Fifteen L.A. County Farmers Markets Don't Open Until 5 P.M., Ranked. Exactly One Is on the Westside.

The state's certified list carries 174 Los Angeles County markets, and 129 of them are shut before six o'clock. Nine of the fifteen that open at five are out in the San Gabriel Valley or Pomona. Five markets in the county trade until 10 at night, and two of the fifteen have already finished their season — the state's own dates say so.

Most of the produce in this county is sold to people who do not have to be anywhere at nine in the morning. We read the California Department of Food and Agriculture's certified-market list — every Los Angeles County line of it, current as of July 1 — and counted 174 listings. One hundred twenty-nine of them are closed before 6 p.m. Forty-five post a closing time of 6 or later, twenty-seven close at 8 or later, nineteen run to 9 or later, and exactly five are still trading at 10 at night.

Fifteen do not open until 5 p.m. or later. Those fifteen are the night markets, and they are not distributed the way anyone on the Westside assumes. Eight of them are in San Gabriel Valley cities — Monrovia, El Monte, Rosemead, Covina, Glendora twice and La Puente twice — and a ninth is in Pomona. Three more are in the southeast county: Pico Rivera, Montebello and Paramount. The San Fernando Valley has two. The Westside has one.

The criteria, stated once. To be a night market here, a listing has to open at 5 p.m. or later on the state's July 1 list — that is the whole entry requirement, and it is why several beloved markets are not in this ranking. The order is decided by how much dark each one actually keeps: hours after five, weeks in the year, and what its operator posts about what is waiting when you get there. Every entry was checked against the market's own page where one exists; where none does, the state's list is the source and this page says so. We read the list, counted the entries and compared the hours. Nobody from this desk bought a peach.

1. Monrovia Street Fair & Market — Friday, 5 to 10, year round

Nothing else in the county keeps five hours of a weekday evening. The operator's page for the market splits the year in two — "Fall/Winter: 5:00pm-9:00pm" and "Spring/Summer: 5:00pm-10:00pm," Fridays, at 700 S. Myrtle Ave. — and the state's certified list carries it as year round at the same address, cross street Chestnut. That is the whole argument: right now it is the longest evening market in the county at five hours, it is one of three that run to 10 every Friday of the year, and the winter version does not disappear, it just ends an hour earlier.

Scale is the other half of it. The same page describes the market as "4-blocks long, a community event 23 years & counting." No other operator whose pages we read posts a footprint at all, and four blocks of closed street is a different proposition from a row of canopies at the edge of a lot. The operator, Raw Inspiration, also runs a Saturday morning market a mile down the same street at 1629 S. Myrtle; that one is not a night market and is not ranked here.

2. Granada Hills Chamber of Commerce Farmers Market — Friday, 6 to 10, year round

The San Fernando Valley's answer, and one of only two markets on this page that do not open until six, which is either a scheduling quirk or the single most useful fact here for anyone whose day ends at 5:30. The chamber's own page puts it "every Friday evening from 6-10PM" at Chatsworth Street and White Oak Avenue, with "fresh produce, artisanal goods, and more, alongside the renowned Granada Grubfest."

It ranks second on arithmetic rather than affection: four hours to Monrovia's five, at the same hour of the night, on the same day of the week, in a county where the drive is the tiebreaker. If you live in the north Valley, this is your number one and we are not going to argue about it.

3. Covina Certified Farmers Market — Friday, 5 to 9, year round

Four hours, every Friday, no season, at Citrus Avenue and San Bernardino Road. What lifts it above the other 5-to-9s is that somebody books it like a venue: the market's operator describes "a fantastic blend of live bands and an energetic DJ, creating a festive ambiance each week," and puts it in Civic Center Park, which is a park rather than an overflow lot.

Two sources give two addresses — 400 N. Citrus Ave. on the state's list, 444 on the operator's page — so look for the park and not the number. What settles the placement is the calendar: nine of the fifteen night markets are listed year round and six are not, and in a ranking about evenings that distinction is worth more than an extra half hour. A market you can count on in February beats a longer one that spends February closed.

4. Glendora Village Farmers Market — Wednesday, 5 to 9, year round

Tonight's best option, and one of only two Wednesday night markets still in season. The Village's page posts "Wednesdays 5:00 PM to 9:00 PM," free admission, and "plenty of parking is available in public lots surrounding the Village" — which is more than most entries here will commit to in writing. The state's list places it at 224 N. Glendora Ave. at Foothill Boulevard, year round.

Glendora is one of two cities in the county carrying two night markets on the state's list — La Puente is the other. Glendora's second is Best Vibe Market on Route 66, which runs Saturday and Sunday from 5 to 9 between July and October and then flips to a 2-to-6 afternoon schedule from November through March, which is a different kind of market for five months of the year and is dealt with below.

5. La Puente Live — Friday, 6 to 10, year round

The other six-o'clock start, and the third market on this page that runs to 10 on a Friday. Its own FAQ confirms the market runs "every Friday from 6:00pm to 10:00pm," and the state's list gives the location as Central Avenue at Main Street in La Puente, year round, with the same phone number the market publishes for vendors.

It ranks below Covina and Glendora on a single point: the operator's public pages are built for vendors rather than for shoppers. There is a vendor-approval process, a payment policy and a bands calendar, and no posted answer to what parking costs or whether the stalls take cards. Four hours of Friday night is four hours of Friday night; you will just be finding out the rest when you arrive.

