Nature Mart Successor Lassen's Off to Uneasy Start

The longtime owners of Nature Mart in Los Feliz, as we reported last month, had “lost their lease,” leaving healthy eaters to wonder what would replace the store amid rumors that a relatively small but prominent chain of health food stores would be taking over.

Blogger Howie Klein, a longtime Nature Mart customer, paid a visit to the successor of one of Northeast L.A.’s last organic holdouts—Lassen’s Natural Foods.

Based in Camarillo, Lassen’s runs a small chain of health food stores, also with roots in the 1970s.

Here’s an excerpt from Klein’s Thursday posting on his Down With Tyranny blog:

I went over there yesterday, the first day of the new operation, to check it out. The Nature Mart signs are all still up and the store looks pretty much the same. But then I saw the bags—Lassen's Natural Foods. Oh, God, no!

According to Klein, Lassen’s gave tens of thousands of dollars in campaign support to Proposition 8, the California initiative to ban same-sex marriage:

The Los Feliz/Silverlake area is one of the most gay-friendly parts of Los Angeles. What a stupid decision for [them] to buy a store in an area where everyone is going to hear about what [they] did and look for alternative places to shop!

Klein goes on to quote Lassen’s niece, who defends the family's Mormon faith:

We have a lot a gay and lesbian customers. We have nothing against them. To us, it is a moral issue, not a civil issue. Sadly, people feel like they have to blame somebody. It's not just Mormons who voted for this. It was passed by a majority of Californians. We love our gay and lesbian customers. If they don't want to shop at our store, then that's their choice. I can respect that, but they should respect my family's beliefs, too.

Did Klein buy anything on his visit to the Prop.8-friendly neighborhood chain store? In a follow-up piece on his blog, he explains:

I was holding a container of blueberries when I put 2 + 2 together and immediately replaced it and walked out of the store. There's no possibility I would ever buy anything in such a place under any circumstances.

Klein also says he saw no employees he recognized from the previous regime, although he was told by an employee most remain.