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59-591: Times Mirror Square is a complex of buildings on the block bounded by Spring, Broadway, First and Second streets in the Civic Center district of Downtown Los Angeles . It was headquarters of the Los Angeles Times until 2018. It is currently vacant, with plans being proposed regarding how to best utilize the existing buildings and the total ground area of the site. Times Mirror Square includes: The parking garage at 213 S. Spring, stretching from

118-734: A building or structure in Los Angeles is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . 1st Street, Los Angeles For over a mile between Hoover Street and Glendale Boulevard , 1st Street is synonymous with Beverly Boulevard . The E Line runs on east 1st Street between Alameda and Indiana Streets; it operates the Little Tokyo/Arts District , Pico/Aliso , Mariachi Plaza , Soto and Indiana stations. Metro Local line 14 runs through west 1st Street and Metro Local line 106 through East 1st Street. There's also another Metro Rail station at Hill Street which

177-846: A commercial core still managed to exist in Little Tokyo. Due to lack of housing in Little Tokyo, many Japanese Americans returning from the camps moved into apartments and boarding houses in the neighborhoods surrounding downtown Los Angeles . Notably, Boyle Heights , just east of Little Tokyo, had a large Japanese American population in the 1950s (as it had before the internment ) until the arrival of Mexican and Latino immigrants replaced most of them. The post-war Japanese-American population in Little Tokyo had become only one-third of its pre-war population. Many Issei and Nisei who had previously owned large businesses or were heavily involved in agriculture now returned with little resources to work in civil service or other simple jobs. Concurrently,

236-559: A great way to find Japanese video games that were either never translated into English, or were never domestically released in North America. There are also several stores that sell manga and anime related products. The Japanese Village Plaza is located roughly in the center of Little Tokyo on the east side of San Pedro Street . There are several restaurants in the plaza, plus a number of shops geared towards tourists. First Street and Second Street border Japanese Village Plaza and have

295-442: A growth in community and the establishment of a commercial district. By 1908, around 90 Japanese-run boarding houses could be found throughout Los Angeles. In 1909, Little Tokyo was described as "bounded by San Pedro , First and Requena Streets and Central Avenue . The Los Angeles Times added: "It has a population of about 3,500 Japanese ... there are 10,000 Japanese in the city who make this section their rendezvous." The area

354-684: A high concentration of legacy institutions. East West Players , one of the nation's first Asian American theater companies and the longest continuously running theatre of color in the nation, specializing in live theater written and performed by Asian American artists, is located in Little Tokyo, performing in the David Henry Hwang Theater, a 230-seat venue in the Union Center for the Performing Arts. The Japanese American Community and Cultural Center (JACCC) runs

413-495: A kiosk on Astronaut Ellison Onizuka Street and contains a monument to Astronaut Ellison S. Onizuka , a Japanese American from Hawaiʻi who was a mission specialist on the Space Shuttle Challenger when it disintegrated during takeoff in 1986. Little Tokyo has a variety of public art, including a memorial statue of Chiune Sugihara , Japanese consul to Lithuania before World War II and Righteous among

472-647: A large redevelopment plan was put in place to be enacted in the early 1950s, but due to a lack of state funding and wealth in the Japanese-American community following three years of internment, the plan fell to stagnation. Following the construction there of the Los Angeles Police Department headquarters in 1953, Little Tokyo's commercial area shrunk by one fourth from its original size. 1,000 residents were displaced to other parts of Los Angeles. The current site of Parker Center ,

531-613: A leisure and pastime for some people. In the book Down by the Los Angeles River , written by Joe Linton, the author narrates a walking path starting from First Street Bridge. LA voters in 1924 passed the Viaduct Bond Act, which would allocate $ 2 million through a tax, and the funds allocated would go toward revitalizing the Downtown Los Angeles bridges. The friends of the Los Angeles River mobilized

590-702: A major convening point for AAPI artists in the entertainment industry, and a central incubator for the nation having twice before hosted the National Asian American Theatre Conference and Festival put on by the Consortium of Asian American Theatre Artists. Little Tokyo has also seen the rise of many adjacent movements in the AAPI entertainment world such as Asian American theater companies Teada , Lodestone Theatre, Artists at Play, Hereandnow Theatre, Asian AF Comedy shows, and

649-596: A number of yakiniku restaurants, where meat is often cooked on a small grill built into the center of the table. Little Tokyo is the birthplace of the California roll , invented by a chef named Ichiro Mashita at the Tokyo Kaikan sushi restaurant. Two wagashi (Japanese sweets) shops located in Little Tokyo are among the oldest food establishments in Los Angeles. Fugetsu-do, founded in 1903, appears to be

