Playing Tourist in Our Own City

One of the funny things about living in Los Angeles is how easy it is to forget that people travel from all over the world to experience places that are practically in our backyard. When we had a friend in town recently, it gave us the perfect excuse to spend the day playing tourist in our own city. We headed Downtown without trying to fill every minute with a plan, and Grand Central Market was one of the places I knew I wanted to stop.

There are some places in LA that are just as much fun to wander through as they are to actually have a plan for, and Grand Central Market is one of them. You could research every vendor before you arrive and know exactly where you're going for lunch, but I think you'd miss part of what makes the market so much fun. This is a place to walk around, look at the menus, see what catches your eye and change your mind at least once before deciding what you're actually going to eat.

Because honestly, half the fun is deciding where to stop.

More Than a Place to Eat

Grand Central Market has been part of Downtown Los Angeles since 1917, when it opened on the ground floor of the Homer Laughlin Building. More than a century later, it is still serving Los Angeles from the same spot on Broadway.

It's hard to put that amount of time into perspective. The market opened when Downtown really was the center of Los Angeles, before the freeways, before the city sprawled into what we know today and before so many of the places we now associate with LA even existed. Generations of Angelenos have walked through these doors, and the market has continued to evolve alongside the city around it.

I think that's part of what makes Grand Central Market feel different from a food hall that was simply designed to look historic. This place actually has history. It has watched Downtown Los Angeles change again and again, and rather than being frozen at one particular point in time, it has changed with it.

That history is reflected in the vendors, too. Longtime businesses and foods that represent generations of Los Angeles sit alongside newer restaurants that have developed their own followings. It feels like a small glimpse of what Los Angeles does particularly well: different cultures, traditions and generations existing together in the same place.

Come Hungry, Wander First

Once you're inside, my advice is simple: don't rush.

Grand Central Market has dozens of vendors under one roof, and there is a lot competing for your attention. Walk through the market before you order. Look at what other people are eating. Stop and read the menus. There will probably be something you hadn't considered before you walked in, and that's exactly why I wouldn't arrive too committed to a plan.

The market is busy and energetic, and depending on when you visit, it can absolutely be crowded. But that energy is part of the experience. People are grabbing lunch, meeting friends, visiting from out of town or simply going about their day. It doesn't feel like a historic attraction that exists solely for tourists. It still feels like part of Downtown Los Angeles.

Make It a Downtown LA Day

Grand Central Market is worth visiting on its own, but I think it makes even more sense when you experience it as part of Downtown LA rather than treating it as somewhere to eat and immediately getting back into the car.

Directly across the street is Angels Flight, another tiny piece of Los Angeles history. The historic funicular first opened in 1901 to carry passengers between Downtown and Bunker Hill, and riding it today takes only a few minutes. I'll share much more about Angels Flight separately, but pairing the two is such an easy way to experience two places that have been part of Los Angeles for more than a century.

Have lunch at Grand Central Market, walk across the street and ride Angels Flight, and then keep exploring. Downtown is one of the few parts of Los Angeles where you can leave the car behind for a while and discover what is around the next corner, and there is so much history packed into a relatively small area.

It's also a side of Los Angeles that I think visitors can easily miss. LA is so often reduced to Hollywood, beaches, palm trees and traffic that it's easy to forget how much of the city's story began Downtown.

Why Grand Central Market Is Worth the Stop

Our friend being in town gave us the excuse to play tourist, but days like this always remind me that you don't have to be visiting Los Angeles to explore it. Sometimes seeing your own city through someone else's eyes makes you pay attention to places you've started taking for granted.

That's really what I want from these kinds of LA days. I'm not interested in racing from one attraction to another just to say we did everything. I'd rather choose a place with a story, give ourselves enough time to actually experience it and see where we end up next.

Grand Central Market is exactly that kind of place.

If you're visiting Los Angeles, make a point to come Downtown and see it. If you live here and haven't been in a while, consider this your excuse to go back. Come hungry, wander before you order, and leave enough time to explore beyond the market when you're finished.

More than a century after it opened, Grand Central Market is still doing what it has always done: feeding Los Angeles while the city continues to change around it. And I think that's reason enough to make it part of your day.