A Storegeek's Guide to the LA Marathon

[runchadrun]

As you might be able to tell from my username, I do a bit of running. It's a hobby, it keeps me from getting too fat, and I actually enjoy it. Last Sunday I ran the LA Marathon for the 5th time. This year there was a new course starting in Universal City and ending Downtown. Along the way it went through Hollywood, Koreatown, West Adams, Exposition Park, Downtown, over to Boyle Heights, and then back Downtown. It wasn't until the race started that I realized I could do some storegeeking while I was at it, especially since several of the stores had been mentioned here.

We started at the intersection of Lankershim (which turns into Cahuenga) and Ventura. Since there were 25,000 runners the pack went back several blocks and some people were lined up by this huge Ralphs that was built in the late 1990s, replacing a tennis club. The only thing I find interesting about it is that there is underground parking and there are elevators for you and your carts, which is something you don't see too much of around LA.
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=6817776

Moving down Cahuenga we passed the former Hanna Barbera HQ which is undergoing a hideous remodeling to "modernize" it. Almost directly across the street is a 1930's era market called the Oakcrest Market. It still has a vintage exterior but I've never been inside and I was running on the other side of the street so I couldn't look in. The only thing I could find on its history is that in 1937 it was called "Bina Dragna Gourd Place" which, as you might have guessed, sold "45 types of fancy gourds."
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=6839502

Down we went into Hollywood and eventually down Vine where we passed the Big Lots that's featured in this thread:
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=112 with even better pictures here: http://www.lottaliving.com/bb/viewtopic ... =lots+vine Unfortunately this building is in the way of a planned film museum.
Across the street is the site of the former Hollywood Ranch Market (now demolished) from this thread, which is now occupied by an Office Depot, former Liquor Barn:
http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=519

At the corner of Vine and Melrose is a Pavilions, former Safeway, mentioned in this thread: http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=39 If you look at this view you'll see it before it was remodeled: http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=3599056

We made our way into Koreatown and onto Olympic where we passed a Korean store that is a former gable Alpha Beta. On the old course this was at mile 23, this time it was mile 7 so I had more energy to admire it. It's mentioned in this thread: http://www.groceteria.com/board/viewtopic.php?t=677 and there's a picture at http://flickr.com/photos/operadork/14652773/

We turned down Hoover and went along the side of this Food4Less which is a former Boys Market. In 1980 the LA Times reported that someone found a disembodied head in a trash bin in the parking lot.
http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ne=3608730

From there on out, things ceased to be very interesting from a supermarket standpoint since we went through areas where either there is a great need for supermarkets and none exist, or no need at all because no one lives there, but the grocery industry was still represented. On the corner of MLK and Avalon I found the Golden Creme dairy plant, which is owned by Unified Western Grocers. http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=566991
Through the industrial area east of downtown we went by the old produce market on San Pedro, which was in rather bad condition, and then down 9th and Olympic past the current huge produce warehouse, then over the LA River by the famous old Sears warehouse and store. http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=596072

I'm sure there were other things out there that I didn't notice or know the significance of. I saw several pylon buildings but you never know what they may have been. I'm sure people thought I was strange as I was craning my neck to check out the cool front of the Big Lots on Vine since we were coming from the other direction. And in case you're interested in how I did in the marathon here's a link to my race report.