R.I.P. Downtown Alameda Truck Lot

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Sad news from the LA Food Truck Lots twitter account yesterday: “The Alameda lot [at Traction] didn’t make the cut…. We have a new lot opening in little Tokyo in 2 weeks on Judge John Aiso St. Stay tuned.”  Unlike the Santa Monica food truck lot, which opened to huge crowds on day 1 before being closed on day 2 by a zoning issue, the Downtown lot seems to be closing because it didn’t work for the vendors.  It’s not completely clear if it was a lack of customers, the rent being charged by the owners of the lot, or most likely a combination of the two.  (One truck owner described it to me last week as a “petering out”.)  The new location will be closer to the Civic Center, and perfect for those days when the line at Daikokuya is too long (aka every day).  But, sadly, parking will probably be more difficult.

One thing is for sure… despite all the hype, and initial crowds, food truck lot survival is not a given.  If you like the trucks that park near your office, you’ve got to get out and support!  (They cannot pay the bills from twitter alone.) If not, they’re going to find somewhere else to park…

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2 Comments

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    It all comes down to location, location.

    • Consistency helps as well… a vendor can turn a mediocre spot into a money maker if they park there consistently for an extended period of time. I think if well known vendors had consistently parked at Alameda & Traction for an extended period of time, they could have turned that lot into a real destination. The problem is, none of the well known trucks wanted to pay the rent to the lot owner or put in the time it takes to build a location up from scratch.

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