How I miss The Farmers' Market.

The Clock Tower at The Farmers' Market, Los Angeles.

I didn't think I would settle down over here so easily; I thought I would miss the good life of Los Angeles and the weather but since I've been back it has been quite an adventure. I have been bogged down with work and getting things organised, admittedly, but nonetheless I am satisfied here.

I have totally forgotten about Charlie Sheen, Paris Hilton and all the other publicity seeking personalities of Los Angeles who seem to have some kind of importance over there.

I have had my moans about the coffee over here but apart from some friends, whom I try to keep in touch with as much as I can, the thing I miss about Los Angeles is The Farmer's Market.

I have dedicated posts in the past to The Farmer's Market as we went there nearly every day for the best coffee in the world from Bob's Doughnuts; I was always looked after at Bob's and the girls there would make sure my coffee was fresh – fresco, I used to say as they were all Latino, many of them from Guatemala, and others were Chicano – which means they were born in the USA from Latino parents.

I'm not sure if Chicano is specific to the Mexicans or to all Latinos.

There is a whole Chicano movement: Chicano Art, Chicano Cinema, Chicano Music and so on; a famous Chicano musician was Ritchie Valens.

The reason I asked for fresco was because the girls at Bob's would try to teach me Spanish and I picked up quite a bit of it through the experience over the years.

I always figured that because I drank decaffeinated coffee – descaffinado although I can't spell it – it would not be as popular as regular coffee so would not always be fresh so they would usually make sure it was for me.

I would chat to the girls whilst they did my coffee, find out about their studies and their babies and their lives and when I left them in June that information ceased; I saw a little glint of a tear in one of the girl's eyes when I said goodbye but I never mean goodbye. I have worked with hundreds of actors and when the job ends we say goodbye not knowing if we will ever meet again and lots of times we meet on another job soon after or even twenty years later. So goodbye has never seemed so drastic.

There were other people at the Farmer's Market; I would buy pizza from Patsy's Pizza a couple of times a week and one or two of the girls would sing 'Happy CHRIStmas' to me; putting a strong accent onto the Chris in the word so I miss those girls too; and sitting around other regular users of the market would recognise us – but never speak.

On Tuesday afternoons there would be a group of people who would come from the Bing Theatre at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA) where they screen old movies on Tuesday afternoons; we would sit with them sometimes and chat and they would tell us which movies they had seen and I would say that I would go with them one of the weeks but I never did.

Patsy's Pizza was the last place James Dean ate before he set off in his Porsche on the journeythat killed him; it was about this time of the year maybe September 30^th and if you go to Patsy'stoday – Patsy D'Amore's Pizza to give it the full name – there is a picture of Patsy with Frank Sinatra,

The Frank Sinatra picture at Patsy's Pizza.

one with Bobby Darin, another with Jackie Gloeason but nothing about James Dean although it's about the only place in Hollywood where there is no picture of James Dean; his picture and image is everywhere.

And here he is:

James Dean In Giant.

We would go to the Farmer's Market in the weekdays at about 5:30 pm to wind down and over the weekend at about 2:00 pm. It was the ideal place to sit and chat at the end of the work day and various things happened at different times for instance in the weekdays people would come for breakfast in the morning.

A famous film director from the seventies would take coffee outside Bob's at around 8:30 and he would be surrounded by his assorted hangers on and acolytes; what they talked about is anybody's business but they were always there whenever I went at that time.

It was a place for actors; I saw Nicolas Cage having breakfast once with his Elvis trousers and white Elvis shoes. I had a cup of coffee for one of the guys from Entourage and plenty of others.

Walking around The Farmers' Market in the early evening you would pass hundreds of tables with people sitting there eating and you could feel the atmosphere as you passed. We were particularly fond of the Gumbo Pot where they served Louisiana food. It was a great place to eat and on Mardi Gras there would be a Gumbo type band.

One band we saw a few times was Cowboy Soul; they were a black band and played country rock music. They dressed in black with cowboy hats and their wives, children and girl friends would dance just in front of the stage to add to the entertainment.

Every now and then The Farmer's Market would hold a car show which had the classic American cars; Thunderbirds, Cadillacs, Mustangs – people crowded around one of the Mustangs at the last show I went to: it was the one used by Steve McQueen in Bullitt!!! They called it the Steve McQueen Mustang.

So I do miss The Farmers' Market in Los Angeles – there is nowhere like it here!!

People dining and chatting at the Farmers' Market.