‘Act of Love’ : Partnership Purchases 68-Year-Old Grand Central Market

A limited partnership of Los Angeles area residents headed by a Beverly Hills attorney has purchased the 68-year-old Grand Central Public Market, the vibrant, block-long indoor bazaar between Broadway and Hill Street in the heart of the city, it was revealed Tuesday.

Ira E. Yellin, the 45-year-old lawyer who was the moving force behind the acquisition, said the “essential character” and appearance of the landmark will remain intact. But he said his group plans renovations of themarket, which has been a fixture at 317 S. Broadway since 1917.

Purchase Price

The purchase price was “in excess of $5 million,” according to Yellin, who said the partnership consists of “less than 12 individuals” who consider acquisition of the Grand Central “an act of love.”

“I love the building. I love the mix of people there,” Yellin said, adding that he had been “fantasizing for several years” about acquiring the market. “It’s in the midst of a particularly exciting part of Los Angeles. It’s the crossroads of Los Angeles. I’ve been in love with the market for years.”

Nevertheless, he continued, “it’s a profitable business. I couldn’t afford to go into it unless there is a profit.”

A great deal of the appeal of the Grand Central, besides its historic reputation for inexpensive products, is the boggling variety of foodstuffs sold by 52 stall proprietors; almost from the beginning it carried a broad mix of ethnic items found in few other places in Los Angeles. Tracy Lyon, the market’s manager, estimates that 70% of the customers are Latinos, which makes the market an integral part of today’s Broadway scene.

The new partnership includes a member of the Lyon family, which has participated in the ownership of the market for more than half a century. Tracy Lyon, grandson of Beach Lyon Sr., who acquired majority ownership of the market in 1932, is among the purchasers.

Beach Lyon Jr., general manager of the market and of the six-story Homer Laughlin Building in which it is housed, will continue in that role, his son, Tracy, said. “We think it is important, for both the market and the city, to maintain a Lyon family participation in the operation,” Tracy Lyon added.

Plans Detailed

Among renovations being considered by Yellin are painting the interior in the original “warm” colors, removing barriers “to completely open up the Broadway entrance” and eliminating present blue tile facades installed above the market’s exterior in 1961-62. By doing the latter, he said, second-floor windows will be revealed.

The market occupies the first floor of an even older structure bearing the name of its builder, Homer Laughlin, an Ohioan who founded a dinnerware factory that became the largest in the nation. After selling his pottery business, he moved to California, built the structure on Broadway in 1898 and acquired other real estate.

The idea for the Grand Central was proposed by Chester A. Goss, who had moved to Los Angeles after being associated with Seattle’s famed Pike Street Market. Laughlin agreed to join him in the enterprise. Goss eventually relinquished control, and the Lyon family joined Laughlin’s descendants as proprietors.

The previous owners included Beach Lyon Jr. and his sister Margaret Posson, who owned 51% of the market and the Laughlin Building, the upper floors of which have been unoccupied for years, as has been the case with many buildings on Broadway in the past two decades. The other 49% was divided between Stanford University and Vassar College, schools attended by Homer Laughlin III and his widow.

Yellin and Tracy Lyon said the partnership has purchased the schools’ share of the business as well as the Lyon-Posson interest.