Happy 2019, my fellow stalkers! I was originally going to write about a different locale today, one that was sadly lost in the Woolsey Fire, but decided it would be best to start the year off on a happier note. So instead I’m covering a quintessential Los Angeles spot that I have stalked countless times, but somehow never blogged about – DTLA’s Grand Central Market. The bustling food emporium/retail grocery mart is a virtual city landmark, though I only visited it for the first time while on jury duty in 2007, a full seven years after I moved to Southern California! Upon stepping inside the vibrant marketplace and poring through the rows upon rows of diverse food vendors – an activity that was recommended as part of jury orientation – I was immediately enthralled. The Grim Cheaper and I subsequently popped by countless times in the years that followed to grab a bite to eat or do some specialty grocery shopping, but it was not until spotting the place in a Season 4 episode of Bosch recently that I realized I had yet to dedicate a post to it. So here goes.
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Grand Central Market is situated on the ground floor of what is, interestingly enough, two adjacent buildings. The Homer Laughlin Building, which fronts Broadway, was designed by architect John Parkinson for Homer Laughlin, founder of the Homer Laughlin China Company, in 1897. Eight years later, Harrison Albright was commissioned to build an adjoining structure, facing Hill Street, to enlarge the property. My photos below show the secondary edifice, known as the Laughlin Annex/Lyon Building. Upscale department store Ville de Paris became the first tenant of the two building’s massive street level space, which opens to both Hill and Broadway.
I had always assumed Grand Central was a more recent addition to the Los Angeles landscape, established sometime in the 1990s or thereabouts, and was shocked to discover while researching for this post that it actually opened its doors on October 27th, 1917, just a few months after Ville de Paris relocated to a different location downtown. More than one hundred years later, the market is still a DTLA staple.
Stretching a full city block, the 30,000-square-foot emporium initially housed 90 vendors and catered to the wealthy Angelinos living just up the road in Bunker Hill, who accessed the market via Angels Flight situated right across the street. Today, the locale plays host to more than 25,000 visitors each day – area businessmen and women, tourists and locals alike, all looking for a unique bite to eat or specialty ingredient to take home.
Grand Central Market has been rehabbed a few times throughout its history – first in the 1960s, then in 1990, and then again, to the chagrin of many locals, in 2013. Regardless of the revamps, the site is doing better than ever today. In fact, Bon Appétit magazine named the entire place one of the best new restaurants of 2014! Boasting 38 stalls, the locale offers such varied fare as German currywurst, Japanese bento boxes, fresh oysters, and handmade Salvadorian pupusas. You’ll also find staples like handcrafted bread, gourmet coffees and teas, and artisanal cheeses.
Bright, vibrant and colorful, GCM serves as the heartbeat of downtown. As such, it is no surprise that the site has wound up onscreen in numerous L.A.-set productions.
In the Season 4 episode of Bosch titled “Ask the Dust,” which aired in April 2018, Harry Bosch (Titus Welliver) walks through the Broadway entrance of Grand Central Market and is then shown exiting the Hill Street side on his way to Angels Flight, where the murder of a prominent lawyer has recently occurred. Only the outside of the locale is shown in the scene, though.
Back in 1974, Grand Central Market was the site of a lengthy chase and shootout in the comedy/action flick Busting.
Eddie Moscone (Joe Pantoliano) convinces Jack Walsh (Robert De Niro) to track down accountant/embezzler Jonathan Mardukas (Charles Grodin) over breakfast there at the beginning of 1988’s Midnight Run.
In 1991, Huell Howser chronicled Grand Central Market in the episode of California’s Gold titled “L.A. Adventures,” which you can watch here.
Gy. Sgt. James Dunn (Keenen Ivory Wayans) takes refuge in the emporium at the end of the 1997 thriller Most Wanted.
Seth (Nicolas Cage) and Dr. Maggie Rice (Meg Ryan) shop for produce there in the 1998 drama City of Angels.
Sam Dawson (Sean Penn) does the International House of Pancakes quiz with a random stranger – and mistakenly gets arrested for solicitation – at Grand Central Market in I Am Sam, though very little of the place can be seen in the 2001 drama.
Mia (Emma Stone) and Sebastian (Ryan Gosling) are very, very briefly shown grabbing pupusas there in the 2016 favorite La La Land.
And in 2018’s Will & Liz, Grand Central Market is the spot where titular characters Will (Nathan Wilson) and Liz (Christine Tucker) go on a date.
Though several sites claim that GCM was also featured in National Treasure, that is incorrect. The 2004 adventure flick’s market scene was actually lensed about 3,000 miles away at Reading Terminal Market in Philadelphia, as I blogged about here.
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Until next time, Happy Stalking! 
Stalk It: Grand Central Market, from the “Ask the Dust” episode of Bosch, is located at 317 South Broadway in downtown Los Angeles. You can visit the emporium’s official website here.
HUMMM. might need to put this on my watchlist.