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708-576: A number of restaurants that are open later than those in the court. The Weller Court shopping mall is located along Astronaut Ellison S Onizuka St., backing up to 2nd St. on the south and what was originally the New Otani Hotel, now the DoubleTree by Hilton Hotel Los Angeles Downtown , along Los Angeles Street, to the north and west. It has several restaurants, karaoke clubs, and a Bubble Tea cafe. For tourists visiting from Japan, there are

767-400: A number of shops specializing in expensive name brand products such as Coach handbags. There is also a large bookstore, Kinokuniya , that is part of a well-known Japanese chain. They have a large selection of Japanese-language books, magazines, music CDs, manga , and anime , as well as a selection of English-language books on Japanese subjects and translated manga and anime. Weller Court

826-549: A pivotal role in the first large wave of Japanese Immigration to the United States as the Japanese were heavily recruited to serve as 'cheap labor' in place of the now excluded Chinese laborers. One of the people influenced by this first wave of Japanese Immigration was Hamanosuke Shigeta, a Japanese seaman who settled in southeast Los Angeles, an area which would eventually become Little Tokyo. There Shigeta established

885-420: A presence. East West Players saw the early careers of actors such as Daniel Dae Kim , John Cho , Reggie Lee , Amy Hill , Lucy Liu , Isa Briones , as well as playwrights Qui Nguyen . Lauren Yee , and David Henry Hwang . In 2018, actor George Takei returned to Little Tokyo for the first Post Broadway staging of the musical Allegiance by Jay Kuo & Lorenzo Thione co-produced by East West Players and

944-728: A rooftop garden in the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens , formerly the New Otani Hotel . The Go for Broke Monument commemorates Japanese Americans who served in the United States Military during World War II . With its proximity to Hollywood and its concentration as a focal point for the Pan Asian American community, Little Tokyo Los Angeles has long served as an incubator for Asian American and Pacific Islander artists and performers sporting

1003-450: A traditional ethnic enclave , there are relatively few Japanese residents in the area. Even so, the Japanese-American community was politicized by the internment and redress effort , which, along with the global and local growth of overseas Japanese investment, has assured that Little Tokyo has continued to exist as a tourist attraction, community center, and home to Japanese-American senior citizens and others. During its inception in 1980,

1062-413: Is Civic Center/Grand Park , served by Metro's B and D lines. First Street was a location background filmed during the movie Blood In Blood Out (originally: Bound by Honor ). The First Street bridge was used as the backdrop for Welsh rock band Lostprophets ’ second album Start Something in 2004. Walking through these historic bridges in Downtown Los Angeles from 1910 to the 1930s had been

1121-572: Is bounded on the west by Los Angeles Street, on the east by Alameda Street, on the south by 3rd Street , and on the north by First Street, but also includes a substantial portion of the block north of First and west of Alameda, location of the Japanese American National Museum , the Go For Broke Monument , and a row of historic shops which lines the north side of First Street. A timeline has been set into

1180-431: Is currently underused, with vacant space being used for movie shoots, earning the company as much as $ 4 million one year. The original building, despite its historic and architectural significance, is not listed as a historical landmark. It is not in the listings of Los Angeles Historic-Cultural Monuments , California Historical Landmarks , or U.S. Registered Historic Landmarks in Los Angeles . Onni has planned to redevelop

1239-570: Is mainly a work, cultural, religious, restaurant and shopping district, because Japanese Americans today are likely to live in nearby cities such as Torrance , Gardena , and Monterey Park , as well as the Sawtelle district in the Westside of Los Angeles. However, the recent boom in downtown residential construction is changing the nature of Little Tokyo. What is left of the original Little Tokyo can be found in roughly five large city blocks. It

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1298-871: The JACCC at the Aratani Theatre. The Aratani has also served as a home venue to the Grammy Nominated Jazz fusion group Hiroshima (band) founded by Dan Kuramoto & June Kuramoto. Actress Tamlyn Tomita began her career when she was crowned "Nisei Week Queen" in 1984 which led to her breakout casting in The Karate Kid Part 2 . Filmmakers such as Justin Lin , Quentin Lee , and Justin Chon have premiered some of their early career making films at

1357-562: The Jordan Downs housing complex. In 1945, many defense industry jobs disappeared and the workers moved elsewhere in search of new employment. Others were pushed out when Japanese Americans began to return and white landlords chose not to renew leases with their wartime tenants. Following the War, many previous Japanese residents returned to Little Tokyo to continue managing businesses by purchasing Bronzeville business leases. Albeit smaller,

