While Los Angeles may be most famous as the heart of the film and television industry, the produce trade has played a strong supporting role throughout the city’s storied history.
Long before its epic entertainment industry was born, the City of Angels was revered as an agricultural powerhouse. As a companion piece to this year’s Los Angeles market spotlight, we take a look back at L.A.’s fresh produce past.
Our timeline begins in the 1800s, many years before Napa and Sonoma were labeled as California’s wine country, when Los Angeles was home to the Golden State’s first vineyard.
For four decades, from 1909 to 1949, Los Angeles was the most productive agricultural county in the United States. During this era, farmers throughout the region harvested everything from grapes, oranges, and berries to cauliflower, celery, and tomatoes.
A Tale of Two Ports
Since the early 1900s, two L.A.-area ports have served as a major hub for California’s produce industry, moving millions of pounds of fruit and vegetables each year.
Officially founded in 1907, the Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro Bay, 25 miles south of downtown. The Port spans 7,500 acres of land and water along 43 miles of waterfront, and has the capacity to handle billions of dollars’ worth of cargo each year.
“The Port of Los Angeles is a megalopolis, with 21 million consumers within 200 miles of the port,” explains Phillip Sanfield, director of media relations for the Port of Los Angeles. The Port also benefits from an ideal location, only 20 miles from the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market.
In 1911, just a few years after the Port of LA was founded, the City of Long Beach opened its own port. Today, nearly 70 million pounds of fresh produce moves through the Port of Long Beach each year—mostly grapes, apples, pears, plums, peaches, avocados, and kiwi from Chile.
“As America’s second-busiest container port, the Port of Long Beach provides the capacity for easy, efficient access to the western United States and especially the sizable Los Angeles regional population,” remarks Dr. Noel Hacegaba, chief commercial and operations officer with the Port of Long Beach.
The two ports have always been competitors, but joined forces when necessary over the decades. “While Long Beach and Los Angeles compete for business,” confirms Hacegaba, “the two ports have cooperated on major regional infrastructure projects including the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, a major railyard operated by Union Pacific, and the Alameda Corridor rail freight expressway connecting the two ports to transcontinental railyards near downtown Los Angeles.”
While Los Angeles may be most famous as the heart of the film and television industry, the produce trade has played a strong supporting role throughout the city’s storied history.
Long before its epic entertainment industry was born, the City of Angels was revered as an agricultural powerhouse. As a companion piece to this year’s Los Angeles market spotlight, we take a look back at L.A.’s fresh produce past.
Our timeline begins in the 1800s, many years before Napa and Sonoma were labeled as California’s wine country, when Los Angeles was home to the Golden State’s first vineyard.
For four decades, from 1909 to 1949, Los Angeles was the most productive agricultural county in the United States. During this era, farmers throughout the region harvested everything from grapes, oranges, and berries to cauliflower, celery, and tomatoes.
A Tale of Two Ports
Since the early 1900s, two L.A.-area ports have served as a major hub for California’s produce industry, moving millions of pounds of fruit and vegetables each year.
Officially founded in 1907, the Port of Los Angeles is located in San Pedro Bay, 25 miles south of downtown. The Port spans 7,500 acres of land and water along 43 miles of waterfront, and has the capacity to handle billions of dollars’ worth of cargo each year.
“The Port of Los Angeles is a megalopolis, with 21 million consumers within 200 miles of the port,” explains Phillip Sanfield, director of media relations for the Port of Los Angeles. The Port also benefits from an ideal location, only 20 miles from the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market.
In 1911, just a few years after the Port of LA was founded, the City of Long Beach opened its own port. Today, nearly 70 million pounds of fresh produce moves through the Port of Long Beach each year—mostly grapes, apples, pears, plums, peaches, avocados, and kiwi from Chile.
“As America’s second-busiest container port, the Port of Long Beach provides the capacity for easy, efficient access to the western United States and especially the sizable Los Angeles regional population,” remarks Dr. Noel Hacegaba, chief commercial and operations officer with the Port of Long Beach.
