little seoul mall? new owners to evict japanese businesses
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Out with the sushi, in with the bulgogi!
An article from the Los Angeles Business Journal today states that a group of Korean-American investors have acquired the Little Tokyo Shopping Center and plans to replace the complex’s 45 Japanese tenants with Korean businesses.
Ethnic Japanese have been slowly moving from Little Tokyo to Torrance and other areas. Meanwhile, that area has seen an influx of Korean-Americans who are spilling out from the bustling Koreatown, as well as many non-Asians.
“The downtown population is booming and much of Little Tokyo is catering to Japanese tourists, not the local community,” said Ryan Oh of Coldwell Banker, who brokered the deal and who spoke for the unidentified new owners. Therefore, the shopping center’s new tenants will target the new residents.
The announcement comes after the indoor mall has been receiving a new wave of businesses, including the vegan specialty house Shojin and Beard Papa’s. No time line has been specified for the eviction process to begin, though a name change is definitely in order.
-shojin now showin’ at the little tokyo mall
-little tokyo mall rebounds, grabs vegetarian haven
47 comments
ok, this just aint right.
honda ya - great
the little place across from it - great
mitsuwa - where else downtown can i get all my japanese groceries?
Whaa? Say it aint so! Sushi Go 55 and the pottery store are too good to lose.
I wouldn’t worry about Mitsuwa; I believe it is Korean owned.
Evictions? What?
Maybe it’s wrong of me to think this, but I want Little Tokyo to retain it’s Japanese heritage. Even though some Japanese businesses have moved elsewhere, there is still very important history that is tied to the area.
The corner of Central and 1st is where Japanese and Japanese-Americans were corralled before being sent off to concentration camps. I just worry that developers will eventually erase this history by evicting the very businesses and community members that keep this story alive.
I’m all for improving this community and making it more profitable, but evicting businesses that make up this very community just sounds wrong.
Yeah, Little Tokyo should retain its Japanese flavor. I truly hope some of these businesses decide to relocate west on Third Street, where “Hookah Alley” is now, across from the Teramachi senior housing. It’s more pedestrian friendly down that way and some Japanese businesses open late could really help tie in the Historic Core to J-Town a little better.
I also can’t imagine that all the businesses will be pushed out… really? That pottery store is amazing, and Hanaichimonme and Sushi Go 55 are great. Beard Papa’s?!
Doesn’t that mall have a difficult enough time as things are in holding onto stores to keep the building fully leased, or attracting enough customers for those stores?
Treating current tenants in such a cavalier manner only would make sense if the LTSC mall were like a license to print money, with both customers and retailers often lined up at the front door trying to get in to shop or rent space there.
That is so incredibly lame.
I hope this is just a rumor because last time I checked, the area is called “Little Tokyo” and Korea Town is to the west. It’s fine if new Korean restaurants or stores want to open up, but let’s try to keep some diversity in this town. I’m sure I’m not the only downtown resident who will have a bad taste in my mouth if this is indeed true.
While I’m not a businessperson, this still doesn’t make sense to me. What is the point of evicting out the old tenants? If they want more rent from the existing tenants, why don’t they renegotiate? I’m all for Korean businesses moving in but I don’t see why they can’t coexist with the Japanese ones. And I’m sure the local community, though majority Korean, wouldn’t mind having a few Japanese businesses around. You can only eat bulgogi for so long.
Oh well, it’s not like this hasn’t happened to other ethnic districts. But if they’re going to be tasteful about it, they should at the very least try to preserve some remnant of the history.
Man….. Koreatown us HUGE - let us keep a little bit of Japan where it is!
If I want kim-chee I go to 8th and Western… not First and Central!
Little Tokyo is one of only three Japanese areas left in the United States. It would be a shame to have this neighborhood become extinct.
oh yeah, maybe a “SAVE LITTLE TOKYO” campaign is in order.
this is so lame. i love sushi go 55! i agree with the save little tokyo campaign.
Hey man, koreans like izakayas and sushi houses. Koreans can eat at Sojin. Good food is good food man! There is no need to go against the freemarket. If Sojin pays its pays its lease and brings in business, why evict them?
I don;t mind koreans coming in, in force, but koreans have ktown. There is PLENTY of space downtown for both Koreans AND Japanse to co-exist. In torrance, koreans and Japanese both have a strong presence. It can be done.
