California Market

Aww, I just stopped by a week or two ago and IT’S GONE! Apparently, they’ve moved and will reopen as «The G» Gaju Marketplace at 4317 Beverly Blvd. (at Kingsley Drive), which is either under construction or already been built. See my photo. I’m not sure what will happen to this building, but they seem to be doing renovations. I hope they don’t tear it down as I believe it to be a historical building where the Koreans sat on the roof during the 1992 LA Riots and sniped people with sawed-​off shotguns. Ah, history.
I just realized that this also means Koo’s Grill, the Korean sweet pancake truck, which normally sat out in front of the market entrance is gone! I feel like a lost soul now. One day I will find Koo’s Grill again and I will cherish it with hugs and kisses… after I sanitize the part I’m gonna touch.

There used to be a CA Market where I’m from in Orange County, but it closed down, so I was a tad bit happy to see one in LA when I came here for school. I needed some rice cake (making some bacon-​wrapped dduk — yes!) so I drove out there. I went toward the vegetables, etc. and saw bok choy 5lb for $ 1! I grabbed a bag of it and walked around.
As I turned the corner, I noticed the shelves were more than half empty. I kept walking around looking for my rice cake, all the shelves had 30% groceries signs on them. After 15 mins of confused walking, I finally saw the sign. This CA Market is actually moving over to the one on Beverly & Kingsley. The sale lasts 3 more days (including tonight). I bought 2 bags of pasta, enchilada sauce, 3 lbs of bok choy (@ least), a bag of enoki mushrooms all for just $ 2.60 after tax! They also have some soju and LOTS OF beef on sale. I was a little weary of the meats, but other people were definitely buying them. Go while the sale/​supplies last!

The question is… Is wider better?
Wider is better in this case… meaning the aisles can accommodate more than a single line of grocery shoppers with chrome steel 4×4 go-​carts. This is an important point to consider since most of the shoppers are crazed elderly Asian women trying to beat you to a particular food item. Yes, it’s worse in a grocery store than the 10 at 5pm on a Friday. Mind you, there are no hands-​free laws for shopping carts; so they are jabbering away with a mobile in one ear, while steering with their elbow and grabbing things with their spare hand, not to mention cursing you out for being in the way (it’s true that elder crazed Asian women are the best multitaskers around.) So the wider aisles are a lifesaver in being able to get outta their way. Because of this, this place seems much more subdued than the Hannam Grocery chain on Olympic.
GaJu (California) Market seems more civilized and a bit more upscale; however, why would I go to a grocery store in K-​Town that reminds me of a Ralphs or Vons/​Pavilions. I WANT CHAOS! This place just doesn’t seem to have the diverse selection that Hannam has. Maybe I’m just used to seeing jammed-​packed aisles and 400 different products on one shelf. I miss the 20′-foot towers of instant noodles and Korean-​style seaweed packets. Even the Soju selection isn’t as broad as the smaller Hannam chain.
There are several things this market has going for it:
— Patrons walking around with a ho-​dduk in their hands, I found the be-​all and end-​all to my search (
). Thanks to Jessica (Jolindita) Y. and Stella C. for telling me about these mixes. I can now make a green tea ho-​dduk for 50 cents!
— The stern ladies making the homemade kimchi and stuffed peppers in the back of the market. They seem to have a following of stern elder lady patrons as well and have screaming matches with each other.
@Grace Y. Koo’s is still better than mine *shakes fist*
Parking like with any grocery store in K-​Town is abnormally awful — but like I always say, when you have the largest population of Koreans outside of Korea in your neighborhood — Live with it!

I’m not sure if I’m the best person to grade a super market since I’m a bachelor and I live off of beer and gummy worms and the occasional can of SPAM but last night I hosted a impromptu dinner gig and had to stop by this store on the way home to pick up a few essentials.
If you can ignore the ornery old security officer in the parking lot blowing his whistle every 10 seconds and the millions of buckets inside collecting rain dripping from that thing they call a ceiling then you’ll find that they have some great stuff:
1. Super fat hot jalapenos for .89 lbs
2. $ 2.99 lbs sam gyup sal
3. The best kimchi this side of Han Bhat Sul Lung Tang
4. A ton of Cutie tangerines
5. 10 cans of SPAM for $ 10!
6. $ 9.99 1.75 liter soju bottle
7. Ho Ddduk cart!
I’m sure they don’t have any of that more bougouie stuff but I don’t care. This place has easy parking (3 entrances) a full time security guard and the stuff a man requires to eat like a man.

STOP BY for the cart in front! $ 1 Korean honey pancakes! It took me 5 tries and a crap load of effort to make the same the pancakes… never again… cause it’s only $ 1…I drop by after korean bbq or phở in ktown.
The market itself is bleh. Nothing special. My beloved kim baps are not sold over the counter instead there are restaurants in there where u have to put in an order for. Not convenient if you’re there after 11pm because they’re closed.