Fresh produce, vegan food and juices at Crenshaw Food Hub in South Los Angeles

On a windy January afternoon, dozens of watermelons lined the back of the shopping center at the corner of West 77th Street and Crenshaw Boulevard in Hyde Park. Striped green orbs were scattered on the asphalt, a green glimpse of the summer season in the middle of winter.

To get there, Imani Diggs drove a total of 43 hours from Los Angeles to Florida and back. It's a trip he made four times over the course of the month, returning each time with thousands of pounds of watermelons.

“I contacted some black farmers in Florida in December and drove there to pick the watermelons,” he said. “Just so people can continue their fruit fasts and things like that. People were telling me, 'I'm 10 days into fruit fasting and you're saving my life right now.'”

Diggs drives around the country, picking up seedless watermelons from farms in one state and selling them in another. It sources watermelons from farmers in Florida, Mexico and Houston. For the past several years, he has delivered watermelons to Las Vegas and throughout California, including Richmond, Woodland Hills and Orange County. She now sells watermelons, juices and other products from her first store, called Imani Gardens, inside the Crenshaw Food Hub.

The new food center has taken over the space previously occupied by Kathy's Kitchen. Kathy Alston opened her small juice shop in 2020, selling produce and making juices with everything she got at farmers markets around town. Their lemon, ginger and turmeric juice was like sunshine in a bottle. Their celery, lime and ginger elixir turned me into a green juice person. But after five years in the space, Alston made the difficult decision to close.

“I always had a dream to bring healthier food options to the community,” he said. “I started Kathy's Kitchen to make that dream a reality and I did everything I could.”

Chef Amin Muhammad, left, Adam X and Imani Diggs stand on the roof of the Crenshaw Food Hub.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

Now, Diggs and his partners Adam X and former Compton Community Garden director TemuAsyr Martin Bey are continuing Alston's dream, but on a much larger scale.

Diggs and X spent the last few years hosting produce pop-ups together in Leimert Park.

“We had plans to transition to a traditional business,” said

The plan was to take over the lease for Kathy's Kitchen and convert the space into a food center. Imani Gardens would act as an anchor tenant, with a permanent market complete with fresh juices and other foods out front, and multiple food entrepreneurs that could operate out of the kitchen.

“The idea is to have a place in the community to come and buy food in a food desert,” X said.

Muhammad places a vegan zucchini pizza in a pizza box at Crenshaw Food Hub.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

At the moment, there are two resident chefs operating from the food center. The first is Amin Muhammad, who grew up in a nearby apartment complex. Raised a vegetarian, he and his friends used to take the bus to Beverly Hills to get eggplant pizza at Mulberry Street Pizza. Now she's making her own vegan eggplant pizza, with shredded banana squash instead of cheese.

“It's not that there are no places to eat, but that there is no quality food anywhere,” Muhammad said. “When Adam told me where this was and I told my mom and brother, they said that's right in the neighborhood. It's part of my roots, so I had to come and be a part of it.”

Visitors can purchase Muhammad's pizzas, white bean soup, bean pie and a handful of other prepared dishes from a small freezer in the grocery section of the store.

Wolf Collins, the chef behind alkaline vegan food operation Electric Wok, appears outside the Crenshaw Food Hub.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

Also in the kitchen is Wolf Collins, who runs a pop-up called Electric Wok. She specializes in alkaline vegan food and stocks Imani Gardens' refrigerator with grab-and-go sandwiches and stir-fried quinoa. When he's in the kitchen and Diggs can get his hands on soursop, Collins makes what he calls his soursop fish sandwich.

“It was just kind of an experiment, but it went ridiculously viral on TikTok and Instagram,” Collins said.

Bread green soursop in a mixture of chickpea flour and spelled breadcrumbs and then fry it until golden. Dress soursop filet with alkaline pickles, alkaline garlic aioli, alkaline habanero sauce and red onion on sourdough spelled bread. The fruit takes on a tender, fleshy texture, similar to a white fish fillet.

Collins is also making donkey fries, turning the plump green fruit into crispy wedges with fluffy centers.

The center, the market and the chefs are just one part of a healthy food supply and distribution operation that X, Bey and Diggs plan to expand and take to other cities in the interior of the country.

Squeezed juices and other items are stored in a refrigerator at the Crenshaw Food Hub.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

“We establish markets for Black farmers, manufacture nutrient-dense food products, and distribute fresh, culturally relevant foods to eradicate food deserts and improve our communities,” the food hub's mission statement reads. “By prioritizing food sovereignty and the Black cooperative economy, we revitalize agriculture and expand access to healthy foods to boost human longevity.”

X and Bey are behind Asyrs Bridge, an agricultural advisory services company that strives to create equitable access to the agricultural industry.

At the beginning of the 20th century, black farmers represented approximately 14% of farmers in the United States. As of 2022, that figure has dropped to less than 2%.

X is using his background in business and finance along with Bey's position on the California Department of Food and Agriculture's BIPOC advisory committee to advocate for state resources to build infrastructure for Black farmers and food distributors.

Muhammad, left, and X are inside the Crenshaw Food Hub.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

The two were able to help secure $1.25 million to fund the Ujamaa Farmer Collective, an organization whose mission is to help BIPOC farmers secure land and resources. It owes its name to the Swahili word meaning “extended family.” In 2024, the collective was able to purchase a 22-acre parcel of land outside of Woodland in Yolo County.

“The goal is to eventually start farms so we can supply our own food,” said

The next step is to purchase the building that houses the Crenshaw Food Hub.

“We could actually build the entire food system and be our own solution to food deserts,” said X. “Now we want to buy the building so we can own the farm, the building and the entire supply chain.”

Diggs of Imani Gardens displays some fresh produce inside the food center.

(Ronaldo Bolaños / Los Angeles Times)

Diggs sources products for the market from a network of about 10 farms from San Diego to Sacramento, including WeGrow Farms, an urban farm in west Sacramento. Recently there were soursop, black sapote, dragon fruit, Indian mangoes, cherimoya and passion fruit on their shelves. Also curate a selection of pantry items such as honey, sea moss rolls and coconut dates.

Although he hasn't stopped traveling to host his seeded watermelon pop-ups, he's grateful for the permanent space and regular business hours.

“It feels good,” he said. “It allows the community to have more access to us and that's the most important thing. We need more spaces like this.”