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From Grand Central Market to Supermarket

The Los Angeles Jewish Grocer

Cate Roman, Author

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The Los Angeles Jewish Grocer | Four Family Stories


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Jewish merchants were among the earliest settlers in Los Angeles when California became an American state in 1850. In 1865, Prussian Jewish immigrant Harris Newmark started what became the largest wholesale grocery firm in Southern California.  By the late 1800’s, Hellman, Haas & Co opened a 2-story wholesale grocery on Los Angeles Street near the Plaza. These firms remained active as a new generation of Jewish entrepreneurs arrived in the fast-growing metropolis.

When the Grand Central Market opened in 1917, on the ground floor of the Homer Laughlin Building, located at 315 South Broadway, many of the stalls were operated by Jewish merchants.

Jewish grocers were on the forefront of grocery store innovation and quick to adapt to changing business styles. In the 1920’s, grocery shopping shifted from clerk served to self serve and then later to the supermarket model. Jewish grocers were both central and marginal in these important economic developments.

Follow four family stories beginning in the early 1900’s to discover the Jewish contribution to the way Los Angeles shops for groceries.
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