6/22/2012

J-town Cool from Sean & FB Friends

Traci and Maiya Asset Mapping J-town
Crossposted from Sean Miura's FB post on June 14th:


Just finished my third night of meetings in Little Tokyo, one for Tuesday Night Cafe w/South Asians for Social Justice + a Google Hangout crash course, one to plan for the brand spanking new skill learning + history/community sharing space Little Tokyo University, and finally tonight I got to see this amazing photovisual community mapping project that culminated in a photo gallery installation at Nirvana Bar. It was awesome catching up with and talking story with folks like Traci, Jenni, Tony, Kristin, and Collin who are all going big and making huge changes to the JTown landscape.

It's so crazy to think that when I first got to LA in 2006 I would go to meetings where the first agenda item was "in 5 years will there be a Little Tokyo?" The streets would be empty, the shops would be tired, and the area was being bought out by corporations at frightening speed.

Now there is barely any parking because the restaurants are packed, the streets are always lit, and on any given night something is happening. This isn't a testament to Japanese people or Little Tokyo itself, but really what PEOPLE (any people, ordinary people) can do when we come together and PROACTIVELY create spaces to engage and work towards communal goals and wants.And that's a pretty awesome thing.







    • I'm moving there at the end of July. SO EXCITED.
      June 14 at 10:54pm ·  · 3

    • Sean Miura that's my only lifegoal--to eventually buy a condo in jtown.
      June 14 at 10:58pm ·  · 5

    • Michael It's expensive now.... Who woulda thought, right? On another note, if you wanna learn more about Google Hangouts, come to the Vincent Chin event next Saturday, we're gonna have Google staff on hand doing all of our tech
      June 14 at 11:07pm via mobile ·  · 1

    • Sean Miura I'm going to be out of town! But yeah that's good to know. Traci Akemi see what waxstyles just said bout the vincent chin thing!!
      June 14 at 11:09pm ·  · 1

    • that is really exciting...awesome day =]
      June 14 at 11:09pm ·  · 2

    • Tony  Buying would be cool. But building a condo would be J-Town Cool. Let's make that a new word for the Little Tokyo lexicon. "J-Town Cool" adj. -to be extra excellent or bad ass. As in "Did you see that dude pop locking at the talent show at the Budokan? Man, it was J-Town cool."
      June 14 at 11:10pm ·  · 3

    • Kristin ‎"fun-ical"
      June 14 at 11:13pm ·  · 2

    • Sean Miura Dude what if there was an affordable condo/apartment building near budokan that could also be used to house summer camps and traveling teams
      June 14 at 11:15pm ·  · 1

    • Tony There you go. That would be very jtown cool.
      June 14 at 11:15pm ·  · 1

    • Sean Miura ‎"J-Town Cool" is happening. Kristin, it's a thing. Can we just say "JC"? Is that allowed? everything else in jtown is abbreviated anyhow, may as well make it more complicated....
      June 14 at 11:16pm ·  · 1

    • Tony‎... and straight up fun-ical.
      June 14 at 11:17pm ·  · 2

    • Traci  This whole thread is making me so happy, you just can't imagine...And Michael, we seriously need to chat soon ;)...
      June 14 at 11:17pm via mobile ·  · 1

    • Traci Also Sean, in light of tonight's conversation on missing Jenni's blog, I do like that you took the time and space here to write an extended note!!
      June 14 at 11:19pm via mobile ·  · 1

    • Sean Miura I'm going to try it out for a bit!
      June 14 at 11:20pm ·  · 1

    • Kristin yeah blog! yeah affordable condo/apt! yeah J-Town Cool!! ... although. I'm pretty sure JC is generally jesus christ... and that could get weird if interpreted that way. jus sayin
      June 14 at 11:22pm ·  · 2

    • Jenni  J-cool... love it. Wanna revive the dusty Little Tokyo Unplugged blog and get others to write for it? (I have access). Does TNC have a blog? Or maybe blogs are too old school, something new? Can I paste your post to the LT Unplugged blog?
      June 15 at 7:59am ·  · 2

    • Sean Miura ‎Jenni - Not sure I can do anything beyond inane 1am scribbling, but let me know! And feel free to copy/paste this to the blog!
      June 18 at 8:32am · 
  • * FB links and last names removed.
Posted by Jenni 1 comments
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10/20/2011

Pub Crawl Tonight

It's getting harder to figure out what is influencing Little Tokyo's popularity of late: beer or food? For those who choose beer, let it be known that Little T is not a one-beer-pub area any more, and I'm in no way referencing Angel City Brewing Co., which is a big place for only serving 4 kinds of beer.

No, beyond Wurstkuche, the landscape is getting larger, hence tonight's Big Crawl taking place in 9 different bars featuring 9 different breweries.