If there wasnt a hugely successful ktown, I “might” understand, but there is!
You whiners are all pretty lame. This mall except for a few restaurants is deteriorating. If you really love this mall frequent it more often and then it wouldn’t have been on sale and sold. It’s that simple! We can’t hold on to things for the simple sake of nostalgia.
Secondly why can’t there be more Korean restaurants and businesses outside of Koreatown? You pigeon hole Koreans and Asians by insisting they should congregate in certain areas. When you see a Subway restaurant open up in your neighborhood do you complain that they should just stay in the white part of town and not expand to other “ethnic” neighborhoods? Clearly this is a double standard.
Derick, if you read the comments you’ll notice that people are against the wholesale eviction of a number of Japanese tenants, NOT the natural progression of Korean tenants.
I, for one, would love to have Korean options in Downtown, but not if it means the eviction of dozens of Japanese businesses. And the mall has been improving a lot lately, by the way.
I understand where you are coming from but here is a response:
1) People are saying that they are against wholesale eviction but one of the reasons being used is that korean restaurants should stay in koreatown. See comments # 9 and 13.
2) If the mall is improving a lot why was it sold? The reality is that there is not enough business for this mall to stay afloat.
3) The Little Tokyo Mall is not even IN Little Tokyo. That’s why the sale was approved without any restrictions in contrast to the New Otani Hotel. You can’t use historical arguments by talking about preserving the Japanese historical character of Little Tokyo. It’s not in Little Tokyo.
Its on the edge of Little Tokyo ok.
But its still deserving of preserving its Japanese heritage of the area.
I recall as a kid my parents taking me to visit the bowling alley there.
Two years ago I took my nephew to visit the mall and it was depressing with all the vacant spaces and no bowling alley or even the 2-screen movie theater.
Saturday’s LA Times - May 31,2008 has a story about this sale as well- under real estate tiltled- “Big mall sold in Little Tokyo”
Derick, you do bring up a good point. It does seem a bit provincial of people to be all about diversity, yet expect ethnic businesses to stay in their respective ethnic districts. It’s kind of like using token ethnic characters in the sidelines of media to score diversity points.
My race-based tirade aside, commenter #13 seems more concerned about the forced pushing out of Japanese businesses than the influx of Korean businesses, and like me, is puzzled as to why they can’t coexist.
If anything, you could apply the same same standards to the new Korean investors. Is it really the case that the demand for Japanese businesses by the new Korean and non-Asian local community is so low as to warrant not having a single Japanese business remaining within the mall? Are Japanese businesses and Korean businesses even really that different to warrant replacing one with the other? I’m not going to jump to any conclusions, but it does sound a little fishy to me.
As for this preservation issue, can someone tell me exactly what “Japanese heritage” there is to preserve? I’ve never been to this mall (Hell, I don’t even live downtown) so I don’t know what’s there. I’m getting the feeling that people are defining Japanese heritage as Japanese businesses, which I don’t think is a good definition (How would you expect to preserve a Japanese business?). Usually when I think of preserving heritage I think of preserving the architecture, or significant works of art, or sticking a plaque somewhere to commemorate some important historical event (like they have all over Pasadena). Someone fill me in?
Despite the dispersement of Japanese-Americans to the Valley, Torrance, and Sawtelle, Little Tokyo remains a cultural center for those JAs. With new developments that have very little relation to the community (Hikari, Office Depot) combined with the announcement of this wholesale eviction, there’s cause for alarm there.
Not trying to justify the situation at all — but if you all knew your history, there’s a long-standing resentment of the Japanese by Koreans (Korean-Americans — the American-born/raised ones that is - don’t carry that baggage). which predates, but is mostly due to WWII. It’s really kind of like how SF people totally HATE Los Angeles people, yet the vitriol doesn’t exactly go back the other way.
What is ironic is that many Korean-owned businesses have co-opted Japanese cultural contributions like sushi (the majority of sushi restaurants in SoCal are actually Korean-owned) and karaoke. Then again Korean businesses have also co-opted other ethnic offerings (Vietnamese pho, most especially).
That being said, the Militant agrees with the majority of the posters here that Korean businesses moving into in LT is not the issue, but the discriminatory eviction of Japanese businesses is.
I think what we have here is the mis-interpretation of the agents comment. A different interpretation would be that they are evicting the current bunch of tenants because they are not serving the existing market. This is true. The place is not up to the standard of the rest of the new downtown. The stores are cheap junk for the most part and still lots of vacancy. The mall needs to be re-worked and it could be a much more active place.
