| 626 Night Market | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Location(s) | Santa Anita Park in Arcadia, California; OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa, California; Alameda County Fair in Pleasanton, California |
| Established | 2012 |
| Website | 626nightmarket |
626 Night Market is a regular night market located in the 626 area code region of San Gabriel Valley, northeast of Los Angeles. As of 2022 it is the largest night market in the United States.
The event is held multiple times a year from May through September. Each 3-day night market event draws up to 100,000 attendees [1] with more than 250 participating food, merchandise, and craft vendors, as well as art and music. [2] [3] The market is held at Santa Anita Park in Arcadia. [4] It is the largest night market in the United States. [1] [5]
The events are known for their large selection of Instagram-friendly foods, ranging from traditional night market snacks found in Asia such as stinky tofu and meat skewers to fusion cuisine such as pho tacos and ramen burgers. [6] [7] Vendors are local artisans and aspiring chefs plus entrepreneurs who already own a restaurant, retail store or food truck, or those who are launching a new product or brand or test-marketing a new concept. [1] [8]
Conceived by Jonny C. Hwang, a businessman born in Taiwan and raised in southern California, [9] [10] the market was inspired by the night markets of Asia, especially the Shilin Night Market in Taipei. [11] The inaugural market was held in 2012 and drew an unexpectedly large crowd that clogged the streets of Old Town Pasadena, initially drawing negative criticism from attendees and allegations of mismanagement. [12] [13] The market subsequently relocated to Santa Anita Park. [14]
626 Night Market established OC Night Market at the OC Fair & Event Center in Costa Mesa. [4] DTLA Night Market was held for a limited run next to Staples Center in Downtown Los Angeles in the same year. [15] In 2018, 626 launched NorCal Night Market at the Alameda County Fairgrounds in Pleasanton. [4] [16] [17] As of 2020, all events were renamed to 626 Night Market, with OC Night Market rebranded as 626 Night Market/OC and NorCal Night Market as 626 Night Market/Bay Area. [18] In 2022 626 launched in Santa Monica. [19] The various locations do not overlap dates. [20]
Since the first 626 Night Market event in 2012, a number of other night markets have emerged in Los Angeles and Orange County, including the KTOWN Night Market, the Little Saigon Night Market and the MPK Night Market. [21]
Los Angeles County, officially the County of Los Angeles, and sometimes abbreviated as L.A. County, is the most populous county in the United States, with 9,861,224 residents estimated in 2022. Its population is greater than that of 40 individual U.S. states. Comprising 88 incorporated cities and many unincorporated areas within a total area of 4,083 square miles (10,570 km2), it is home to more than a quarter of Californians and is one of the most ethnically diverse U.S. counties. The county's seat, Los Angeles, is the second most populous city in the United States, with about 3.9 million residents. Being the home of the U.S. motion-picture industry, since its inception in the early 20th century, has given the county global prominence.
Greater Los Angeles is the second-largest metropolitan area in the United States, with a population of 18.5 million in 2021, encompassing six counties in Southern California extending from Ventura County in the west to San Bernardino County and Riverside County in the east, with Los Angeles County in the center, Kern County in the north, and Orange County to the southeast. The Los Angeles–Anaheim–Riverside combined statistical area covers 33,954 square miles (87,940 km2), making it the largest metropolitan region in the United States by land area. The contiguous urban area is 2,281 square miles (5,910 km2), the remainder mostly consisting of mountain and desert areas.
Pasadena is a city in Los Angeles County, California, United States, 11 miles (18 km) northeast of downtown Los Angeles. It is the most populous city and the primary cultural center of the San Gabriel Valley. Old Pasadena is the city's original commercial district.
The San Gabriel Valley, often referred to by its initials as SGV, is one of the principal valleys of Southern California, lying immediately to the east of the eastern limits of the city of Los Angeles and occupying the vast majority of the southeastern part of Los Angeles County. Surrounding landforms and other features include the following:
The culture of Los Angeles is rich with arts and ethnically diverse. The greater Los Angeles metro area has several notable art museums including the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the J. Paul Getty Museum on the Santa Monica Mountains overlooking the Pacific, the Museum of Contemporary Art (MOCA), and the Hammer Museum. In the 1920s and 1930s Will Durant and Ariel Durant, Arnold Schoenberg and other intellectuals were the representatives of culture, in addition to the movie writers and directors. As the city flourished financially in the middle of the 20th century, culture followed. Boosters such as Dorothy Buffum Chandler and other philanthropists raised funds for the establishment of art museums, music centers and theaters. Today, the Southland cultural scene is as complex, sophisticated and varied as any in the world.
