Blossom Market Hall in San Gabriel (Photo – Cheryl Cabot)
The Blossom Market Hall in San Gabriel is finally open! Husband and wife development team, Chris and Nellie Tran, are seeing the culmination of their dream, three years plus in the making. The impetus was a desire to create a local food venue where families could bring their children and let them run and feel safe.
By Cheryl Cabot
“We brought a 13-vendor food hall to the beautiful and historic Mission District of San Gabriel. We converted the 1949 Masonic Lodge to this community space with a variety of diverse vendors, most of whom are local, many are starting a restaurant for the first time. We have talented local chefs offering food that is special and hard to find,” Nellie said.
The food hall will feature diverse and exciting cuisines and foods as well as a live performance stage. The second level will have community space including a Wi-Fi lounge, dual art gallery, and meeting room which will host special and private events as well as non-profit meetings.
San Gabriel City Manager Mark Lazzaretto, in attendance at the soft opening, said, “I have been waiting anxiously for the last two years like everybody else in the community, and I’m sure the sentiment of most people when I say, ‘I’m blown away how it turned out.’ Although we had high hopes for it when they came in and delivered their plans, it turned out better than any of us could have imagined. It complements the other restaurants and businesses we have here. For me it’s the vision of the reuse of an old building at the heart of our community and what separates San Gabriel from other communities.
“For us (the City) the obvious benefit is the impact of taxes. But the bigger thing is word of mouth and social media, people who have never heard of the Mission District will visit and create visitors to San Gabriel that never would have come otherwise. The other big part for us is the compliment to the Mission Playhouse, as well as the synergy and the marketing that will happen naturally.”
Blossom Market Hall (Photo – Cheryl Cabot)
Aldo Cervantes, Director of Community Development for the City of San Gabriel, also commented on the impact of the Blossom Market Hall. “What Blossom Market Hall provides to San Gabriel is really a sense of place, which from the planning perspective is the ‘top of the top.’ When you can create a sense of place in a community, especially like the Mission area it is your goal. So, once you do that, it’s sort of contagious. Once you have a development in this type of area, it tends to grow.”
The grand opening will be a weekend affair. The public ribbon cutting ceremony will be on the front steps of the building on Thursday, December 9, at 5:45 pm Right after that there will be live entertainment by guitar jazz musician, Sylvia Grape, on the stage. The following evening, the fun will continue with D.J. Jieuny on the stage from 7 to 10, and on Saturday from 7 to 10 D.J. Dylson will take the stage.
On Sunday, to finish off the weekend celebration, there will be a Lion Dance from 11:00 am to 12:00 pm, starting on the front steps. From there it will wind through the food hall, interacting with customers and ending up on the stage.
“We think we offer something really special here for San Gabriel, a very special, authentic community,” Nellie said, as little children enjoyed the freedom of space with families enjoying the food and camaraderie of the Blossom Market Hall.
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