Free Concerts: A Farmers Market Summer Tradition

Make for the West Patio on Thursday and Friday nights.

There are a number of locations around Southern California that just feel like the embodiment -- or the emlocationment -- of summertime, when summertime starts to make its stand.

Malibu Pier at sunset is one such spot, and the gates of any theme park just before opening. The lookout walk of Griffith Observatory when things get star-twinkly qualifies, and the West Patio of the Original Farmers Market on any Thursday or Friday evening from 7 to 9 p.m.

Why do we cite that exact spot? That's where the warm-weather concerts go down, and have gone down, for years upon years. Nope, the free summer shows haven't been around since the Third & Fairfax landmark took root at that fabled corner eight decades ago, but they've been around long enough where regulars show to stake out their favorite table an hour or two before the first note sounds.

And the notes'll be some fine ones this summer. Bobby Matos Afro-Cuban Jazz opens the tuneful run up on Thursday, May 29, while the Slim Jim Phantom Trio plays on Friday, May 30. The Elliot Caine Quintet, Sydney Weisman & the Wayne Peet Trio, Inca, and the Blue Hawaiians will visit the clocktowered destination during the months ahead.

Final date is Friday, Aug. 29, which is indeed the day leading up to Labor Day Weekend.

As with series of the past, Thursday nights'll have a jazzy feel and Friday shows fall under the rubric of straight-up music, so count on some swing, some rock, some country.

What? Can you eat during the shows? Please. This is Farmers Market, where gumbo and burgers, and pasta dishes are available mere steps from your West Patio table. No, literally, mere steps. Count how many you take from your chair to the order line at Deano's Pizza or the Gumbo Pot.

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