ETHNIC MARKETS ATTRACT LOCALS.

Byline: Eugene Tong Staff Writer

SANTA CLARITA - Amid shelves of spiky bitter melons and spicy aromatics, Sandra Balaram picked up a few packs of lentils; sweet, sticky gulab jamum - a cheese dessert; and a case of Limca sodas on a grocery run at India Spiceland last week.

``You can get everything here,'' said Balaram, 41, of Valencia. ``I don't have to go all the way to Artesia,'' she said, referring to the city in southeast Los Angeles County that's home to Little India.

From pickled mango to homemade kim chee, ethnic food markets and specialty businesses are slowly taking root in Santa Clarita, providing an exotic refuge from the typical mall grocer and the sensations of home for the homesick.

Near the 10-year-old Indian market along an anonymous strip mall on Bouquet Canyon Road sits a Filipino-themed grocery with fresh coconuts and banana sauce. It even rents Filipino videos and serves as a base for an island-bound cargo service.

On Cinema Drive, 3-month-old Valencia Market sells gallon jugs of kim chee, that spicy pickled cabbage found in every Korean pantry. Owner Lisa Yun even gives tips from behind the cash register on preparing succulent Korean-style barbecue.

``We want to do something different,'' said Yun, who opened the market after quitting the one-hour photo lab she operated for 13 years across the street.

The city is becoming fertile ground for these specialty businesses, with readily available storefronts, an increasingly diverse population moving in from the San Fernando Valley and immigrants willing to risk long hours and capital for dreams of financial independence.

``Someone's got to make everything you want,'' said Martin Krieger, a professor of planning at the University of Southern California who studies immigrant entrepreneurs. ``Except not everything is going to be made by General Motors or Proctor & Gamble. ... The market is not perfect. There are a lot of niches.''

It's steady business for Jay Hossain, owner of Indian Spiceland for the past four years. Originally from Bangladesh, he has lived in Santa Clarita with his wife and child for close to 15 years.

``We came here for a better life, a better education for my son - at least if you work hard,'' he said.

Hossain bought the market after he quit his job as a waiter at a Beverly Hills hotel because of a bad ankle. While his wife objects to the six- days-a-week schedule and business is sometimes slow, he has found in it a new sense of freedom.

``I want to be my own boss,'' he said, eyeing a stool behind the counter. ``I can sit here for a couple hours, then do some work. There's no busing (tables).''

For Yun, it's a matter of service. Affordable homes and quality schools have drawn a growing number of Korean-Americans to the city in recent years - along with a demand for Asian groceries, she said.

``We used to shop in Koreatown (near downtown Los Angeles),'' she said. ``The kids would complain: `Why do you have to go out there? Someone should open a market.' So we decided, why not us?''

With the shop open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. daily, everyone works. Yun manages the single checkout stand while her husband surveys inventory. The kim chee is handcrafted by the couple's mothers from a family recipe.

``It's very hard,'' she said. ``There is no free time.''

Eugene Tong, [phone]

eugene.tong(at)dailynews.com

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Photo:

(color) Lisa Yun stocks shelves at her Korean market on Cinema Drive in Santa Clarita. As the area grows, so do ethnic retail outlets.

David R. Crane/Staff Photographer