Meruelo owned it and it sold as part of his money raising ‘fire sale.’ The new owners intend to get the most out of it they possibly can. So they are going to re-work it. Makes good sense to me.
I hope they blow some big windows in the place and open it to the street. It is a dog as it is and very out of date. it could make that section of Alameda much more pleasant.
Rich are you not paying attention? Nobody is arguing that Little Tokyo is no longer a cultural center. The argument is that the mall as it is is no longer financially sustainable. And there is also the little argument that the mall is not even in Little Tokyo.
Rich,
I think you have to consider what happens when an ethnic enclave goes from being a self-generated organic occurrence to something enforced by the government (which is the idea underneath your declaration of an emergency.) Would you have bureaucrats vetting prospective buyers or tenants for ethnic purity? That is not so different from what you are suggesting.
The only reasonable alternative is to let the market do its thing.
Please. I’m not advocating government do anything to step in and save the businesses. I’m arguing that on a societal level, we need to think about what the steady loss of Japanese businesses means in a neighborhood that has already seen a steady chipping away of its roots — in many instances by those same governmental redevelopment policies you’re arguing against.
In the end, I’m not going to tell anyone that they need to do this or that, but to simply look the other way while it happens without even acknowledging that there’s a bigger problem here is shortsighted.
Apparently they are thinking of perhaps developing this thing into a more mainstream type shopping center. This project ought to be done this way, with a trader joes instead of another Ralphs.
http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-mall31-2008may31,0,1284077.story
I don’t think any new owners (Korean or not) will evict tenants without good reason. That’s not good business practice. The article in LA Business Journal seems premature. If there is a need for more Japanese businesses in Little Tokyo, the new owners should not evict existing Japanese businesses that are doing well. (they should convince them to come back after remodeling) As mentioned before, the customers should decide what type of businesses should stay in this building and the landlord will do what ever the customer wants in order to make their investment profitable.
The one existing store that would make sense to remove as a tenant would be Mitsuwa, assuming it was replaced by Trader Joe’s. That’s even more practical or logical sense since there already are 2 other markets in the immediate area that carry a selection of Japanese food.
A Trader Joe’s probably would make the Little Tokyo Shopping Center more of a must-visit location. Such a market certainly would cater to a broader range of shoppers, and be easier on their wallets too, since Mitsuwa doesn’t have the advantage of huge-bulk buying and pricing.
Rich, I think the transformation of Little Tokyo is just the way of the world. Change can evoke melancholy as it can remind us of our own mortality. However, I think this change is for the better. Vigorous new ownership is determined to transform a lackluster property into a thriving retail hub. That’s a good thing for downtown and Little Tokyo.
Yes, clearly the future of Little Tokyo is at stake. But, it is one which will be determined primarily by those of Japanese descent. If they are not interested in investing and living in Little Tokyo, obviously its future as an ethnic enclave is questionable. I don’t actually think that’s a bad thing.
One person commented that Little Tokyo is one of the few remaining Japanese neighborhoods left in the country. That’s a good thing and the illustrates the process of assimilation in American society. The initial waves of immigrants create these neighborhoods as a survival mechanism. However, as subsequent generations advance and succeed, the need for the ethnic enclave diminishes. When was the last time you visited a German Town or Little Dublin? Last week, the L.A. Times discussed this very process with Latino immigrants in Baldwin Park and South Gate.
However, I think positioning this change within the context of race was a poor choice. Particularly, given the bitter history between Korea and Japan, with WWII being the worst episode. (Incidentally, Japan has still not come to grips with this part of their history. In fact, they have stubbornly refused to deal with it.) I don’t really think the ethnicity of the new owners is relevant. In fact, I find notion mildly offensive. Moreover, why is race important in this situation but not in other circumstances. For example, when Pastagina opened in Little Tokyo, was it characterized as an Italian invasion displacing Japanese tenants? Frankly, by my reckoning, Pastagina on Central is a hit with those of Japanese ancestry.
Honestly, putting the story in racial terms is inflammatory. And I think that’s the point. You are in the media business and it is all about the number of eyeballs you can generate. The number of comments here suggests you have succeeded.
David, did you read the LA Business Journal article? Because if you did, you would realize that the blog entry is only reporting exactly what that article mentioned. Don’t shoot the messenger.
