Sunday at Wilshire/La Brea, Five Months After the Train Arrived

"Benches, where they exist, are tiny and defensive." That was the Los Angeles Times on June 22, about six weeks after the D Line extension opened. The review praised the art and lighting below ground. It said the street-level plazas at the new stations were short on shade, art, greenery and anything that invited people to stay.

The same review described a dance class at Wilshire/Fairfax that had gathered in "a thin sliver of shade" by the station. Its point was that people will use these plazas when there is a reason to come. At Wilshire/La Brea, the station closest to Brookside and the southern edge of Hancock Park, that reason now has a fixed time slot. On Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., there is a farmers market on the plaza. The two Farm Habit markets, this one and a Tuesday afternoon market at Wilshire/Fairfax, are the only launch programs confirmed to be running on a set schedule this fall. The Sunday market is the one at La Brea.

The Launch Calendar, Then and Now

Section 1 of the D Line extension opened May 8, 2026. It added three stations: Wilshire/La Brea, Wilshire/Fairfax and Wilshire/La Cienega. For the first 90 days of service, Metro brought in nearly a dozen local small businesses to program the plazas. That meant coffee carts, a retail pop-up, salsa classes and farmers markets.

Those 90 days ended in early August. Here is how the programs at the two Miracle Mile stations compare: what was announced for the launch, and which ones are confirmed as of October.

The coffee carts and the pop-up were scheduled as an opening season, and this post makes no claim about where any of them stand now. The markets are a different case. Their status rests on something more lasting than a launch calendar.

The Market With State Paperwork

The California Department of Food and Agriculture keeps the official list of certified farmers' markets in each county. Its list dated July 1, 2026 includes a "Wilshire/La Brea Farmers' Market" at 5300 Wilshire Blvd. at La Brea, on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Under season it says "Year-Round." The Wilshire-Fairfax market at 6026 Wilshire is on the same list for Tuesday afternoons.

That certification is why the Sunday market didn't end with the rest of the launch programs. Metro still files it under "Station Activations," the same label as the opening events. Its calendar lists the next one for tomorrow, Sunday, October 4, and describes it as a market that brings "locally grown produce, artisan goods, and handcrafted products to the La Brea Station every Sunday." No source calls the market permanent. A year-round state certification plus a spot on Metro's fall calendar is about as settled as a market on a transit plaza gets.

The operator, Farm Habit, was founded by Mark Anderson, who goes by "Farmer Mark." He started the Playa Vista Farmers' Market in 2009. The company's markets include Playa Vista, West Hollywood, Cedars-Sinai, Westwood Village and Inglewood, along with the two D Line markets. It is still adding locations. Its booking pages list new North Hollywood markets with grand openings this week. According to Farm Habit, every one of its markets accepts EBT, and both D Line markets have live music.

One practical note on hours. The Eventbrite listing for the October 4 market shows a 10 a.m. to noon window. Farm Habit and the state list both give 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. If you plan to arrive late in the morning, check the listing before you go.

Why Sunday Is the Day It Works

Metro's own ridership figures show the train drawing more people on weekends. In its May 2026 report, Metro said the three new stations added roughly 8,000 to 10,000 daily rides to the D Line. Weekday and weekend rides combined were up 62% over May 2025, and weekend ridership was up nearly 80%. In June, the first full month of service, Saturday ridership was up 70% from June 2024. Metro compared against 2024 because the line was closed in June 2025.

So the plaza has a market on the day the line carries the most added riders. Two neighbors with the same Sunday free can walk to the plaza, shop, and be at LACMA one stop later without moving a car. The buses haven't changed either. Metro said Wilshire Lines 20 and 720 would keep their existing service levels after the opening while it watched how riders shifted.

A Sunday Morning, in Order

Most of what makes the morning worthwhile opened this year, and the timing lines up well.

1. Kouzeh Bakery, 9 a.m. Larchmont Buzz reported on June 8 that it had opened at 5466 Wilshire Blvd., a few blocks west of La Brea. Pastry chef Sahar Shomali bakes Iranian regional breads with long fermentation and aged sourdough cultures. Los Angeles Times critic Bill Addison singled out the barbari, latir, ghelefi, kopou and kelaneh. Larchmont Buzz mentions a seasonal pomegranate bread and calls the Moshtak-Naari a customer favorite. Kouzeh is open Wednesday through Sunday, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. Its online ordering page was still taking pickup orders at the Wilshire address this week, so you can order ahead.

2. The market, from 10 a.m. It runs on the station plaza at Wilshire and La Brea. Bring a tote. The produce is the reason to go, and live music is on the schedule.

3. The station's art, on the way down. Wilshire/La Brea has three Metro Art works: Eamon Ore-Giron's Infinite Landscape: Los Ángeles Para Siempre, Fran Siegel's Re: Orientation and Mark Dean Veca's Miracle of La Brea. Metro says the artwork in the new stations runs through the street, concourse and platform levels. The same Times review that faulted the plazas had high praise for the spaces below them.

4. One stop west to Wilshire/Fairfax. That station is steps from LACMA, the La Brea Tar Pits and Museum, the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, the Petersen Automotive Museum and Craft Contemporary. LACMA's new cafe, Erewhon at LACMA, opened to the public May 4, and the museum said a restaurant and wine bar would follow later in 2026.

Brookside residents who know the neighborhood's own hidden history, like the creek it was named for, may find a parallel on Wilshire. The street had never had rail service west of Western Avenue before this spring. Metro says the original streetcars never ran on Wilshire because the developers who laid out the land in the late 1800s and early 1900s opposed them.

If Sunday Doesn't Work

The certified list shows two other markets along this stretch of Wilshire on weekdays. The Miracle Mile Farmers Market runs Wednesdays from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. at 5700 Wilshire Blvd., in Courtyard Place. Farm Habit's Wilshire/Fairfax market runs Tuesdays from 3:30 to 7:30 p.m. That gives the corridor three market days a week. Only one of them, Sunday at La Brea, comes with a free morning and a train that runs on to the museums.

The business owners along this stretch had been waiting for the subway too. Before the opening, Christina Mullin of Miracle Mile Toys & Gifts told the Los Angeles Times she hoped the subway would bring in shoppers after years of construction. More change is coming. Metro forecasts Section 2, to downtown Beverly Hills and Century City, and Section 3, to Westwood and the West Los Angeles VA Medical Center, to open in 2027. When they open, the same Sunday ride from Wilshire/La Brea will reach much farther west.

If the new station has you looking at the blocks on either side of Wilshire, I'm happy to talk through how this year's changes look from a particular street. Ali Jack can help you figure out what the train and the Sunday market mean for a home you own or one you're considering. Let's connect.