The two ports have always been competitors, but joined forces when necessary over the decades. “While Long Beach and Los Angeles compete for business,” confirms Hacegaba, “the two ports have cooperated on major regional infrastructure projects including the Intermodal Container Transfer Facility, a major railyard operated by Union Pacific, and the Alameda Corridor rail freight expressway connecting the two ports to transcontinental railyards near downtown Los Angeles.”
Sanfield agrees: “The ports have worked closely together in several areas, particularly security and environmental issues,” he says. “In 2006, both ports worked together on a San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan, which has had great success.”
“In recent years, the two ports have also cooperated on efforts to improve port operations and optimize the supply chain,” adds Hacegaba. Despite these cooperative efforts, Sanfield says the two ports will continue to compete for cargo into the future.
LA Markets: A Dynamic Duo
Two wholesale markets handle the distribution of fresh fruits and vegetables throughout Los Angeles and beyond. One of the oldest and largest produce markets in the United States, the City Market of Los Angeles was first constructed in early 1909. In the late 1980s, the market underwent a major overhaul and was renamed the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market (LAWPM).
Sigma Sales, a broker, distributor, and shipper with 25 years in the business, has been based on the LAWPM for nine of these years. Sean Barton, vice president of sales and procurement with Sigma Sales, says the market has changed quite a bit during this time—especially in terms of consolidation. While there are “fewerbusinesses, the ones that are around are of fairly decent size.”
Steps away from the LAWPM is the Seventh Street Market, founded in 1918. Originally known as the Los Angeles Terminal Market, it’s located at the southern terminus of the Southern Pacific railway.
The Los Angeles Terminal Market once served as the gateway for 10 percent of U.S. food distribution. Today, themarket is responsible for 1 percent of U.S. produce, according to the Los Angeles Produce Market Association.
Momentous Milestones
Here are a few of Los Angeles’ notable fresh produce highlights from the 1800s to present day.
1850
Los Angeles is incorporated as a municipality, and California becomes the 30th state in the union.
1873
The seedless navel orange is introduced to California from Brazil.
1877
Thanks to new refrigerated boxcar technology, California oranges are transported all the way to St. Louis, where they boom in popularity. Agriculture begins to replace ranching as the heart of the local economy.
1880
Citrus, wine grapes, and other fruits and vegetables are grown throughout the Los Angeles area. The area of present-day Beverly Hills consists mostly of bean fields; Hollywood is made up of fig orchards.
1881
The Southern Pacific Railroad links Los Angeles directly with the eastern United States for the first time, allowing for the transport of fresh produce.
1901
In response to increased consumer demand, the City of Los Angeles leases a vacant lot at Ninth Street and Los Angeles Street to provide a more regulated space for the exchange of fruit and vegetables. The Hughes Market opens its stalls the same year and grows at a rapid rate.
1903
After outgrowing its boundaries, the Hughes Market leases another vacant lot from the City of Los Angeles at Third Street and Central, establishing the Los Angeles Market Company.
1906
The City of Los Angeles annexes a 16mile strip of land on the outskirts of San Pedro and Wilmington. Three years later, these two harbor towns join the City of Los Angeles.
1907
The Port of Los Angeles is officially founded with the creation of the Los Angeles Board of Harbor Commissioners.
1909
A multiethnic group of immigrant farmers and vendors from China, Russia, and Japan unite to organize a wholesale produce marketplace aptly named the City Market.
The complex has eight brick and reinforced concrete buildings around central loading docks. Eventually, the premises becomes outdated and is overtaken by the larger Seventh Street Market.
1911
The Port of Long Beach officially opens.
1914
The Panama Canal brings transpacific traffic to the Port of Los Angeles.
1917
The Grand Central Market opens on South Broadway, a commercial and entertainment corridor in downtown Los Angeles.
1918
The Southern Pacific Railroad completes construction on the Wholesale Terminal Market, which becomes the focal point of the L.A. produce trade.
1920s
The Grand Central Market is now home to more than 90 vendors. A boom in petroleum, lumber, and citrus leads to explosive growth for the Port of Los Angeles.
For the first time in history, Los Angeles surpasses San Francisco as the busiest seaport on the West Coast and ranks second in U.S. foreign export tonnage after New York.
