Velarde’s Fruits is one of several Boyle Heights restaurants featured in Boyle Heights Beat’s “Eastside Eats” series, which explores the stories, flavors and people behind the neighborhood’s best local spots.
Along the bustling corridor of Cesar E. Chavez Avenue in Boyle Heights, Velarde’s Fruits hums with daily routine. Customers file in for green juices, tortas to go and chocomil licuados.
Inside, orange benches, yellow walls and nearly 40-year-old paintings evoke a nostalgic charm, like nothing has touched it in decades.
Velarde’s Fruits began more than 55 years ago as a humble produce business and fruit stand. Over the years the business has evolved with several hands in ownership – but its soul remains the same. In 2007, longtime employee Modesto Navarro became its third owner, continuing the legacy with the same dedication he brought when he started working there 35 years ago.
Navarro’s journey started as a favor.
His wife, Gloria, who worked at Placita Olvera, asked a fruit stand vendor if he had any work for her husband. Soon, Navarro was transporting produce between the fruit stand at Placita Olvera and the brick-and-mortar location on Cesar E. Chavez.
He worked his way through the kitchen – peeling fruit, cooking and helping out where he could. While the Placita Olvera stand continued under a different owner, Navarro stayed on at Velarde’s. So when the opportunity arose to take over, he jumped at the chance.
Navarro says the customers are the heart of the business.
“I do things that the customers like and I do it with care and love because the majority of them know me, Navarro said in Spanish.
Some customers have been coming for decades. Others, now living in places as far as Palmdale or Las Vegas, still return when they’re in town.
“Many families have moved away from this area,” Navarro said. “Now, those who come to visit are their children and grandchildren.”
Navarro’s daughter, Gabriela Castillo-Navarro, 39, grew up in the restaurant. She’d help her parents on the weekends, and now mostly handles the finances. Over time, she’s been a witness to her parents’ work ethic and dedication to the community.
“[My parents] always show up to work with this sense of purpose,” she said. “They come home and they talk about their customers as if they’re family.”
Castillo-Navarro says her parents’ business is more than a restaurant, it’s a community anchor.
“There aren’t many place like this anymore… A lot of people come and they say they feel at home, like it’s grandma’s house,” she said.
With just two employees and Gloria by his side in the kitchen, Navarro offers a variety of fresh juices, licuados and traditional Mexican fruit salads. Favorites include the “Vampiro” juice, the green juice and the strawberry and banana smoothie. The drinks are prepared with fresh ingredients like nopales, celery, spinach, pineapple, kale, cucumber and ginger.
Since acquiring the business, Navarro and his wife began to include homestyle Mexican dishes like caldos, costillas de puerco and chiles rellenos.
Angela Diaz, a lifelong customer, started coming to Velarde’s Fruits as a teenager. Now her daughter and grandchildren visit too.
“People like myself are going back to Velarde’s because it’s so reasonable and it’s so good. They always greet you with amazing service,” she said.
“Why go to Jamba Juice or Whole Foods? This is what our community has offered for years.”
In April, the Boyle Heights Chamber of Commerce, along with Councilmember Ysabel Jurado, honored Velarde’s Fruits with a certificate of recognition for their decades of service and community impact.
Velarde’s Fruits is located on 2201 E Cesar E Chavez Avenue. It’s open from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. daily and closed on Tuesdays.
