Farmer's Market

We've only been there twice, but every time Dan and I go to The Grove and the Farmer's Market, we stumble on stardom. Being new to this area, I asked around about great places to visit at Christmas time and one friend mentioned The Grove. It took me awhile to figure out that it's basically just a mall attached to the much cooler Farmer's Market. Sure, The Grove has a fancy fountain with flexible nozzles that shoot water in various directions, red brick paths, and a cable car, in addition to The Gap, Crate and Barrel, and Pottery Barn for Kids, not to mention other high-end stores that I can't remember the names of right now. Basically it feels like Mainstreet USA for LA's upper-middle class. Its most redeeming quality in my eyes is the fact that from the roof of the parking garage you get a great view of the Hollywood sign. The Farmer's Market, on the other hand, has character, and we haven't even begun to scratch the surface. It's got lots of fresh fruit and vegetables, a variety of funnel cakes, a Brazilian Barbecue, a Korean Barbecue, butchers with lots of meat, ice cream, and Charlie's Coffee Shop.

So the last time we went, we decided to buy lunch at the Farmer's Market. I admit, I was a bit overwhelmed by all the choices and a little nervous about trying anything too unusual. Charlie's looked like a great place to begin my exploration because they serve breakfast all day. So I'm standing in line to order my steak sandwich when the lady behind me says, "Oh my gosh! That guy's famous." I turn around and give her a half smile because I'm no longer surprised to see movie stars. Okay, the real story is that I saw the guy myself and thought he looked familiar, but I'm not one to pry. This woman was though. She sent her two kids over to ask the guy if he was famous. Of course he said yes. Wouldn't you if two kids asked you if you were famous?

Dan and I found a table nearby. It was the only one open and had a convenient view of the "movie star" and the curling game on TV at the bar. And it was directly under a heating vent which was probably nice earlier in the day, but uncomfortably warm in the afternoon, explaining why it was available. After staring at the guy for awhile, my savant husband says, "You won't believe this but I think that guy's name is Richard Kind." I believed him, but just in case, we checked IMDB when we got home and Dan was right. Who's Richard Kind you ask? Exactly. He's the sort of guy that you know you've seen before and you can probably even hear his voice in your head, but you can't quite place him. Still, I was impressed because he let the kids take a picture with him (they were from Canada). While we ate lunch, Dan and I were torn between watching the curling game and watching people gawk at the guy. One guy suddenly made a weird arc around the table when he noticed Mr. Kind sitting there and then tried to surreptitiously turn around and stare, but of course we had pegged him as a gawker and enjoyed his attempts at subtlety.

Oh, and our other moment of star stumbling? After our first visit to The Grove (I have to mention that there aren't any trees that look grove-worthy anywhere near this place), we were driving up Santa Monica when we were forced to take an alternate route and just happened to drive by the Beverly Hilton, where they were holding the Golden Globe Awards that very night. We didn't see Joan Rivers, but there was a red carpet and a couple girls in skirts with TV Guide advertisements. I was in awe.