1934
The original Farmers Market opens at the corner of Third Street and Fairfax Avenue. In July farmers and a handful of merchants park at the corner and sell fresh produce from the beds of their trucks; by October there are permanent stalls. To celebrate their success, Market founders host a celebration: the first Fall Festival at Farmers Market.
1937
The Port of L.A.’s middle breakwater 18,500-foot extension is completed.
1939
The Port of Long Beach’s inner harbor hydraulic dredging project begins.
1946
Construction resumes (after the end of World War II) on the San Pedro Bay breakwater and is completed in 1949.
1959
The first shipment of cargo containers arrives in Los Angeles, beginning the era of ‘containerization.’
1962
Construction begins on Long Beach’s Piers J and F; when completed three years later, it is the world’s largest landfill project to date.
1972
The first dedicated container terminal opens at Port of Long Beach.
1983
Port of Los Angeles completes dredging of the main channel to 45 feet.
1985
For the first time in its history, the Port of Los Angeles handles 1 million containers in a year.
1986
The L.A. Community Redevelopment Agency renovates the wholesale market and renames it the Los Angeles Wholesale Produce Market (LAWPM).
1989
Container traffic at the Port of Los Angeles exceeds 2 million containers.
2000
Port of Los Angeles officially becomes the busiest port in North America by container volume.
2002
Port of Long Beach opens its largest container terminal, a nearly 400-acre facility on a former naval complex. The Alameda Corridor rail freight expressway also opens, significantly enhancing rail operations.
2006
The ports of jointly release the San Pedro Bay Ports Clean Air Action Plan to reduce emissions by 50 percent over the next five years. The two ports become environmental stewards for ports around the globe.
2011
The Los Angeles Produce Market Association is founded to provide a united voice for merchants and spearheads marketing and promotional programs to raise public awareness of the health benefits of eating fruits and vegetables.
2013
A portion of the City Market, the oldest wholesale produce market in Los Angeles, is purchased by downtown developer LENA. Renamed City Market South, the new open-air development offers a combination of restaurant, retail, entertainment, and office space.
2014
Atlas Capital Group LLC acquires the 30-acre LA Terminal Market property and renames it Row DTLA (Downtown LA). The mixed-use development is slated to house restaurants, stores, and creative offices in addition to an open-air food market.
2016
The Port of Los Angeles handles 8.8 million TEUs (truck equivalent units), establishing a new Western Hemisphere port record. Imports reach nearly 455,000 metric tons and exports exceed 392,000 metric tons of fruit and vegetables.
Not to be outdone, the Port of Long Beach completes Phase 1 of its harbor redevelopment project, making the Long Beach Container Terminal the most technologically advanced and sustainable operation in the nation.
2017
January proves to be the busiest January and the second busiest month in Port of Los Angeles history. Imports increase 13.1 percent compared to the previous January and exports rise by 28.7 percent.
Fruit and vegetable imports for the month reach 4,885 TEUs, accounting for 1.1 percent of the total 415,423 TEU imports that month.
LA Produce: Then & Now
Looking back at LA’s storied history, there’s no question that the fresh produce trade has played a major role across the dec-ades. As the city continues to evolve and areas are redeveloped, its wholesale markets face unique challenges and uncertainties.
Despite these obstacles, the produce industry remains strong in the City of Angels—and much of this success can be owed to the area’s two thriving ports, a pipeline for tons of fruit and vegetables each day.
“The Port of Los Angeles is well positioned to continue to be the primary North American trade gateway,” says Sanfield. “We continue to build on our unparalleled world-class infrastructure while improving supply chain optimization and providing outstanding customer service to our customers.”
Dr. Hacegaba is equally optimistic about what lies ahead for the Port of Long Beach. “Our future is bright,” he enthuses. “We are strategically located, offering direct access to most major U.S. markets.”
Better yet, major investments are on the way including “$4 billion this decade for infrastructure improvements and $3 billion the next decade to handle the big ships of tomorrow with world-class efficiency,” he shares. “We’re confident these efforts will keep us ahead of the competition today and in the future.”
