M5, Museum of Peace and Quiet, Alchemy Works to join new Free Market Los Angeles Arts District

By

Chenu Alexis

Published
May 19, 2023

The Arts District in Los Angeles is about to be revived. After the pandemic shake up in 2020 led to closure of many stores, the Arts District neighborhood will soon see the opening of Free Market Los Angeles Arts District, a retail and office space located at 821 Traction Street, which plans to open restaurants and fashion boutiques.

Under construction for months, the new Free Market Los Angeles Arts District is a Spanish Mission-style complex with a central courtyard and a rooftop with a total area of about 40,000 square feet.

In addition to the New-York based venture capital firm Greycroft Partners, whose office campus already occupies half of the complex, the Free Market Los Angeles Arts District inaugurated on May 18 the first pop-up art gallery of Bianca Chen, the daughter of Joel Chen also known as J.F. Chen whose antique showroom is now considered one of the most preeminent high end furniture showrooms in the world. For a month, she will be presenting the work of artist and ceramicist Ben Medansky in the exhibition entitled Ferns & Freeways.

Already confirmed at Free Market Los Angeles Arts District, Alchemy Works is a retail, gallery, and event space located in Newport Beach, at Free Market in Denver, at Free Market in Playa Vista and in Napa Valley in Yountville, California. Alchemy Works has made a name for itself by distributing Apolis bags, Clare V. accessories, Roam puffy sandals, Flamingo Estate candles, jewelry brands and vintage ceramics. 

Other fashion brands are set to open stores this summer, such as Museum of Peace and Quiet. The Los Angeles-based, unisex leisurewear label was founded by Ashley and Christiòn Lennon in 2019 after an inspirational road trip through America's deserts.

Another important guest, the M5 concept-store founded in New York by Michael Burns, former executive at Moncler and Belstaff, should offer a selection of the brands represented in its showroom and boutique in New York. While the selection has not yet been confirmed, President's, Martine Rose, Stone Island, Sage de Cret, Sunspel, Engineered Garments and Arc'teryx may appear for the first time in the Los Angeles Arts District.

Finally, several restaurants will also open their doors at Free Market Los Angeles Arts District. The plant-based restaurant The Daughter's Butcher founded by Heather Tierney, and already present in the Venice neighborhood, will be the first to open.

Free Market is a Denver-based company founded by Raan Parton and Lindsay Parton which defines itself as "an ever-evolving collective that develops and commercializes products, services and experiences by combining an incubator strategy with artistic understanding and infrastructural strength." 

Free Market first opened a complex in Denver that today brings together thirteen brands including Aesop, Alchemy Works, Credo Beauty and Warby Parker. In April 2021, a second Free Market had opened at Runway Playa Vista in West Los Angeles.