Also, I don’t see anything offensive about the blog entry’s mentioning of race. A fact (whether true or not) is stated, that the Japanese tenants will be replaced by Korean ones. There’s no agenda here; It just *is*. If anything, it’s the commenters that are putting their own spin on the whole race issue, and even then, I don’t think there’s anything wrong with that, as long as they’re tasteful about it. Yours is a good-intentioned idea that we should all be colorblind, but that’s just not how the world works - just read the Japanese stakeholders’ quotes in the LA Business Journal Article.
I think you’re being rather harsh.
First off - if you want some historical accuracy, LT existed from around City Hall all the way down to 8th St, along Alameda. It was a large area, but, during WW2, the ethnic community was sent to the camps. It was a kind of “ethnic eviction”. So, that mall is in the historic LT. The neighborhood didn’t assimilate and disperse — it was arrested and interned.
There has been assimilation - the interethnic marriage rate is high - but there’s also a notable lack of assimilation. People still identify as JA, and many half-Js identify primarily as JA. My family has been here 100 years, and I don’t feel “assimilated”. It’s a racial thing. (See above.)
I feel like this is an eviction based on race.
It doesn’t need to be this way!
A prominent Korean American developed the (now old) Japanese Village Plaza, and there is a KA bar in there. KAs own Plaza Mexico in Lynwood. Within LA, KAs have been good at simultaneously integrating and retaining a distinct ethnic community. The JVP was originally feared, because it was redevelopment, but the developers helped the community open up in the mall, and now it’s considered an important part of LT.
In Koreatown, I see a lot of cross-cultural Korean businesses, including Japanese restaurants. I see Korean merchants hiring, and promoting, workers outside their group. And, now, I see Korean Americans who came here earlier defending their own mutli-cultural working class communitiy against this new tide of Korean wealth that’s gentrifying KTown.
There are many non-JA and non-Japanese business proprietors in LT, and to different degrees, there always have been. Some operate Japan-themed businesses, but others do not. Some even lasted from the 1940s, when LT became an African American enclave.
Integration is possible, and, the evidence is that it’s been happening since the start, and continuing to today.
With the decline of the JA population in the area, and gentrification, it’s clear that the fraction of non-J businesses will grow, and will dominate…. but, why rush it? There are still a lot of JA folks in the older condos. There’s still growing room along Alameda.
This is LA. Almost everyone is multi-cutural. The mall can succeed with a mix of businesses, and there’s no need to evict the old community to establish the presence of the new one.
(BTW - the article is incorrect about people moving to Torrance from LT. The people who lived near LT started moving to Gardena and Torrance from places like Crenshaw and Boyle Heights. They moved to these areas from the city center after WW2.)
wildgift,
That was an extremely intelligent and well informed post. Yes, the fact is that KA’s do own Plaza Mexico in Lynwood and they have, by all accounts, done a fantastic job of making that particular shopping center reflect the Latino community of that area. I think at the end of the day the KA investors who bought Little Tokyo Plaza are businessmen who will do what they need to do to make a return on their investment. It’s their $35 million that’s on the line and not ours.
I very much doubt that making LT Plaza into a Koreatown Plaza or Koreatown Galleria will make the best business sense. The Korean American population in north Downtown is significant, but hardly big enough to support a supermarket and 45 stores. In my opinion, mixed tenantship retaining the current tenants that are in good standing makes good business sense. But, only time will tell.
This may go over the head of some people here, but I propose a new name for LT Plaza that reflects the plaza’s Japanese origins and it’s new Korean ownership as well as it’s possible joint tenantship. I propose the name “Nara Plaza” because Nara in Korean means “National” and Nara in Japanese is the prefecture of where the early Imperial family had its capital. The name has very significant meaning to both Koreans and Japanese.
the koreans could easily just evict the current japanese tenants, take over the spaces and reopen japanese businesses themselves, like they have already done throughout little tokyo.
This is because of decades-old anti-development laws in Koreatown. They have no choice but to expand.
Daniel, you are correct. Rent control and zoning laws have made it hard to redevelop huge swaths of Koreatown. Hancock Park and Melrose have hemmed it’s development north and west so it’s migrating into Pico-Union and Downtown.