Sponsored by Far Bar, the Crawl will be tapped at such previously unknown beer bars as The Spice Table and Fu-ga, whose bar manager said will be featuring all the beers from the Stone Brewing Company. New pizza spot Xlixe is definitely worth a slice, according to one adventurous neighbor, and I'd suggest grabbing a burger at The Escondite on the early side of the evening before the cardboard boxes take over the sidewalks. Old timers will recognize The Escondite as the old 410 Boyd, of course.

There's no admission price. Please don't drink and drive. And on behalf of all LT residents, please urinate in a toilet, preferably one that flushes.
Posted by LT Goto 56 comments

7/29/2011

Childcare for infants/toddlers in Little Tokyo/Downtown Los Angeles

“…I felt great peace of mind knowing that my sons were under the care of people who understood what their individual preferences, leanings, and needs were." - Scarlet Sy and Eric Olson

The Little Tokyo Service Center, located in Downtown Los Angeles is now offering spaces for infants and toddlers at Grace Iino Child Care Center.  The combination of the nurturing staff and spacious facility allows Grace Iino to care for 48 children between the ages of 6 weeks to 3 years old.  It provides a safe and trusting environment that offers parents a sense of comfort and relief that their child is being well taken care of.

"Raising a family downtown posed several challenges as well as benefits.  Having a licensed day care in walking distance was definitely a benefit.  All three girls bonded immediately to the attentive and professional staff. " - John Brasel

Grace Iino practices Primary Infant Toddler Care, or “responsive care,” which allows the child to remain with the same caregiver throughout his or her entire stay at Grace Iino. “My two boys did very well under the Primary Care model.  They both came to love their respective caregivers.” said parents, Scarlet Sy and Eric Olson.

Grace Iino also takes deep pride in their Toddler Plus program, a unique developmental preschool readiness program.  Upon a child reaching the age of 2 1/2 they will spend 2 hours a day in a group of older toddlers practicing hands-on activities that will prepare them for the next level of development. 

"Grace Iino Child Care Center is a caring, nurturing environment and a great stepping stone for preparing toddlers for preschool.  Our kids were potty trained there - the caregivers made it so easy for us," explain Leslie Ito and Steve Wong.
 
The staff dynamics consists of language fluency in English, Spanish, and Japanese.  Hours of operation are 7am to 6pm Monday to Friday.  Update Effective 7/1/12:  The fee for infants is $1,200 per month; toddlers is $1,050 per month. 

Little Tokyo Service Center is a Community Development Corporation and nonprofit community-based organization in Los Angeles dedicated to helping people and building community for over 30 years.  Grace Iino Child Care Center, a program of LTSC, is located at 231 E. 3rd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013 (License #198008650)

For more info or to schedule a tour of the Center, please contact Jenni Kuida at (213) 473-1699 jkuida@ltsc.org or Rocio Hernandez at (213) 617-8596 rhernandez@ltsc.org.

Posted by Jenni 11 comments
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7/23/2011

Project Sake and BloomfestLA


A couple decades ago, I shared a loft on Traction Avenue with photographer Shane Sato. The loft was a couple blocks east of Honda Plaza, an area which used to be a wide expanse of vacant parking lots and a whole lot of nothingness.

But on the corner just down the street from Al's Bar, Joel Bloom sold a few bits of merchandise, mostly cigars, cigarettes and other smoke paraphernalia. Mr. Bloom was a cigar aficionado and had the deep baritone voice to prove it. He was a really nice man, from what I remember of him. He died about 5 years ago.

In his memory, and in the spirit of this little strip often known as the Downtown Arts District, BloomfestLA was born and starts at 2pm today and goes until 10pm.

A bunch of food trucks have just pulled into the area as I write, including one Ludo Truck in all its red-and-black rooster glory. Go stand in line for an hour or two, why don't ya?


Next week, Thursday to be exact, Project Sake comes to St. Vibiana in Little Tokyo. Walking in will be many dignified folks from the greater Japanese American community. (And stumbling out will be somewhat less dignified folks from said community.)

In its 5th year, Project Sake is the Little Tokyo Service Center's annual sake- and food-tasting event. Dozens of restaurants will offer tastes from their menu, and many dozens of sake bottles will be offering something to wash it all down. A fashion show will be presented by Anne Namba, and many other locally grown and concocted crafts will be on display and/or for sale.

Every year, this event gets sold out, so don't wait till you get to the door to get your tickets.
Posted by LT Goto 1 comments
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4/28/2011

Greenbreaking at Casa Heiwa


On April 12, 2011, Enterprise Community Partners, Little Tokyo Service Center, partners, and Little Tokyo residents met in the courtyard of Casa Heiwa for a "greenbreaking" ceremony. This greenbreaking marks the start of a retrofitting project in several of LTSC's affordable housing apartment buildings. These retrofits will reduce building costs, energy consumption, and overall impact on the environment. Watch this video, produced by LTSC's DIY Productions social enterprise, to find out more about this event and the positive effects of "green" retrofitting on affordable housing residents.
Posted by m niiya 3 comments
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