A Meal Made of Tastings at LA's Original Farmers Market
A guided tasting walk through the 1934 market at Third and Fairfax, where stall-by-stall bites add up to a full meal.
The Original Farmers Market at Third and Fairfax has two clock towers, and only one of them is the meeting point. The guide waits under the tall clock tower on the north side, the one with the Taschen bookstore at its base. The listing is blunt about the other: do not wait at the clock tower near Starbucks. That one is the market's first tower, according to the market's own history page.
From the tall tower the walk runs two and a half hours through stalls whose businesses, the listing says, date anywhere from 1934 to now.
The ticket covers a local guide and tastings from nine or more stops, which the listing says amount to lunch. Drinks with alcohol are sold separately, and tips and parking are extra.
Los Angeles Original Farmers Market Small-Group Food Walking TourSmall-group food walk with a local guide inside the Original Farmers Market, 150 minutes, tastings from nine-plus stops.www.viator.comA Meal Arrives One Stall at a Time
The listing promises tastings from nine or more stops that add up to lunch. Guest accounts from 2017 and 2018 describe anywhere from five to about ten food stops, and several of those guests write that they did not need another meal afterward.
The walking is light: about 3,000 steps by the listing's estimate, with frequent places to sit down. The market itself says none of its patio tables can be reserved.
Food allergies and dietary limits have to be flagged when you book; the operator says it cannot arrange tasting substitutions if it first hears about them at the start of the tour.
It Began With Farm Trucks in July 1934
The market's own history starts in July 1934, when a dozen farmers and a few other merchants parked their trucks at the corner of Third and Fairfax and sold produce from the back. Fred Beck and Roger Dahlhjelm had brought the idea to E.B. Gilmore, whose family owned the land and, the market says, still owns and runs it. The clock tower followed in the late 1940s.
In 1991 Los Angeles designated the market, together with the Rancho La Brea adobe inside the same complex, Historic-Cultural Monument No. 543. The listing folds that history into the walk between tastings.
Parking Outlasts the Free Window
The listing counts parking as an extra and puts it at about USD 20. That matches the cap the market posted in 2016.
As of early 2025, the market's posted rates give the first 90 minutes free, or two hours with validation from select grocers, and then charge by the quarter hour up to USD 47 a day. A 150-minute tour on its own runs past both free windows. Without any validation, the daily cap is USD 56.
Children, Wheelchairs and Weather
Children under five can come along free, the listing says, though unpaid guests get no tastings; the operator recommends strollers. The market says all of its shops and patios are accessible, and the Farmers Market Office lends wheelchairs. The walk runs in all weather; dress for the day.
One booking takes up to twelve travelers. A full refund needs cancellation at least 24 hours before the start time.
📍 The meeting point is the tall north clock tower at 6333 W 3rd St. The listing offers 9:00 AM, 9:30 AM and 5:30 PM start times and none on Mondays. Booking closes four hours before each start time. For anyone lost or running late, the operator's number is 323-640-1753, by call or text.
A 2017 guest left the most practical advice: "Be prepared to go back browsing to buy goods."