Stinky tofu is a Chinese form of fermented tofu that has a strong odor. It is usually sold at night markets or roadside stands as a snack, or in lunch bars as a side dish, rather than in restaurants. Traditionally the dish is fermented in a brine with vegetables and meat, sometimes for months. Modern factory-produced stinky tofu is marinated in brine for one or two days to add odor.
The Arroyo Seco, meaning "dry stream" in Spanish, is a 24.9-mile-long (40.1 km) seasonal river, canyon, watershed, and cultural area in Los Angeles County, California. The area was explored by Gaspar de Portolà who named the stream Arroyo Seco as this canyon had the least water of any he had seen. During this exploration he met the Chief Hahamog-na (Hahamonga) of the Tongva Indians.
The Asian-American influx to the San Gabriel Valley grew rapidly when Chinese began settling in Monterey Park, California, in the western San Gabriel Valley in the 1970s. Just east of Los Angeles, the region has achieved international prominence as a hub of overseas Chinese, or hua qiao. Although Chinese immigrants were a noteworthy presence in the establishment of Southern California from the 19th century, significant Chinese migration to suburban San Gabriel Valley coincided with a trend of white out-migration from the 1970s onward. This opened an opportunity for middle-class Asian Americans to begin settling in the San Gabriel Valley.
The OC Fair & Event Center (OCFEC) is a 150-acre (0.61 km2) event venue in Costa Mesa, California. The site hosts over 150 events attracting 4.3 million visitors annually, and is home to the Orange County Fair, Centennial Farm, Costa Mesa Speedway, and Pacific Amphitheatre.
California's State Assembly districts are numbered 1st through 80th, generally in north-to-south order.
The media of Los Angeles are influential and include some of the most important production facilities in the world. As part of the "Creative Capital of the World", it is a major global center for media and entertainment. In addition to being the home of Hollywood, the center of the American motion picture industry, the Los Angeles area is the second largest media market in North America. Many of the nation's media conglomerates either have their primary headquarters or their West Coast operations based in the region. Universal Music Group, one of the "Big Four" record labels, is also based in the Los Angeles area.
Southland Publishing, Inc. was a publishing company from 1997 to 2019 based in Pasadena, California with five offices in Southern California. The company produces weekly newspapers, monthly magazines, direct mail products, and affiliated websites throughout California and selected states throughout the U.S.
Irwindale station is an at-grade light rail station on the A Line of the Los Angeles Metro Rail system. It is located at the intersection of Irwindale Avenue and Avenida Padilla in Irwindale, California, after which the station is named. This station opened on March 5, 2016, as part of Phase 2A of the Gold Line Foothill Extension Project.
Joseph Vincent Encarnacion, better known as Joseph Vincent, is a Filipino-American guitarist, singer, and songwriter. Joseph has been twice featured on NBC’s The Ellen DeGeneres Show and has performed at well-known Los Angeles venues, such as The House of Blues, The Knitting Factory, Roxy Theatre, El Rey Theatre, The Troubadour, among international venues in Australia, Singapore, and Canada.
Asian Californians are residents of the state of California who are of Asian ancestry. California has the largest Asian American population in the U.S., and second highest proportion of Asian American residents, after Hawaii. As of the 2020 U.S. Census, there were over 6 million Asian-Americans in California; 15.5% of the state's population. If including those with partial Asian ancestry, this figure is around 17%. This is a jump from 13.8% recorded in 2010.
The Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was a railroad founded on September 5, 1883, by James F. Crank with the goal of bringing a rail line to Pasadena, California from downtown Los Angeles, the line opened in 1886. Los Angeles and San Gabriel Valley Railroad was sold and consolidated on May 20, 1887 into the California Central Railway. In 1889 this was consolidated into Southern California Railway Company. On Jan. 17, 1906 Southern California Railway was sold to the Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railway and called the Pasadena Subdivision. The main line closed in 1994. The railroad later reopened as the MTA Gold Line Light Rail service in July 2003.
The California Central Railway was incorporated on April 23, 1887, with headquarters in San Bernardino, California. George O. Manchester was the President of the corporation.
Santa Ana Stadium, also known as Eddie West Field or the Santa Ana Bowl, is a city-owned and operated 9,000-capacity American football and soccer stadium located in downtown Santa Ana. The field was named after Eddie West, a writer for the Orange County Register and tireless supporter of the Santa Ana College Dons and all Orange County sports.