6. Downtown Pomona Farmers Market — second through fourth Saturdays, 5 to 10

Three Saturdays a month at Shaun Diamond Plaza, South Thomas Street at West 2nd, per the state's list — and the reason to know which Saturday is that the Arts Colony's monthly Second Saturday ArtWalk runs the identical 5-to-10 window on one of them, free, with galleries open and live music through downtown. Its own page dates the August edition to Saturday, August 8.

Which means this Saturday, August 22, is a fourth Saturday: the market without the crowd. That is either the pick or the problem, depending on why you were going. It ranks sixth because a market that skips the first Saturday of every month is a market you have to check a calendar for, and this ranking rewards the ones that are simply always there.

7. NHS Marketplace, La Puente — Sunday, 5 to 10

The only year-round Sunday night market in Los Angeles County, and the only one of the county's five ten-o'clock markets that is neither a Friday nor a Saturday. The state's list puts it at 401 Nogales Street at Northam, year round, five hours a week, with a market manager and a phone number attached.

We could not find a page the market publishes itself, so everything above comes from the state's certified list and nothing else, which is exactly how far this desk will go on an unverified entry: far enough to tell you it exists, not far enough to tell you what's in it. Call first. The number on the state's list is (626) 703-8845.

8. Northridge Farmers Market & Family Festival — Wednesday, 5 to 9, through October 28

The Valley's Wednesday, at 9301 Tampa Avenue, and the second of tonight's two options. The state's list gives its 2026 run as April 24 through October 28, which leaves nearly half the year without it, and that is the reason it sits eighth rather than fourth.

It is the only night market in the county whose name promises a festival, and the aggregators that carry it describe live performances and children's activities alongside the produce. We are not repeating those descriptions as fact: we found no page the market publishes itself beyond social media, and a market that does not post its own hours does not get its atmosphere described on our page.

9. El Monte Farmers Market on Main Street — Thursday, 5 to 9, and the date is in dispute

Tomorrow night's market, on Main Street between Santa Anita and Tyler in downtown El Monte. The city's own page says the market "runs seasonally, from March through October every year," Thursday evenings "from 5:00 PM til 9:00 PM." The state's certified list gives this year's run as April 24 through August 28.

Those two sources disagree by two months, and the paper cannot settle it for you from a desk. What we can say is that both sources agree the market is running this Thursday, August 20, and only one of them promises anything after August 28. Go this week.

10. Rosemead Certified Farmers Market — Monday, 5 to 9, April to September

The only night market in the county on a Monday, at Rosemead Park, 4343 Encinita Ave. The state's list gives the season as April through September. The city's page still posts last year's dates — "April 7, 2025 through September 29, 2025" — which tells you something about how closely the schedule is watched and nothing at all about the produce.

It earns its place on the one thing here that is worth more than an extra hour: the city's page says the market takes Market Match for EBT customers and serves W.I.C. customers, and it lists free monthly activities. A Monday market that doubles a food-assistance dollar outranks a longer market that doesn't, and this desk will take the argument.

11. Bundy Triangle Night Market — Friday, 5 to 9, and the Westside's only one

Here is the pick we expect to hear about. The Westside's only night market finishes last, and not because it is on the Westside — because it is the least documented entry on this page and the only one where two sources contradict each other about whether it exists in November.

The state's list carries it at 1500 S. Bundy Drive, Friday, 5 to 9 p.m., year round. Its operator's own location page calls it a "Seasonal Market March-October," posts no hours at all, and refers readers to Instagram. That operator is Raw Inspiration, the same outfit that publishes Monrovia's hours season by season at the top of this ranking, which is what makes the silence conspicuous rather than forgivable. It is four hours on a Friday in West Los Angeles, and if you live there it is obviously your market. It is still the one we know least about, and this ranking is built on what is posted.

Not ranked, and why

Two of the fifteen have already closed for the year, by the state's own dates. Montebello Farmers Market ran Thursdays 5 to 9 from July 1 to August 5 — a five-week season that ended two weeks ago. Pico Rivera's Wednesday market, 5 to 9 at 9528 Beverly Blvd., is listed April through July. Both will presumably be back; neither is somewhere to drive tonight.

Two more are out on frequency. Paramount Night Farmers Market opens 5 to 9 on the first Friday of the month only — twelve evenings a year, which is a series, not a market you can plan a week around. Best Vibe Market in Glendora keeps 5-to-9 hours on Saturdays and Sundays from July through October and then moves to 2 to 6 p.m. for November through March, so for five months of the year it is not a night market at all — and the state's list shows nothing at all for it between April and June.

And then the famous ones, which is where this gets uncomfortable. South Pasadena's Thursday market — the one everyone in the San Gabriel Valley names first — runs 4 to 8. Culver City runs Tuesdays 2 to 7. Echo Park is Fridays 3 to 7:30. Old L.A. in Highland Park is Tuesdays 3 to 8. Silver Lake's Tuesday market starts at 1:30 and is finished by 7. They are excellent markets and they are afternoon markets, and one hour is the whole difference: a 4 p.m. market asks you to leave work early, and a 5 p.m. market does not.

One last piece of arithmetic, because the state's list rewards reading it closely. East Hollywood's certified market at Hollywood and Western appears in the Los Angeles County section three separate times — once as Monday, once as Thursday, and once as "Mon/Thu" — for one market on one corner keeping one set of hours, 3:30 to 7:30. Silver Lake appears twice, properly, for two different days. Which is to say the number at the top of this page is 174 listings, not 174 markets, and the desk that tells you otherwise did not open the file.