The Echo Park Vons is getting a new lifestyle

The Vons in Echo Park has always seemed out of place, a 1960s-era suburban supermarket surrounded by a mostly empty parking lot, caravans of RVs occupied by homeless people and flaming taco trucks. It seemed as if the owners of Vons, a division of Safeway Corp., had lost track of this urban outpost in their giant supermarket empire. How else to explain why this "Marina-style" store, beloved by architecture fans for its sweeping parabolic roof, had never been remodeled even as nearly every other Vons nearby has been supersized or postmodernized. Many Echo Park residents have long complained about the dingy and tree-less parking lot, crusty shopping carts and locked-up wine and liquor cabinets. It has been derided as a "ghetto" Vons by some shoppers and, by at least one employee, as the "7-Eleven" Vons because of its small size. Well, change is finally coming to the Vons at Alvarado and Montana.

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Crews have been working for several weeks to convert the store into the chain's Lifestyle format, which has been making its way across the company for the last four years. The site has been the home of a supermarket since 1952, when Safeway opened a store. It's not clear when the existing store was built but architecture fans will be happy to hear that the building will not be demolished or enlarged and will retain its distinctive arched roof and large windows.

"The architecture of this store is unique and offers a good platform for our Lifestyle Program," said company spokesman Carlos Illingworth in an email. "We have completed remodels in several of these stores to great results."

The only other visible exterior changes, besides a new shade of sage green paint, is that the parking lot will be resurfaced and the chain link fence along Alvarado will be removed. There are no plans, however, to add trees or landscaping, he said.

Most of the change will take place inside, where the 24,000-square foot store is getting repainted in Starbucks-like shades of sage, bronze and amber, with fake wood floors, dark shelving and rows of spot lights completing the look. A new bakery and self-serve deli- selling soups, sandwiches, pasta salads and other prepared meals - are taking the place of the check cashing booth near the entrance. Illingworth would not say how much the company is spending on the remodel, which is expected to be finished next month.

The upgraded Echo Park Vons will most likely become fodder for those opposed to the forces of gentrification - looks like those bins of dried chilies and Mexican spices are never coming back - and those who fear the G-Force has taken a detour - sorry, no in-store sushi bar of Starbucks here.

Maybe the Taco Zone truck can start serving lattes.