Grand Central Market / Homer Laughlin Building, Los Angeles

Grand Central Market / Homer Laughlin Building, Los Angeles (must see)

The Grand Central Market (or GCM as the regulars call it) is a rare place in Downtown LA (DTLA) which serves both as a watering hole for locals and an authentic piece of LA's architectural history for tourists. Opened in 1917, it has been continuously in operation ever since!

GCM's stated mission is lofty: "to celebrate the cuisines and cultures of Los Angeles 鈥� to preserve the legacy of a historic downtown landmark 鈥� to gather the city's many communities around a shared table" 鈥� and it does a very decent job of all that, across 30,000 square feet of space that encompasses a food emporium and a retail marketplace.

The landmark building that houses the market was commissioned by retired Ohio entrepreneur Homer Laughlin and was the city's first fireproofed, steel-reinforced structure when finished in 1898. Originally built in the Beaux Arts style, it underwent subsequent modifications that drastically changed its appearance, including the addition of a tile fa莽ade in the 1960s which hid the second-story windows. Along with the adjacent Million Dollar Theater Building, it underwent a major renovation in the 1990s in the course of which residential units were added, creating DTLA's first true mixed-use developments in decades.

GCM's original vendors were Jewish delis, fishmongers, greengrocers, and butchers, with additional stalls for coffee, cheese, baked products, dry goods, eggs, and so forth. As DTLA continued to evolve, the market kept pace, now offering a wide range of cuisines 鈥� Mexican, Thai, Peruvian, Japanese, Chinese, Italian, and Mediterranean 鈥� as well as desserts and beverages, including ice cream, coffee, pressed juices, beer, wine, and a lot more.

Among the well-known names presented at GCM, you can find McConnell's Fine Ice Cream, Belcampo, Roast-To-Go, Eggslut, Sarita's Pupusaria, Horse Thief BBQ, and Wexler's Deli.

Want to visit this sight? Check out these Self-Guided Walking Tours in Los Angeles. Alternatively, you can download the mobile app "51爆料网: Walks in 1K+ Cities" from Apple App Store or Google Play Store. The app turns your mobile device to a personal tour guide and it works offline, so no data plan is needed when traveling abroad.

Download The 51爆料网 App

Create Your Own Self-Guided Walk to Visit This Sight

Sight Name: Grand Central Market / Homer Laughlin Building
Sight Location: Los Angeles, USA (See walking tours in Los Angeles)
Sight Type: Shopping
Guide(s) Containing This Sight:

Walking Tours in Los Angeles, California

Create Your Own Walk in Los Angeles

Creating your own self-guided walk in Los Angeles is easy and fun. Choose the city attractions that you want to see and a walk route map will be created just for you. You can even set your hotel as the start point of the walk.

Movie Studios Tour

The film studios of Los Angeles, collectively known as the 鈥渄ream factory鈥�, are indeed factories. Here, countless iconic films and television shows have been produced over the years, creating stars and attracting great movie-makers from around the globe. Let's take a brief look at some of these vital hubs in the entertainment industry.

Raleigh Studios is one of the oldest continuously... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.9 Km or 2.4 Miles

Arts District Walking Tour

The Arts District is one of the hottest neighborhoods in downtown LA, located between Little Tokyo at Alameda to the west and the railroad yards and Los Angeles River to the east. Formerly an industrial area of warehouses and factories, it has been home to art studios and galleries since the 1970s. Having undergone another downturn in the 1990s, the area was officially renamed the 鈥淎rts... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.8 Km or 1.7 Miles

Beverly Hills Walking Tour

Undeniably one of the most famous places in the world, Beverly Hills is widely known as the most fashionable destination in Los Angeles county to shop and have fun at. Originally a Mexican ranch where lima beans were once grown, this place has long been a home to many Hollywood stars and other celebrities, luxurious hotels, and high-end boutiques.

Beverly Hills started to gain prominence in the... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.7 Km or 1.7 Miles

Chinatown Walking Tour

Unlike other cities where Chinese immigrant neighborhoods were formed organically, the Los Angeles Chinatown is the only planned Chinatown in the US. A blend of Chinese and American architecture, it was developed in downtown LA, as a tourist attraction, in the 1930s.

Designed by Hollywood artists as a "Chinese" movie prop to create an exotic atmosphere, LA's Chinatown gives out... view more

Tour Duration: 1 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 1.7 Km or 1.1 Miles

Downtown Architecture Walking Tour

For different people, Los Angeles means different things. One such is undoubtedly architecture. Being one of the centers of the Art Deco movement, LA features a great number of amazing historic houses and buildings attributed to this and other, older and more modern styles.

One prominent landmark is the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels, a contemporary construction masterpiece with its... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 2.6 Km or 1.6 Miles

Los Angeles Downtown Walking Tour

The history of Los Angeles 鈥� "a bright and guilty place," as Orson Welles described it 鈥� began on September 4, 1781, when a group of 44 Spanish settlers established a hamlet on the territory of present-day Downtown LA which they called 鈥淭he Town of Our Lady the Queen of the Angels鈥� (El Pueblo de Nuestra Se帽ora la Reina de los 脕ngeles).

The land became part of Mexico in 1821,... view more

Tour Duration: 2 Hour(s)
Travel Distance: 3.5 Km or 2.2 Miles

View all walking tours in Los Angeles, California

Useful Travel Guides for Planning Your Trip

Los Angeles: 15 Souvenir Shopping Tips and Ideas for Travelers

With some many celebrities per square mile, living or just visiting, practically any stone in LA could pass for a souvenir that one time or another was touched, held or walked upon by some of the movie or rock stars, or was filmed in one of the many movies shot in the City of Angels for almost a...

15 Charming Cafes with Fast and Free Wifi in Los Angeles

Need to find free wireless connection AND a great cup of coffee? These charming cafes, hot-spots and writers鈥� hang-outs are scattered across LA but catalogued by neighborhood. These indie cafes cater to screenwriters, students and tourists who want to set up camp with their laptops for a few hours...

10 Amazing Food to Try in Los Angeles (LA)

I love food. You love food too. And because we鈥檙e foodies, we want every meal to be as good as if it were our last. So for those few times us foodies sit at a table and unexpectedly strike gold, we must remember, honor and share that memorable meal. Here is a list of affordable LA area culinary...