Watching a city change is like sitting on a beach and watching gentle waves come in. When we moved to Arcadia in 2007, this town in the Greater Los Angeles Area was at the leading edge of the Chinese expansion from Chinatown, about 25km south east.

For some time now, LA’s Chinatown has been a relatively dead place — certainly in comparison with, say, San Francisco Chinatown’s bustle. The Chinese push into the cities of the San Gabriel Valley east of Los Angeles was well-established long before we got here, but in our years in Arcadia, we watched the wave move northward. The main drag of Temple City on the southern border of Arcadia got busy. The antique stores and watch repair places became boba tea houses. The pie and pancake diners became noodle restaurants. The burger place flipped to a pho place which flipped again to a beef noodle house.

Back in Chinatown, the rear end of the wave is seen leaving. A Chinese shopping complex has started to get cool new food places such as Chego by the upstart crossover chef Roy Choi of Kogi fame (delicious Korean-Mexican fusion dishes such as kimchi quesadillas), and Scoops ice cream, known for their brown bread flavour. A noodle house has been replaced by The Jewel of New Orleans serving po’ boys (Louisiana sandwiches) and mufalettas (Italian sandwiches).

This in turn is the leading edge of the resurgence that has hit downtown Los Angeles. See what I mean about the waves? The aquarium to view this turmoil is Grand Central Market. When I first visited this large building, it was more like the markets I encountered in Mexico: as you walked in, the taco stall cooks pressed free samples into your hand. You could buy tamarind juice, 16 different types of chillies, and cheap neon plastic products.

Today, Grand Central Market is well on the way to gentrification. The two hardcore taco places remain, but the Mexican seafood cocktail place has gone. The queue at Eggslut is 10 people long by 11am. You can buy a $12 (Dh44) pulled lamb belly sandwich at Belcampo Meat Company — and also get yourself an expensive cut of beef for your steak dinner. Wexler’s Deli serves lox, smoked sturgeon and bagels, or pastrami and rye. There’s the chef’s choice at The Oyster Gourmet for $16. Or handbrewed coffee. Or the new bakery where the famous upstart baker himself handed me a loaf clearly modelled on San Francisco’s legendary Tartine Bakery’s wild sourdough, a crusty loaf with a wispy interior and rich flavour.

Grit in the corners

Right now, the suit-and-tied share space with the hard-hatted, but any more upscale eateries and the labourers might start to feel out of place. How long before the heaping piles of meat and hanging roast carcasses at the taco place start to get uncomfortable looks? Sure the hipsters in West Hollywood are eating sweetbreads and animal skin. But when trompa (snout), buche (maw) or tripas (tripe) are slapped onto tortillas and handed over with no ceremony, for you to dress with salsa, it’s a long way from the WeHo places that serve two bites of a breaded organ meat piled artfully next to a swipe of sauce.

Los Angeles, for all its international “Valley Girl” image, it’s not a precious nor prim city. It’s my hope that these waves don’t clean it up too much, because this megapolis really feels right when there’s a bit of grit in the corners. A place like Grand Central Market is really what this city is all about—a food court with character, a bit of history and lots of really good food.

Gautam Raja is a freelance journalist based in Los Angeles, USA.