The LA farmer's market where celebrities are as plentiful as the produce

CNN

4 days ago

Even if you have never been to Los Angeles, you may still harbor a subconscious awareness of Studio City Farmers Market. There, amongst the 85 organic produce vendors, did paparazzi first snap Jeremy Allen White back in 2023 straining against the weight of freshly-cut flowers the size of his torso — a sight that has since become a viral sensation.
So memorable is that sighting of White that it was even raised during a recent appearance on 'The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.'
'You're always carrying giant bouquets of flowers everywhere you are, I love it. It's your thing,' said Fallon. 'I have this farmer's market near my house,' White said. 'It's on Sundays and I just love going there, I love having flowers in my house.'
Apparently, so does every other celebrity within a 20 mile radius of the southeast San Fernando Valley, where Studio City Farmers Market — an LA institution that has been running since 1998, and White's farmers' market of choice — is located. So common are famous faces (Anne Hathaway, Jacob Elordi, Paris Hilton, Elle Fanning, Anwar Hadid and Barbara Palvin, to name a few) that Yelp reviews of the market often include an elated description of an A-lister sighting. On Getty alone, over 700 images are geotagged inside the space; while image platform Alamy features more than 4,000 photos shot there.
Appetite for the market is growing, according to executive director of Studio City Chamber of Commerce, Esther Walker. Each week, she fields between five and ten vendor applications from growers and small businesses keen to sell at the storied location. First-time traders need not apply, Walker told CNN earlier this year, in light of the footfall of a few thousand that descend each week — which, for less experienced vendors, can be 'overwhelming.'
'Business is always nice for our vendors, but it is an extremely popular farmer's market,' she said. 'We're very crowded.'
Despite White's recent endorsement of the market on prime-time TV, star power has always been part of Studio City's story. Walker began working for the Chamber of Commerce in 2007, just one year before the market's organizers made the decision to hire professional security. 'The reason was because we had so many issues with paparazzi,' she said. 'We had some really aggressive paparazzi that were following around actor parents with their kids and made them feel uncomfortable. We just felt like we needed to do something.'
Currently, the market employs three security staff members, as well as three undercover security guards — all retired police officers. Paparazzi attitudes have evolved, however. 'I would say that the issues we had about 15 years ago don't really exist now,' said Walker. 'They tend to be a little more respectable, and they stay further away.'
For Mike Arnoldi, an LA-based celebrity photographer, Studio City Farmers Market has been a certified hunting patch since it opened almost three decades ago. 'There's always been a steady flow of celebrities,' he said in a phone call. 'It just changes who's going to be there.' Back in the day, it was 'In Cold Blood' (1967) actor Robert Blake or James Franco, recalled Arnoldi. Now, it's White, Hilary Duff and 'Pretty Little Liars' actor Lucy Hale who he sees the most.
Walker, who once swiftly recognized the market's A-lister clientele, such as Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt, admitted that she was less familiar with the newer generation of stars who visit today. 'We get a lot of celebrities that my younger staff say, 'Oh my god, that's so-and-so from some show,'' she said. 'But I have no idea who they are.'
Arnoldi — who counts himself one of the best celebrity spotters in the business — will start his day at the farmer's market around 9am and work straight through to 1pm, photographing on average around 20 different people. 'I shoot about 1,500 photos there, and then we narrow it down to about 40 that get sent out (to agencies like Getty and Backgrid).' His photos of White have been among the most lucrative, selling for around $400 each. Other celebrity shots can vary anywhere from a nickel to $20 — a far cry from the couple thousand dollars a photographer might receive for a single film image, before the advent of digital cameras. Any images that feature children, Arnoldi says, are not distributed. While it's not illegal, he considers profiting off the photos of children 'unethical' and urges his staff to do the same.
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Not every celebrity wants their grocery run broadcast to the world, however. Lindsay Dix, who runs the bone broth stand ReBroth at Studio City with her business partner Mia Roe, says she has met most of her famous clients at the market — though several now order privately and have the soup delivered to their home. Not only is it more convenient, but it also prevents them from being 'out and chased around by the paparazzi,' she said. Dix added there's another reason for privacy, too: 'I used to do celebrity catering for 20 years, and a lot of people that claim to be vegan or vegetarian actually did eat meat.'
Still, Arnoldi (who has made friends with many of the subjects of his images) has a handful of A-listers who feel differently. Some, he said, even call to give him a heads-up that they will be there on a particular day, bushels of lettuce in hand, hoping to be photographed.