Leave Your Inhibitions at the Door

I found Robert Dixon in the back, busy at work, as he has been every workday since 1985. In a sense, he’s looking forward to the time off; he’s only taken two weeks’ vacation since he started back in high school. He’s a young 36 years old with a big smile and friendly openness. “It’s an end of an era. They’re gonna miss this market when it’s down. Even the gang members will realize that they lost people who actually did care for them. They’ll miss us. They’ll miss us for sure.”

Why did local Latinos patronize this store for generations? All the clerks were bilingual; products catered to Mexican cuisine, with spicy marinated steak ranchera, the best tortilla chips around and packaged spices to tip you off that you’re not in Kansas anymore; and on the whole, practically everything was cheaper, particularly in the produce section. Also, the shelves were stocked with more unusual items, like Italian plateware made in China and plaster Bart Simpson piggybanks and large cream-rinse bottles for horses.

Now Walgreens will be taking over. One shopper said he’d be going to Costco. I guess it’s a Costco kinda world now.

But longtime shopper Shana Levy, of Angeleno Heights, sheepishly admitted, “It was my secret dream this would become a Whole Foods . . . or at least a Trader Joe’s!” Other patrons shook their heads when they learned that Walgreens would be coming in. But I have my doubts they were fantasizing about Trader Joe’s. The salsa is lousy there.

In the final hours, some customers tore down the ubiquitous, bright colored-marker posters on butcher paper advertising “EVERYTHING 30% OFF” for proprietor Leonardo Leum to autograph. After the owner disappeared, cashiers took over signing fliers for lugubrious shoppers. Santiago Medane of Echo Park, a customer since 1957, had just walked out with his signed poster. When asked what he’s going to do with that, he replied, “I’ll probably hang it beside my Vietnam and JFK posters. This is history, man.”

—Tulsa Kinney