1416-496: The Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival . Actor Dante Basco has been a mainstay performing his poetry alongside many others at Tuesday Night Project. Musicians such as AJ Rafael , Jane Lui , MC Jin and more have long relationships with Kollaboration since before the "youtube-boom" that saw many AAPI artists and musicians find an internet based audience. Little Tokyo continues to be

1475-611: The Museum of Contemporary Art , formerly called the Temporary Contemporary and now known as the Geffen Contemporary (named after David Geffen ). Additionally, the visual arts are represented by the arts non-profit, LAArtcore which devotes itself to creating awareness of the visual arts through 24 exhibitions each year along with educational programming. An art gallery called 123 Astronaut is housed within

1534-460: The Zoot Suit race riots . In 1943, officials bowed to pressure from frustrated residents and proposed building temporary housing in nearby Willowbrook , but the majority-white residents of the unincorporated city resisted the plans. In 1944, 57 Bronzeville buildings were condemned as unfit for habitation and 125 ordered repaired or renovated; approximately 50 of the evicted families were sent to

1593-469: The 800 seat Aratani Theater, which features theatre, dance, concerts as well as cultural performances and events. Visual Communications , an Asian Pacific American media arts organization that annually presents VC FilmFest (Los Angeles Asian Pacific Film Festival), in several venues around Little Tokyo. Tuesday Night Project is the longest running Asian American open Mic event in the nation running every 1st and 3rd Tuesday from April through October in

1652-657: The Central Japanese Association, Japanese American Citizen's League (JACL), and the Japanese American Chamber of Commerce. Concurrently, these leaders worked with Japan to establish kenjinkai or mutual aid societies each associated to one of the Japanese Prefectures. These associations would provide mutual aid and social opportunities to Japanese families that had immigrated from the same prefecture represented by

1711-650: The Civic Center area of DTLA. Later in 2018, City Hall approved the demolition of all the additions to the original 1937 building, including the Pereira wing, to make way for the proposed towers. The new underground Historic Broadway light rail station opened on June 16, 2023, on the 2nd Street side of the building, as part of the Regional Connector . [REDACTED] Media related to Times Mirror Square at Wikimedia Commons This article about

1770-538: The Comedy Comedy Festival. There are numerous Japanese restaurants, catering to both Japanese and non-Japanese clientele. Many of them specialize in one type of Japanese cuisine , such as donburi , Japanese noodles ( soba , ramen and udon ), shabu-shabu (which translated from Japanese means 'swish-swish', referring to the motion of dipping meat and vegetables in a communal bowl of boiling water), Japanese curry, sushi, or yakitori. There are also

1829-617: The Go For Broke Plaza, promises to provide essential housing units while serving as a permanent home for the Go For Broke National Education Center, a nonprofit dedicated to educating the public about the courage and sacrifices of Japanese-American soldiers . At its peak, Little Tokyo had approximately 30,000 Japanese Americans living in the area. Little Tokyo is still a cultural focal point for Los Angeles's Japanese American population. It

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1888-672: The Koyasan Buddhist Temple (1912), Japanese Union Church (1923), and Hompa Hongwaji Buddhist Temple (1925). The growing population in Little Tokyo was supplemented by the establishment of primary, secondary, and trade schools. A large amount of trade schools in Little Tokyo were sewing schools. The largest was the Rafu Yossai Gakuen which taught sewing skills to Issei women. During this time period various newspapers catered towards Japanese Americans in Los Angeles were founded. The first Japanese newspaper in

1947-610: The LAPD's former headquarters, was the original site of the Nishi Hongwanji Buddhist Temple. The south edge of the block where Parker Center stands was part of the First Street business strip of shops. The warehouses and new condominiums to the east of Little Tokyo were once residential areas of the district. Similar urban development would continue in the 1960s and 1970s, further shrinking the extent of

2006-632: The La Gran Limpieza to clean up the Los Angeles River with an educational feature where they invited elementary, middle, and high school students. A collaboration the friends of the Los Angeles had was with the Los Angeles Conservation Corps’ Clean & Green program that monitored the water quality at the rivers monthly. Under their collaborated event efforts, activities included cleaning up trash, science experiments, educational workshop, and familiarizing participants with

2065-454: The Los Angeles River bridges themselves since events would be facilitated there to create community identity. Little Tokyo Little Tokyo ( Japanese : リトル・トーキョー ), also known as Little Tokyo Historic District , is an ethnically Japanese American district in downtown Los Angeles and the heart of the largest Japanese-American population in North America. It is the largest and most populous of only three official Japantowns in