Another driver is the huge Korean presence in the the Fashion District. Koreans and Persians run that district. Those overworking Korean garment shop owners want to live somewhere halfway nice but close. West Adams and the immediate area is crap so they have been buying up those new condos in LT, which incidently is only 10 minutes away from the Fashion District. As long as Koreans are a significant player in the FD, LT will keep getting more Koreanized.
just to let you know, Downtown Mitsuwa is not the only place you can get japanese groceries…perhaps try Marukai in Torrance/Gardena area, Nijiya in West LA, Mitsuwa in Mar Vista…i’m yonsei, and tellin’ you that this place aint the only place to get japanese food
^ And there’s a nice Marukai in Weller Court (2nd/ San Pedro) and a smaller Nijiya Market in the Japanese Village Plaza (2nd/Central).
I just hope the new developers will have the good sense not evict ALL the businesses in the current shopping center. As a resident who lives 2 blocks away, I’ve come to love some of the eating establishments including Sushi Go 55 and Honda-ya, that *just* finished expanding into the space next door. On weekends, there’s a 45 minute wait for the latter. It would be a shame to lose them just because they didn’t fit in with the new owners’ plans.
Are there other places close by? Yes. Is it still a shame if some of these businesses were evicted outright? ABSOLUTELY.
to suggest that the new owners will be evicting on the basis of race alone is pure conjecture, and simply wrong, imho. the fact is walking through that building at any time - weekday, weeknight, weekends - one can’t help but realize the building has completely failed and needs significant renovation.
seems to me that the more likely motivation is to 1) let all tenants know that they need to be a part of the solution, and if not 2) tabula raza, for $35 million sake. shoot, i would’ve bought that building for 35 million and converted the building into a ginormous sushi plaza. koreans and japanese mutually love sushi. tuna on the first floor, yellowtail on the second, uni on the third. that would go off. no, in all seriousness, trader joes is a great idea. i know that i used to go to that mall from ktown just for sushi go 55 and beard papas. i sure would go there for an easily accessible trader joes.
Hey Ken, you mentioned that there is only 3 Japanese areas in the US, where are the other areas? Do you know any Japanese traditional home structures here in America?
There are 3 Japantowns of significant size remaining in Los Angeles, San Francisco and San Jose, but there are many historical (and modern) Japanese American communities all over California. These three major Japantowns continue to be the heart of their respective communities in terms of their history, major cultural institutions and festivals, in addition to the many businesses.
It’s good for communities of all kinds to have a sense of place, and for people in general to understand the history of a space, even as it evolves.
Here’s a good resource if you want more information on California’s historical Japantowns: http://www.californiajapantowns.org
I was at a birthday party with my kids this weekend. The birthday girl’s grandma is a native of Japan and she’s been in and out of Little Tokyo for her entire life. That said, she did not live there. I asked her about the sale of this mall.
She thought it was a good idea. She looked forward to changes at the mall. The last few times she was there, she found the mall dead. She was not concerned about ethnicity of the new owners. As long as they injected new life into the place, she thought that was a good thing.
She also made a couple of other comments which I found interesting. On a recent Saturday night, she was at the Miyako Hotel for an event. (Terrible food, she said.) She was astonished by how busy First Street was in the evening when she was there. This was new to her.
She also commented that she found the core exhibit of the JANM was depressing. She wished this sad chapter in the Japanese-American experience was not the considered the defining event of the community. She thought there were many other significant accomplishments to be proud of.
i live right next door and this little plaza is the saddest thing ive ever been to. theres no one in there, i hope the new owners can vamp it up and put some actual stores in there. i dont care for much of the restaurants in there, jtown is filled with enough of them already. and the market isnt a big loss we have nijiya and marukai
This mall is dead. this is probably the only way to bring some life back into it. these people are doing a great thing. Its nothing against japanese culture, historic landmark etc BS! get over that crap its 2008 geesh
its just business better business so dont take it too personal.
It’s just better business that is going to get some of us kicked out before we’re even making our money back on our recent tenancies?
Frankly, I’m horrified by any justification that squeezing existing businesses out is a good thing. It’s not the only way to revitalize a mall, and it’s certainly not the best way.
I hope Little Tokyo will get back some of its flavor
Obviously the author is an European-American, and he’s trying to create tension between the Japanese and the Koreans. I don’t know who is more idiotic. Idiots that fall for this “divide and conquer” tactic by the whiteys and start bashing one another OR these idiotic European-Americans who don’t realize Asians will drop their disputes and support one another against the whiteys. Duh.