Meet Me At 3rd and Fairfax

After my Museum Row adventure, I had to hunker down and get some reading done for work.  Parks are always nice for sitting around and reading on a beautiful afternoon, so I headed over to the Pan Pacific Park across the street from The Grove.  I started looking it up in my guidebook, but found that the only place it is even mentioned is on one of the maps.  I quickly understood why.  This is a park that has clearly been neglected since it became completely overshadowed by the massive Grove and Farmers Market next door.  The grass grows in chunks, leaving sections of dirt and dust.  While kids play sports and families gather, the quality of the grounds is fairly abysmal, limited to a couple picnic tables and scattered rocks to lean on.

Once I had enough of flicking ants off my legs, I decided to head over to the Farmer's Market for something refreshing.  Now this is actually in the LP guide, as it well should be.  The Farmer's Market is one of the best places in LA to casually eat anything you can think of.  While it is barely a farmer's market anymore (despite the signs outside listing the cost of fresh fish and vegetables), it has some of the best Mexican, Mediterranean and Brazilian food in the nearby neighborhoods.  I found a great stand that offered fresh fruit smoothies (not the Jamba Juice variety that is a glorified milkshake with fruit) and headed over to the attached mall, The Grove.

While The Grove is technically an outdoor mall, it much more resembles a grown up Disneyland.  It has streets with trolleys carting people from one end to the other, with sidewalks leading to the various restaurants, shops and movie theatres.

In the center, a massive fountain dances to music.  The fountain was designed by the same designer as the famed fountain in front of the Bellagio Casino in Las Vegas.

I will say, this was a bit harder to look at as a tourist, as I spend quite a bit of time at The Grove.  It's one of my favorite places to see a movie, grab dinner or buy a book (see: http://lonelylosangeles.blogspot.com/2010/06/lonely-and-sparse-planet-guide-to-los.html).  While it doesn't have the best variety of shops for a day at the mall, it does have destination stores including the Apple Store, Crate and Barrel, Nordstroms and Anthropologie.

Because of what a popular destination The Grove is, I was shocked to see that it barely even got a mention in the section about the Farmer's Market.  I truly think it deserves it's very own paragraph, encouraging tourists to see how LA has reimagined the mall experience.

TIP: On July 13th, the Farmer's Market will be joining together for a one night event called Taste of Farmer's Market.  They will be selling tickets, starting at $25 that allows you to try the food at the various stands.  Some ticket levels also include booze if you want to get your friends together. http://www.farmersmarketla.com/store/ProductDetail.asp?idCategory=14

TIP: For the Karaoke lover, Wednesday nights are Karaoke night at the Farmer's Market.