Juice Bar Near Me in Huntington Park: Root of Life Juicery

Root of Life Juicery presses its juices at 2925 East Florence Avenue in Huntington Park, at the corner of Mountain View Avenue, and most of them cost $9.50 on the shop's own online menu. It opens at 7am Monday through Friday and 8am on weekends, closing at 5pm on weekdays and 4pm on Saturday and Sunday. For anyone in Southeast Los Angeles typing juice bar near me, this is the independent counter that started at local farmers' markets.

Maria Pacheco and her friend and business partner Robert Valdez began by selling juice in glass bottles at farmers' markets in Huntington Park, South Gate, Downey, Long Beach and Whittier. LA Taco reported in May 2018 that they opened the shop in March 2017, and that their families doubted a juice store could work in Huntington Park. Pacheco said relatives told her to sell bionicos instead, and she refused to sell sugar-heavy fruit cups to the same people she was trying to help.

Pacheco, then a nutritional science student at East Los Angeles College, told LA Taco the shop does not use syrups or sherbet and does not add sugar to its juices. Early regulars followed them from the market stalls; one South Gate customer told the paper she walked up to Maria's booth, started talking and never stopped. The 2018 piece also described couches, WiFi, a take-a-book shelf and a classic rock playlist.

The cold-pressed list reads like the neighborhood. Nopalito blends cactus with moringa, cucumber, spinach and pineapple, and it is the juice to try if you have never had nopal in a cup. Green Thunder goes deep into greens with dandelion, collards, chard, kale, spinach, parsley and romaine, brightened with ginger, lemon and apple. Both are $9.50, as are Aphrodite, a beet, celery, carrot and orange juice with a splash of apple cider vinegar, and the sunnier Turmeric Tonic.

A few juices are built for a specific job. Nature's Flu Shot is ginger root, turmeric root, seasonal honey, lemon, alkaline water and cayenne, and Pineapple Express adds chia seeds to pineapple, apple, ginger and turmeric. Killer Cabbage is purple cabbage with apple, ginger, lemon and coconut vinegar. Straight Up Celery is exactly that, for $8.25. Any four bottles can be mixed into a Wellness 4-Pack for $35.

The shots are where the shop gets inventive. The Cure is $4 and combines zinc with turmeric root, ginger root, apple cider vinegar, orange and cayenne. Señor Ajo, at $6.50, blends garlic and purple onion with pineapple, lemon, ginger, honey and cayenne, which is not for a first date. Breath Better adds oregano oil to apple, ginger, lemon and cayenne for $6.

Order the Almond Horchata at least once. It is made from sprouted almonds, Medjool dates, cinnamon and Himalayan salt, with no rice and no added sugar, and it is $10.50. The shop even sells a Horchata Pin for $5, which tells you how attached regulars are to it. The smoothies are $10, including Viva La Vida with spirulina, pineapple, mango, kale, flaxseed and hemp hearts.

The kitchen side is just as popular. The menu calls the PB Roots its most ordered waffle, served with blueberries, sliced banana, hemp seeds and a peanut butter drizzle, for $13. The Cali-Bowl is acai blended with pressed apple juice and blue agave, topped with granola, coconut, pepitas and fruit, for $16. For October, the online menu also lists a creamy pumpkin cheesecake swirled with fall spices at $6.50.

You can order at the counter or online for pickup or delivery. The official pickup note says orders marked ready are on your right as you walk in, labeled by name, so there is no need to queue again. Online pickup closes at 3:45pm every day, earlier than the door, and delivery only reaches the 90255 ZIP code with a $25 minimum.

The customers are neighbors more than tourists. LA Taco described mothers walking in with children for a juice, and Pacheco explaining in Spanish to an older customer and her family that turmeric helps with inflammation. That bilingual counter talk is part of the appeal, and the staff are used to first-timers asking what a nopal juice tastes like. Ask them which juice is best that week; the produce follows the farms.

Skip the Monster Bowl if you only want a snack; at $17 with peanut butter blended into the acai, it is a full meal. The Cali-Bowl is lighter and a dollar cheaper. The hours are the real constraint: the shop closes at 5pm on weekdays and 4pm on weekends, so this is a morning or lunch stop, not an after-work one. Early weekday mornings, right after the 7am opening, are the calmest time to visit.

If you arrive after closing, come back the next morning and order ahead online so your juice is waiting on the pickup shelf when you walk in after the 7am weekday opening. For a coffee instead of a juice, the same menu now carries lattes such as a Spanish latte with sweetened condensed milk and cinnamon, and an Americano, so a mixed group can order in one stop.

The shop sits in a small plaza on the corner of Florence and Mountain View Avenue, and LA Taco noted that homes sit as close as 100 feet away, which keeps the foot traffic local. Huntington Park is its own city inside Los Angeles County, south-east of downtown Los Angeles, and Florence Avenue is one of its main east-west corridors, lined with family businesses, bakeries and taquerias.

With a juice in hand, a short drive brings you to Pacific Boulevard, the city's best-known shopping street, for a walk past its storefronts. Saint Matthias Catholic Church is a few minutes' walk from the shop. If you came for the farmers' market roots, Root of Life still sells its Wellness 4-Pack and cleanses for taking home.

Address: 2925 East Florence Avenue, Huntington Park, CA 90255, at Mountain View Avenue. Hours: Monday to Friday 7am to 5pm, Saturday and Sunday 8am to 4pm; online pickup until 3:45pm. Most cold-pressed juices are $9.50, smoothies $10, the Almond Horchata $10.50 and The Cure shot $4. Delivery covers ZIP 90255 only, with a $25 minimum.