the city. “All this stuff was picked yesterday,� Hatano said with a trace of pride in his voice. “Good quality keeps the customer happy.�

Joy Isn’t Universal

Everyone involved in the project seems to be pleased, except for the mall merchants who were supposed to benefit from the increased pedestrian traffic. Follow the long line of customers waiting to buy oranges and grapefruits around onto 2nd Street and you find Sample Shoes Unltd., its door plastered with signs that say “No food, groceries or flowers allowed in store. No exceptions. Thank you.� The owner, David Godshaw, has a few things to say about the market idea.

“They never asked one merchant before they started this market. I pay almost $2,000 a month in rent. These farmers don’t pay anything,� he said, the veins in his neck popping as he paused for breath. “Wednesdays, my customers can’t find a place to park and the street is closed to traffic. I don’t like having to put these signs up on my door, but I have to. My regular customers can’t come to the store on Wednesday. Why didn’t they put this market on the old mall where there’s plenty of room and it would stimulate street traffic? Why close off the street?�

Laura DeVenanzio, who manages the farmers’ market, conceded that the mall merchants are unhappy about the market. She said she is working on a solution with the state Department of Economic Development and the 3rd Street Mall Development Corp., which was formed to renovate and revitalize the old mall.

“Last summer, we changed the hours of operation from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. to 2 to 8 p.m. That brought lots of people down here at night, and everyone seemed happy. But now . . . it gets dark too early. We need to light the area for the days when it gets dark at 5 p.m.,� she said. But lights cost money.

‘Real Night Scene’

At a recent meeting attended by a merchants’ representative, the head of the 3rd Street Development Corp. and city officials, it was proposed that money allocated for mall improvements in 1988 should be moved to the 1986 budget.

“This place is going to be lit up like Dodger Stadium,� DeVenanzio said. “We’ll have barbecues going and music--we’ll establish a real night scene.� The appropriation has not been approved yet, but DeVenanzio hopes that starting this summer, the market’s hours will be permanently changed to Wednesday from 2 to 8 p.m.

“We won’t interfere with the lunch business at the restaurants, and the market will bring people down here later in the day. I know that some of the merchants would simply like the market to go away, but it’s too late for that. The market has definitely taken on a life of its own.�

It is, in fact, teeming with life, and a visit provides relief from the yuppie fever that is beginning to transform whole sections of Santa Monica. At the Farmers’ Market, one would be hard-pressed to find a bottle of raspberry vinegar. The carrots are for sale with the dirt still on them, and kiwis, those ubiquitous little fruits that grace tarts in chic Westside eateries, are selling at a not-so-chic price of 15 for a dollar.

The mood is something like a country fair, with free tastes abounding--from farmers and shoppers.

Freshness and Ambiance

Leila Visram, on her lunch break from a nearby office, had just purchased a bag of golden little fruits on a stem. “They’re fresh dates,� she told a stranger who asked. “Try one,� she offered, pulling them out of her bag. (Because they were not quite ripe, they didn’t look brown and wrinkled and they tasted less sweet than dates usually do.)

Barbara Mathieu, an anthropologist, uses the weekly market to take a break from working on her dissertation. Putting some raspberries into her wicker basket, she said: “I haven’t decided if I come for the produce or the experience. I love the freshness, but I love the ambiance too, seeing the people of different ethnic backgrounds--I love to hear the languages. I bring all my friends here when I can.�

And, as Barbara Kravitz of Sherman Oaks will attest, fresh fruits and vegetables keep a person sane as well as healthy. “I visit my mother once a week, and this is our outing together,� she said, as she put “the best carrots my son’s ever eaten� into her bag.

“This place is wonderful. It gives the old folks something to do. And if we didn’t have this,� she said, casting a loving glance at her mother, “we’d probably be hitting each other over the head.�

FARMERS’ MARKETS

Alhambra Chico St., east of Garfield Ave. Arleta-Pacoima DMV, 14400 Van Nuys Blvd. Burbank Clark Ave. at Griffith Park Dr. Compton Alameda St. at Compton Blvd. Gardena Hollypark Meth. Church, 13000 S. Van Ness Inglewood Locust St. between Regent and Manchester Long Beach Cedar Ave. between Broadway and 3rd Dooley’s lot, Del Amo near Long Beach Blvd. Los Angeles St. Agnes Church, 1432 W. Adams Blvd. Monterey Park L.A. College Stadium, Floral near Atlantic Norwalk Alondra west of Pioneer, near Excelsior H.S. Pasadena Pasadena H.S., Paloma and Sierra Madre Blvd. Villa Park Neighborhood Center 363 East Villa St., west of Los Robles Ave. Pomona N. Garey Ave. and Pearl St. Redondo Beach 400 N. Francisca Ave. at Beryl St. Santa Monica Arizona Ave. between 2nd St. and 4th St. San Pedro Harbor Towers, 3rd St. and Mesa St. South Gate Firestone Blvd. and Alameda St. Torrance Crenshaw Blvd., one block north of Sepulveda

Alhambra Sun. 9-2 Arleta-Pacoima Sat. 7-10 Burbank Fri. 10-3:30 Compton Fri. noon-5 Gardena Sat. 6:30-noon Inglewood Sat. 1-5 Long Beach Fri. noon-5 Sat. 8-noon Los Angeles Wed. 2-5 Monterey Park Thurs. 11-4 Norwalk Tues. 10-2 Pasadena Sat. 9-noon Tues. 11-4 Pomona Sat. 8-noon Redondo Beach Thurs. 10-2 Santa Monica Wed. 11-5 San Pedro Thurs. 10-3 South Gate Mon. 1-6 Torrance Tues. 10-2