Serving Larchmont Village, Hancock Park, and the Greater Wilshire neighborhoods of Los Angeles since 2011.

Vintage Photo: Balzer Market (1930)

Fleet of delivery trucks for Albert T. Balzer on Larchmont Boulevard (1930).
Fleet of delivery trucks
for Albert T. Balzer on Larchmont Boulevard (1930).

Balzer Market opened on Larchmont Boulevard around 1926 and quickly became one of the most successful businesses on the street. The gourmet market occupied two store spaces on the Boulevard – 133 and 135
North Larchmont (today home to Heavenly Couture and Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf).

According to the LA Times, famous regulars included Cecil B. DeMille and Alfred Hitchcock. The Larchmont
Chronicle
took a look back at early Larchmont in a 2003 article and here’s what they have to say about Balzer’s Market:

Balzer’s purveyed quality groceries to the “carriage trade” of Windsor Square and Hancock Park. Business was primarily conducted by charge and delivery. Customers bought in quantity to stock the pantries in the large homes. Canned goods were sold by the case; sugar and flour in 100- and 200-pound sacks. The store sold a ton of cheddar each month. In 1957, Jurgensen’s purchased the Balzer store.

Albert Balzer’s son, Robert Lawrence Balzer became America’s first wine writer. He got his start on Larchmont Boulevard stocking the shelves at his father’s grocery and taking on the role of buying wine for the store in post-prohibition 1936. Robert Lawrence Balzer wrote a wine column for the LA Times for three decades and was a major influence on the California wine industry.

Would you support a store like Balzer’s on today’s Larchmont Boulevard?

Thanks to LarchmontBuzz.com reader Erik Crezpo for sharing the photo!

Read more:

Larchmont Chronicle: Looking Back at Larchmont

Wine Spectator: Robert Lawrence Balzer 1912-2011

LA Times: Robert Lawrence Balzer Dies at 99, L.A. Times Wine Writer

 

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Mary
Mary
Mary has lived in the Hancock Park area for over 20 years - including homes in Larchmont Village and Windsor Square. Mary has lived in some great places in her life - but none compare to the convenience and majesty of our neighborhood. For Mary, the neighborhood has been a wonderful home to her large, extended family...at one time she had family members living on seven different Hancock Park area blocks! Larchmont Buzz is a labor of love - built to celebrate the neighborhood and to elevate the conversation in the area.

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5 COMMENTS

  1. Not only would I support a store like this — I would do it
    daily! It would make life in the Village altogether more practical,
    enjoyable, useful — and would keep us out of our cars and out of
    the traffic.

  2. YES YES YES. How nice it would be to have a place to go
    (like Jurgensens was) fore good cheese, special treats, interesting
    jars of Italian additions to salads and sandwiches, non -Ralphs
    food of all kinds in other words, much more useful than hats and
    tennis shoes, which let’s face it are not a daily need
    ……

    • Nothing could make me happier than having an excellent market on Larchmont – where we could get all the stuff to make a lovely meal at the last minute. Produce, meats and cheeses, pastas,
      condiments and oils. As well as some staples like paper products and soaps. If not this, then a Joan’s on Third-type market where we could get dinner to go. It would be so nice to walk to such a place!

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