Los Angeles
The American cheese scene's late-bloomer that arrived hard. Andrew's Cheese Shop in Santa Monica anchors serious curation; the city's sprawl means cheese culture is neighborhood-by-neighborhood rather than centralized.
Positioning
LA's cheese culture matured later than NYC or SF — the city's sprawl made centralized cheese retail impractical, and the climate (warm year-round) made small specialty shops difficult to operate without infrastructure investment. Andrew's Cheese Shop (Santa Monica, founded 2006 by Andrew Steiner) demonstrated that a destination cheese shop could work in LA; the 2010s brought additional shops in Silver Lake, Studio City, and Pasadena. Bay Cities Italian Deli (Santa Monica, since 1925) provides the older Italian-American cheese-and-deli context.
Cheese culture history
LA's Italian-American cheese tradition runs back to Bay Cities (1925) and the Little Italy neighborhoods that have largely dissolved into the broader city. The modern specialty cheese era starts with Andrew's opening in 2006 — Andrew Steiner trained in Paris before opening the Santa Monica shop. The 2010s wave of food-revolution restaurants (Bestia, Sqirl, Bavel, Animal) elevated cheese course menus across the city. Unlike NYC and SF, LA does not have a centralized cheese district — each neighborhood has its own micro-scene.
Key neighborhoods
- Santa Monica — Andrew's Cheese Shop + Bay Cities Italian Deli; the closest LA gets to a centralized cheese district
- Silver Lake + Echo Park — Lassens, plus the broader food-revolution restaurant scene including Sqirl + Botanica
- Studio City + Sherman Oaks — Cube Marketplace, Joan's on Third (broader gourmet)
- Pasadena — Pasadena Cheese Shop, Vroman's neighborhood
- Downtown LA — Grand Central Market cheese counters; tourist-focused but real
Specialty shops
- Andrew's Cheese Shop — Santa Monica; the LA serious cheesemonger destination, Andrew Steiner's curation widely respected
- Bay Cities Italian Deli — Santa Monica; legendary sandwich shop with serious Italian cheese counter
- Beverly Hills Cheese Store — high-end Beverly Hills; tourist-friendly, expensive, real selection
- The Cheese Store of Silverlake — Silver Lake; small, opinionated, neighborhood-focused
- Joan's on Third — Third Street; broader gourmet but reliable cheese counter
- Cube Marketplace — Studio City; Italian-influenced, strong cured meat + cheese pairing focus
Restaurants & markets
- Hatchet Hall — Culver City; cheese-and-charcuterie focused dining
- Bestia — Arts District; Italian-leaning, strong cheese course
- Republique — Hancock Park; cheese plate is a regular menu feature
- Smorgasburg LA (Sunday) — DTLA; rotating producer market including occasional cheese vendors
- Wally's Beverly Hills — wine merchant with cheese-and-charcuterie cafe
Travel access
Best seasons
Year-round; LA's climate doesn't create strong seasonality for cheese retail. Avoid late August / early September (heat waves) for serious cheese shopping — even good shops struggle with the heat.
Avoid these pitfalls
- Beverly Hills Cheese Store is overpriced for everyday shopping — visit Andrew's in Santa Monica for the same selection at fair prices
- Grand Central Market cheese is tourist-focused and not the deepest selection in LA
- Many of the food-revolution restaurants have cheese course but limited shop-quality selection; restaurants and shops are separate ecosystems in LA