Mar Vista's Sunday Market Now Spills Onto Venice Boulevard

The Mar Vista Farmers Market's hours haven't changed. It opens at 9 a.m. at Grand View and Venice Boulevard, closes at 2 p.m., and runs every Sunday rain or shine, closing only on major holidays. What changed this year is the rest of the block. A Venezuelan arepa counter that started under a market tent now has a storefront on Venice Boulevard with doors listed as opening at 8. The event space next door holds an indoor makers market that runs until 3. A five-hour market now sits in the middle of a seven-hour Sunday.

The market has always been more than produce. Its own site calls it "a bustling, transient town square," with farmers who drive in from all over California, wild local seafood, fresh juices, and dining tents for anyone who wants to stay. In 2026, part of that town square has stopped being temporary.

The Stand That Started Under a Tent in 2019

Siblings Mercedes Rojas and Zeus Ferrini began The Arepa Stand at the Mar Vista Farmers Market in 2019. They cooked recipes from their Venezuelan upbringing, with help from their mother, Belinda, along with California farmers and friends. Westside Current reported that the business grew from there to farmers markets in Playa Vista, Torrance, and Hollywood. Yo! Venice put the total at five market locations, plus appearances at Venice Fest and local pop-ups, while the siblings worked toward a permanent restaurant.

They got one in August. Yo! Venice reported on August 20 that The Arepa Stand had soft-opened its first brick-and-mortar location at 12906 Venice Blvd. Westside Current listed the storefront as open Tuesday through Sunday, 8 a.m. to 4 p.m., closed Mondays. Hours can change after a soft opening, so check The Arepa Stand's website before you go.

The kitchen has more behind it than the tent did. Westside Current, citing the company's own biography, notes that Rojas has more than a decade of professional kitchen experience, including time as chef de cuisine at Lucques under Suzanne Goin. Ferrini runs operations.

The menu reads like a map of Los Angeles. Here is what Yo! Venice listed:

• The Cheester: Venezuelan artisanal cheese, known as queso de mano
• The 405: braised beef, black bean purée, fried plantains, cotija and cilantro
• The Hills: black bean purée, market greens, sofrito, fried plantains, avocado and cilantro
• The Westsider: a shredded chicken breast salad with house-made aioli, avocado, bell peppers, Gouda and lime
• The East LA: chorizo, eggs, plantains, garlic sauce and Gouda
• The Inglewood: braised barbecue pork, a spicy árbol chile sauce, avocado and queso de mano

"Market greens" on The Hills is a direct line back to the stalls at Grand View, where the produce for that arepa started out.

Daniel's Bagels Made the Same Move First

The Arepa Stand isn't the first market vendor to make this jump. Daniel's Bagels had been a fixture at Westside farmers markets, Mar Vista's among them, since 2020. In September 2024 it opened its first storefront at 3400 Overland Avenue, on the corner of Woodbine Street in Palms. The business's own announcement explains why a counter became necessary. The brothers had been baking in a commercial kitchen in Northridge that they subleased part-time from a cupcake company, and demand kept selling out their market stands. The Overland space was also built to serve as the commissary for those stands, and at the time the company said it would keep selling at the Brentwood, Mar Vista, Playa Vista, and Torrance markets.

Both businesses went the same way. They built a following at a Sunday market first, then put down a lease once that following outgrew a tent. Daniel's ended up about two miles away in Palms. The Arepa Stand stayed on Venice Boulevard, close enough to the market where it started to share its Sunday crowd.

The Room Next Door Built Around the Market

The other change to the block is indoors. rèunion, at 12204 Venice Blvd, calls itself "an intimate Mar Vista space" for morning movement, creative workshops, private dinners, celebrations, and brand experiences. Its weekday calendar is full of things that have nothing to do with produce. Westside Line Dance meets Thursdays from 7 to 9 p.m., beginners welcome and no partner needed. FIT4MOM holds a Mommy & Me Barre + Core & Restore class on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 10:30 a.m.

On Sundays the space is organized around the market. Its events calendar lists a Sunday Social Market every week from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., described as an indoor market of independent designers, emerging brands, and local makers, "next door to the Mar Vista Farmers Market." It opens when the farmers market opens and stays open an hour after the last farm stall closes.

The Venice Fest, a local events group that produces community gatherings with local vendors, art, and music, runs that market, and bills it as "Sunday Social Market by The Venice Fest." It's the same group whose events gave The Arepa Stand a stage before it had an address.

Holiday House Runs Seven More Sundays

For November and December, The Venice Fest has turned the Sunday market at rèunion into Holiday House. According to the Eventbrite listing, it runs every Sunday from November 1 through December 20, 2026, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m., with free admission for all ages. The lineup rotates among local makers, artists, and independent brands selling handmade goods, jewelry, and homewares. Gift wrapping is free all season. The organizer's own vendor page describes it as an eight-week Sunday shopping series.

Opening day was November 1, so seven Sundays are left:

• November 8, 15, 22 and 29: holiday shopping and free gift wrapping, 9 a.m. to 3 p.m.
• December 6, 13 and 20: the same, plus free photos with Santa from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

"Stop by while visiting the Mar Vista Farmers Market! We're located right next door," the Holiday House listing tells shoppers.

The Block's Sunday, Hour by Hour

Put the published hours side by side and you get a schedule the farmers market never set on its own:

1. 8 a.m. The Arepa Stand's listed opening time at 12906 Venice Blvd, an hour before the market.
2. 9 a.m. The farmers market opens at Grand View and Venice, and Holiday House opens next door at rèunion.
3. 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., December Sundays only. Santa photos at Holiday House.
4. 2 p.m. The farm stalls close.
5. 3 p.m. Holiday House closes. Once the holiday run ends, 3 p.m. stays the closing time for the weekly Sunday Social Market.

The market itself only runs from step two to step four. Everything outside that window comes from businesses that put themselves on this stretch of Venice Boulevard because the market already brings people here every Sunday. The Arepa Stand learned that firsthand over seven years under a tent. rèunion built its Sunday schedule around it from the start.

Holiday House ends December 20. After that, the Sunday Social Market at rèunion continues every week on its regular schedule, and the farmers market keeps the hours it has had all along.

Terry Ballentine has roots in Venice and has been working Westside real estate since 1976, long enough to watch a lot of Venice Boulevard storefronts change hands and see which ones turned into the reasons people give for loving their block. If you own near Grand View and want to know how the businesses and Sunday crowds around your street factor into what your home is worth today, Terry Ballentine will walk you through it in plain terms. Get a Free Home Valuation, no pressure and no obligation.