WHAT FASCINATES ME about the future, preservation and good looks of Little Tokyo is that I've been in and out of Nihonmachi all my life. I missed a recent session where a question was raised dealing with non-Japanese purchasers of the New Otani Hotel, Weller Court and whatever else that might be in the smokehouse. As one might say, déjà vu?
But at a session about a year ago where participants discussed similar concerns, the Japanese-speaking group came up with a "future" look while other tables pondered on "what" to preserve and "how" to improve the image of Little Tokyo. The Japanese-speaking participants wanted to move the boundaries of Little Tokyo toward East Fifth Street and zig along Fourth Street to a block next to the river
One resident writer in Downtown News responded to a Washington Post article (Sept. 30) picturing that part of Los Angeles as turning the corner from "Skid Row to Banana Republic at warp speed." To her it was more hype than reality. Among other challenges, she adds "the lack of relatively affordable housing for friends and colleagues who want to live here."
Back in the 80s, she pointed out that one could rent space in the Arts District for what seemed like pennies per square foot "for a million dollar view and space you could roller skate through." Now, rent can hit $3 per square foot in the most faded old building.
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Geography here may not mean much to some. But East Fifth Street happens to be a part of downtown long known as Skid Row. The news last week (Oct. 3) reveals the beefed-up police program of 2006 has city officials calling the Safer City Initiative a success, to wit: (1) a significant drop in crime since September 2006 when 50 extra officers were deployed to Skid Row; (2) a 32 percent decrease in violent crime, and (3) the number of non-homicide deaths fell from 92 last year to 68 this year.
Parking in Little Tokyo has been a major problem that has checkmated us by condos and apartments. You'll find Japanese churches and temples in Little Tokyo now offering car space for funerals and weekend festivals.
What I had in mind dealt with "preservation" in an academic sense - a timeline for Little Tokyo and tie-ins. Here are some samples.
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1871 - Terminal Island is "born" when the federal government plans breakwater between two islets: Rattlesnake (renamed Terminal Island) and Dead Man's Island.
1884 - Shigeta Hamanosuke opens Charlie Hama's Restaurant, 340 E. First, in an ethnically mixed area east of Main Street.
1893 - Forty-one Japanese attend celebration of Emperor Meiji's birthday in November, the first imperial birthday celebration in L.A.
1902 - Signs of Little Tokyo growth: Matsuura Co. tailored ready-made suits for short-stature Issei, barber shops with Western-style baths, sembei factory, Maruyama-san's daikon and gobo gardens in the Riverside area (north of Elysian Park) and vendors selling Maruyama's vegetables door-to-door.
1913 - Ethnic make-up of East First Street merchants changing. Jewish and African American merchants move out as Japanese businesses move in.
1925 - So. Calif. Alliance of Christian and Buddhist Fujinkai, forged by charismatic Koyasan leader, Sachiko Furusawa, cooperates with Japanese Chamber of Commerce in social welfare work among immigrants and in hospitality programs when Imperial Japanese midshipmen arrive.
1934 - August: Nisei Week becomes an annual festival. Trying to climb out of the Depression, Japantown merchants and Los Angeles JACL merge to produce the first Nisei Week Festival.
1942 - Feb. 25: Newspaper headlines scream "Jap planes" fly over during "Battle of Los Angeles."
1951 - March 10: Army approves Buddhist symbol inscription (not the swastika) for grave markers at national cemeteries. (P.C., 3-17-51)
1969 - June 12: U.S. Supreme Court rules anti-miscegenation laws in various states unconstitutional.
1970 - Japanese population: Los Angeles 117,190; California 213,277; national 587,246
1980 - Jan. 1: Leslie Kawai reigns as first Japanese or Asian American queen of Tournament of Roses parade
1994 - Sept. 1994 to Oct. 1995: Judge Lance Ito, 44, becomes an international luminary after permitting TV cameras into his courtroom during the murder trial and acquittal of O.J. Simpson.
2000 - Japanese population: Los Angeles 104,994; California 288,854 (J), 394,896 (combination); national 796,700 (J), 1,148,932 (combination).
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