2124-688: The Nations . The Nisei Week festival is held every August, and includes a large parade, a pageant, athletic events, exhibits of Japanese art and culture, a taiko drum festival, the Japanese Festival Street Faire, a car show, and other events. There are also two Japanese gardens in the area open to the public: the James Irvine garden in the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center and

2183-453: The United States in which Japan voluntarily restricted the emigration of Japanese laborers, allowing only families of current residents to immigrate, in exchange for the United States to ensure no discrimination against the Japanese people in the US. The implementation of the agreement led to an influx of women who joined family or husbands as new brides in Little Tokyo. As a result, Little Tokyo saw

2242-400: The United States was Rafu Shimpo , founded in Little Tokyo in 1903 and which continues to operate. Founded during this time were rotating savings and credit associations known as tanomoshiko , which provided funding towards emerging business ventures in Little Tokyo. Community Leaders in the 1920s and 1930s established local entities of prominent Japanese American associations such as

2301-503: The United States, all of which are in California (the other two are Japantown, San Francisco , and Japantown, San Jose ). Founded around the beginning of the 20th century, the area, sometimes called Lil' Tokyo , J-Town , Shō-Tōkyō ( 小東京 ) , is the cultural center for Japanese Americans in Southern California . It was declared a National Historic Landmark District in 1995. The Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882 played

2360-621: The Weller Court mall was opposed by some people in the community because it redeveloped a strip of family-owned small businesses. Community activists established First Street as a historic district in 1986. In 2004, they helped reopen the Far East Cafe, an acknowledged community hub. Little Tokyo continues to develop and change with the general development of the greater Los Angeles Area through ordinances, construction, coalitions, etc. The 2024 announcement of First North Residences and

2419-504: The association. By 1940, the breadth of kenjinkai covered 40/46 Japanese Prefectures. In 1941, Little Tokyo reached its peak population with approximately 30,000 Japanese Americans living in Little Tokyo. The 1941 Pearl Harbor bombing brought an end to the increase in Japanese American population in Little Tokyo. The incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II emptied Little Tokyo. Beginning in 1942, after

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2478-626: The city's Japanese population was rounded up and "evacuated" to inland concentration camps , a large number of African Americans from the South moved to Los Angeles to find work in the labor-starved defense industry. Its share in the Second Great Migration almost tripled Little Tokyo's pre-war population, with some 80,000 new arrivals taking up residence there. For a brief time, the area became known as Bronzeville, as African Americans and also Native Americans and Latinos moved into

2537-586: The concrete in front of these shops, using bronze lettering, showing the history of each of the shops from the early 20th Century until the renovation of the district in the late 1980s. More broadly, Little Tokyo is bordered by the Los Angeles River to the east, downtown Los Angeles to the west, L.A. City Hall the Parker Center to the north, and Skid Row to the south. Museums include the Japanese American National Museum and an extension of

2596-421: The country, the organization hosts its annual national culmination "KOLLABORATION STAR" event at the Aratani Theatre, as well as their EMPOWER conference as incubator events for APIDA artists in the music industry. With the proximity of these organizations and Arts non-profit organizations, many notable actors, musicians and entertainers of AAPI descent have either begun their careers here, or continue to maintain

2655-555: The coverage of Little Tokyo. In the 1970s, a redevelopment movement started as Japanese corporations expanded overseas operations and many of them set up their U.S. headquarters in the Los Angeles area . Named the Little Tokyo Project, this movement resulted in the opening of several new shopping plazas and hotels opened, along with branches of some major Japanese banks. Although this redevelopment resulted in many new buildings and shopping centers, there are still some of

2714-529: The fictitious site of a LGBTQIA+ therapy office. Times Mirror Square is located on a major portion of what was in the 1880s and 1890s, the central business district of Los Angeles. On April 13, 2018, LA Times employees were notified that ownership was unable to reach a new lease agreement to remain in the Times Building. The staff of about 800 employees would relocate to a new campus under construction in suburban El Segundo , 17 miles (27 km) to

2773-583: The first Japanese institutions, associations, and establishments were founded in Los Angeles as Issei (first generation Japanese immigrants) began to congregate in the area. The first Japanese religious institution founded in Little Tokyo was the Japanese Episcopal Mission of Los Angeles, now Century United Methodist Church, founded in June 1896 by a group of 5 issei from southern Japan. Other religious institutions continued to be founded:

2832-624: The first Japanese-owned business in LA, Kame Restaurant, along the East First Street . Attracted by the restaurant and nearby demands for labor, other Japanese immigrant men followed suit as they settled along East First Street in nearby boarding houses. The first Japanese boarding house in Los Angeles was established by Sanjuro Mizuno, who opened the Santa Fe Boarding House in 1898 to cater to Japanese laborers. To house

2891-611: The industrialized area. Al's Bar, Gorky's, the Atomic Cafe and LA Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE) are some well-known sites. Land use has been a contentious issue in Little Tokyo due to its history, the proximity to the Los Angeles Civic Center neighborhood, the role of Los Angeles as a site of business between Japan and America, and the increasing influx of residents into the Arts District . Unlike

2950-590: The oldest still-operating food establishment in the city and the first one to celebrate a centennial; its best-known offerings include mochi and manjū , and it claims to be an inventor of the fortune cookie . Mikawaya was founded in 1910, but is now well known as the company that introduced mochi ice cream to the United States in 1994. Little Tokyo has several shops that specialize in Japanese-language videos and DVDs , while other shops specialize in Japanese electronics and video games . These are

3009-412: The original Little Tokyo buildings and restaurants, especially along First Street. The Little Tokyo Project would transform Little Tokyo into its present version: an area bounded by Los Angeles Street , Alameda Street , Third Street , and half a block north from First Street. During the 1970s and 1980s, artists began to move into nearby aging warehouse spaces in the area, forming a hidden community in

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3068-650: The public courtyard of the Union Center for the Arts Cold Tofu Improv was founded in 1981 as the nation's first Asian American Improv & Comedy Group. Teaching classes in short form and long form improv. Kollaboration founded in 2000, is an organization focusing on advancing Asian, Pacific Islander, and Desi Americans (APIDA) in the Music and entertainment industries. With affiliates in San Francisco, Atlanta, Hawaii, Houston, Boston and throughout

3127-420: The site. In 2018, The Onni Group , a real estate development company, proposed to demolish the 1973 wing and replace it with residential units and retail. Two residential towers were proposed, a 37-story tower rising 365 feet and a taller 53-story building rising 655 feet. The plans includes 1,100 apartments with 24 moderate-income units and 10 low-income units. The design emphasizes walkability and retail around

3186-493: The southwest when the lease at the Times Building expired on July 31, 2018. Onni Group , a Canadian developer which became the owner after Tribune Publishing lost control of its real estate in bankruptcy reorganization, reportedly wanted to increase the monthly lease by $ 1 million. The new Times owner Patrick Soon-Shiong moved the paper to a building he owned in El Segundo, leaving the building empty. The vacant building

3245-703: The vacated properties and opened up nightclubs, restaurants, and other businesses. Prohibited from buying and renting in most parts of the city by restrictive covenants , the area soon became severely overcrowded. A single bathroom was often shared by up to 40 people and one room could house as many as 16 occupants; people frequently shared "hot beds," sleeping in shifts. Poor housing conditions helped spread communicable illnesses like tuberculosis and venereal disease. Crimes like robberies, rapes, and hit-and-run accidents increased, and in May and June 1943 Latino and some African American residents of Bronzeville were attacked by whites in

3304-408: The wave of new immigrants coming to Little Tokyo, early immigrants also opened more of them. By the early 1900s, the Japanese population in Little Tokyo had reached a population of around 3,000. It jumped to 10,000 following the 1906 San Francisco Earthquake , which convinced many Japanese to move from San Francisco to Los Angeles. In 1907, The Gentleman's Agreement was signed between Japan and

3363-515: The west side of Spring to the east side of Broadway between 2nd and 3rd streets, is sometimes referred to as the "Los Angeles Times Parking Garage", but is not actually part of Times Mirror Square. On both sides there are relief sculptures by Tony Sheets , Evolution of Printing and Evolution of Los Angeles , respectively, created in 1988–1989. The Times Mirror Square building appears in Season 2, Episode 5 of The L Word: Generation Q . It serves as

3422-463: Was a magnet for immigrating Japanese until the Exclusion Act of 1924 halted any further migration. Shops were along First Street, and vegetable markets were along Central Avenue to the south. Japanese Americans were a significant ethnic group in the vegetable trade, due to the number of successful Japanese American truck farms across Southern California. The East First Street area is where

3481-659: Was the second major project of the East West Development Corporation in association with the Community Redevelopment Agency, after the $ 30 million New Otani. Groundbreaking was held in November 1978, to be completed in 1979 with 62,780 square feet (5,832 m ) of gross leasable area. The architect was Kajima Associates. In the 1920s, the southeast corner of First Street was the beginning of Little Tokyo. At this corner

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