Graze globally at L.A.’s ORIGINAL FARMERS MARKET Feed a beast at OSTRICHLAND USA
The Original Farmers Market was old-school Los Angeles before there was television. Founded in 1934, it’s a place whose roots hold fast through daily tides of tourists. It includes more than 100 eateries, markets and shops. Live music often happens on Friday nights, and all day every day the patios seem full of schmoozing showbiz folk between gigs.
For French food, try Monsieur Marcel Gourmet Market. For tacos, Trejo’s. For pie, Dupar’s (since 1938). For coffee table books that might be larger and costlier than your coffee table itself, there’s the tightly packed 550-square-foot Taschen bookshop under the clock tower. If you’re traveling with teens or you want a full-blown shopping excursion, you’ll also need to head next door to the Grove, whose burbling fountain, circling trolley and piped-in Sinatra vocals have become part of L.A. DNA (even though the mogul behind the mall, Rick Caruso, couldn’t quite get elected mayor last year). The Grove includes more than a dozen restaurants, and 14 movie screens don’t hurt. The Grove has more parking and foot traffic but the market has seniority.
BONUS TIP: For more old/new contrasts, wander among the teen-seeking streetwear shops on Fairfax Avenue between Beverly Boulevard and Melrose Avenue — the Hundreds and Solestage, for instance — and you’ll find they’re neighbored by older Jewish markets and restaurants, mostly notably Canter’s, which is open all hours.
Let’s say you’re in the Santa Ynez Valley and you’ve had enough winetasting and fancy restaurants. Or enough Chumash gaming (in Santa Ynez) and Danish decor (in Solvang). Or your kid has earned a treat by putting up with the aforesaid.
Here’s your answer: a highly affordable, not entirely predictable, close-up encounter with a living, breathing, aggressive, malodorous almost-dinosaur. That is, an ostrich. Or its cousin, the emu. OstrichLand USA is a sort of zoo where families go to see and feed more than 100 of these tall, big-eyed, sharp-beaked creatures. You pay $7 per adult ($3 for kids 12 and under), plus $1 for some pellets in a bowl, then make your way down to the wooden fence that separates people from beasts. If you have a bowl, don’t worry, the birds will find you. Just keep a good grip on that bowl, because ostriches move fast, have strong jaws and are not shy. (I didn’t see anyone get bitten in my hour there, but plenty of people were startled.) It’s open 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily.
BONUS TIP: These ostriches are not on their way to becoming jerky. They live out their lives (as long as 75 years) on these 33 acres. Native to Africa, they reach weights of up to 350 pounds, heights of eight to nine feet. (Young ones can grow a foot per month.) They’re said to be the largest and fastest-running birds on Earth. And once they stick their beaks in your bowl, you will not be bored.