There is a nostalgia here. Like other iconic places in my hometown of Los Angeles, the Original Farmers Market has a strong association with my childhood, of being something special to be done with family or friends. I remember visiting every year or two, and being treated to something new: a smell, a taste, a sight. It was a visit I would relish, something that would expand my interests and my palate.

Today, the Original Farmers Market, located at the corner of 3rd Street and Fairfax Avenue in Los Angeles, is a bit more touristy than in the years of my childhood. A few of the stalls selling produce and meat are still there, but the rest have been replaced by slightly more gourmet eateries. Locals come, but of the people I spoke with on this visit, my first in at least six or eight years, basically all were from out of town. And prices reflect that; while there are some good deals still, the average cost of food seemed to be akin to dining out at a full-service restaurant.

But despite the crowds of tourists, and the incredibly trendy The Grove shopping center next door, LA’s Original Farmers Market has a cool story to tell. Let’s learn it together.

The Original Farmers Market has its origins in 1880, when Arthur Fremont Gilmore, a businessman from Illinois, purchased the land and an accompanying dairy herd. Local farmers rented space to sell their products to local residents. In 1905, when digging a new water well for his herd, Gilmore discovered oil.

This wasn’t pure oil like one would find in Texas or the Gulf. Oil beneath this area of Los Angeles is in the form of asphalt, although it is commonly mistaken for tar, hence the name of the nearby La Brea Tar Pits. (Click here to read about that cool place.) Of high quality or not, oil was worth more than dairy products, and the Gilmore Oil Company was born. Arthur Gilmore’s son, Earl Bell Gilmore, decided that he would use some of the revenue from the oil and turn the family property into an entertainment venue. He built Gilmore Field and Gilmore Stadium in the 1930s to host local sports teams, like the Pacific Coast League Hollywood Stars baseball team. (That team, coincidentally, was owned by Bing Crosby and Cecile B. Demille, among other actual Hollywood stars.)

In 1952, Television City (now CBS Studios) opened next door, and the Farmers Market became the go-to for many who worked there to find meals. Actual farmers stalls were supplemented by kiosks serving hot meals, and the current construction took shape. Over the decades, those stalls serving prepared food replaced the original farmers’ kiosks, and over time, sit down restaurants joined as well. (Du-Par’s, which still exists, actually dates back to 1938, although its current space is a bit newer.)

The sports stadiums are long gone, but the area around the Original Farmers Market is as desirable as ever, home to the Park La Brea upscale housing development and the 2002 shopping center, The Grove, which combines high-end shopping and dining with luxury apartments and some rather nice landscaping.

But the star is still the Original Farmers Market. Today’s iteration is a bit different than in the past. A couple of organic produce and meat vendors still exist, but it is much more a dining hub than anything. Visitors have food options ranging from diner and deli fare to innovative stalls selling things like pickle boats. (These are basically hollowed-out pickles filled with all sorts of things, including one with Nutella. I’m adventurous, but I stick to my pastrami on rye.)

Local hot sauces can be found at one store, gourmet nuts at another, and handmade ice cream a bit further down. Spicy chicken sandwiches (one of the more affordable options in a place where prices have skyrocketed to match sit-down dining even with merely counter service), po-boys, and Thai street food add to the choices.

I’m not sure that I would go too far out of my way to visit LA’s Original Farmers Market at this point in time, although the buses of tourists surely did just that. But on a day like this, when I intended to visit the nearby Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), it made sense to combine the activities with a brief fifteen minute or so walk between.

And I’m glad I did. Nostalgia is a valuable thing, and places like this are few and far between in today’s world where newer seems to be better to most people. Because despite its catering to tourists, and despite its ever-increasing prices, Los Angeles’ Original Farmers Market is an authentic piece of local history, one worth celebrating.

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