viewfromaloft

ADD REWARD: LAPD Seeks Daylight Mugger Caught Choking and Robbing Retired Little Tokyo Resident

 

 

In Little Tokyo, a short Hispanic man wearing a white t-shirt, baseball cap worn backwards, and a backpack, sized up people walking by. He spots a 68-year-old woman using a walker, sneaks up behind her, grabs her throat to disarm her, then steals her gold chain and jade pendant that has a value of $100.

The retired Little Tokyo resident tries to fight back despite being legally blind. A local business owner rushes to her aid.  The suspect escapes. It was all caught on "shocking" video, says Lt. Paul Vernon, commanding officer of the Central Detective Division. “If this video doesn’t make you angry, little will.”

“Street robberies are uncommon in the Little Tokyo area, so this one really stands out,” Lt. Vernon said in a statement. “And this suspect really needs to go to jail.”

The robbery occurred on 1st Street between Los Angeles and San Pedro on July 24, around noon. Anyone with information can call Central Detectives at (213) 972-1251.

 

Full Press Release Aug. 12, 2011

Police Seek Public’s Assistance in Finding the Person Responsible for Robbery and Assault on Senior in Little Tokyo

Council President Pro Tempore Jan Perry received unanimous support from her council colleagues today for the issuance of a $50,000 reward for information leading to the identification and apprehension of the person responsible for the assault of a 68 year-old, blind woman in Little Tokyo. 

“No one should feel vulnerable walking the streets of our city in broad daylight. This was a brazen attack that will not go unpunished,” said Council President Pro Tempore Perry who represents the Little Tokyo community. “We are asking anyone with information about this crime to please come forward and help our officers find the person responsible.”

On July 24, 2011 at approximately 12:00pm, a 68-year old woman, who is legally blind, was walking on 1^st Street between Los Angeles Street and Central Avenue when man in a long white T-shirt assaulted her and ripped a jade pendant gold necklace off her neck.

Anyone with information on this crime is urged to call Central Division at (213) 485-3294.  During non-business hours or on weekends, calls should be directed to 1-877-LAPD-24-7.   Anyone wishing to remain anonymous should call Crimestoppers at 1-800-222-TIPS (800-222-8477).  Tipsters may also contact Crimestoppers by texting to phone number 274637 (C-R-I-M-E-S on most keypads) with a cell phone.  All text messages should begin with the letters “LAPD.” Tipsters may also go to LAPDOnline.org, click on "webtips" and follow the prompts.

 

$32,000 raised for Red Cross: 'Honk If You Helped Japan'

Volunteer at Civic Center Japan Earthquake Relief Drive March 17, the all-day fundraiser that raised over $32,000 for Japan's Red Cross.  Photo Helen Ly

Over $32,000 was raised to support the Red Cross’ Japan Earthquake and Pacific Tsunami Relief Efforts March 17, a neighborhood partnership between Councilmembers Jan Perry and Bernard C. Parks, The American Red Cross, Rafu Shimpo newspaper, and a number of volunteers – including members of the Little Tokyo community.

“I have personally heard from many who have been deeply affected by this tragedy,” said Perry said in a release thanking volunteers and donors. “Today was more than a relief drive, it was a movement.”

If you did not honk to drop in a check or dollars for the Downtown Los Angeles Civic Center Japan Earthquake relief drive March 17, you can still donate $10 by texting REDCROSS to 90999 to support disaster relief efforts.

As of Wednesday, the American Red Cross estimated its $10 REDCROSS and $25 GIFT texting program  has raised $2.2 million from donors responding to the 9.0 earthquake that unleashed a tsunami one week ago today.

Shorn, but not forgotten

 

Alameda and E. First lost their canopies last week after two massive ficuses, victims of their own longevity and health, were cut down to the humpbacked sidewalk. While locals in the patio of Senor Fish will miss the shade, some Gold Line commuters riding through the Little Tokyo / Arts District station will glance at the oppostite corner and have the same puzzlement one has when an acquaintance is seen with a bad haircut. Something is just not right. Photo: ROBYN VALLEJOS

This week in Jazz around Little Tokyo and the Arts District

Not too long ago, Downtown's jazz scene appeared trapped and contained as background music in a hotel bar lounge, or an event within the hallowed temple of Walt Disney Music Hall. Now Downtown Los Angeles is becoming a destination for jazz musicians around the nation, a trend beginning to get the attention of jazz aficionados.  Little Tokyo’s Blue Whale Bar and the Arts District’s Café Metropol get a lot credit for that by dedicating their intimate venues to straight jazz, no DJ or Karake chasers. After the jump is a quick list for you emerging jazz cats wantin' to be hip to the B-Whale and Cafe-Met this weekend.

 

LIttle Tokyo market closes this weekend.

Mitsuwa Marketplace goes out with empty shelves and the LAT in the aisles. The market is closing Sunday and beginning Feb 15, will become Little Tokyo Galleria Market that will "primarily feature Korean and Japanese products but also include Chinese, American and even Mexican items, such as marinated carne asada." The LAT reports:

Young S. Cho, a 48-year-old Los Angeles garment manufacturer and one of the market's new co-owners, said his group would respect the area's historic ethnic traditions and retain, even enhance, the center's Japanese design elements. But he said the neighborhood's growing diversity offered an opportunity for a supermarket with a broader focus.

<snip>

But Cho said his group is also mindful of the community's sensitivities about keeping the mall's Japanese flavor. Most of the Japanese tenants, he said, seem ready to stay. And the group's architectural plans for a face-lift to the mall, an aging structure often likened to a fortress, feature Japanese motifs such as cherry blossoms, exterior panels patterned after shoji screens and a modern Zen garden.

The market had several years left on its lease, but Cho told the Times that the Mitsuwa owners chose to leave. LAT adds "A spokesman for Mitsuwa's Torrance headquarters could not be reached for comment, but the Little Tokyo store's manager, Masaaki Yoshimoto, said he was surprised by news of the closure."

view [Little Tokyo market, a onetime rising sun, is poised to set]
'We saw it coming' [Angelenic]

Photo: Masaaki Yoshimoto, manager of Mitsuwa Marketplace by Mark Boster / LAT

Catching in the New Year

Little Tokyo on New Year's Day  [view]

'The Joy Luck Club' and EWP Holds Canned Food Drive

East West Players extended their staging of "The Joy Luck Club" and it ends Sunday, Dec 21.  Now tickets are being offered at half-price with a donation of canned food for the final weekend.

"We recognize that during these difficult economic times it can be easy to get lost in your own challenges," said Producing Artistic Director Tim Dang in the EWP announcement offering playgoers a chance to help others during the holiday season.

To get that special pricing, you’re asked to purchase the tickets in person with your (unexpired) canned goods.  Donated items will be given to the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC) for distribution.

If you are short on time, or find your home pantry has nothing but soup and canned peaches that expired in 2006, you can make a quick stop at a nearby Little Tokyo market and pick up something to donate.

Which Little Tokyo cafe would is the best choice on a rainy night, before you sit down for a play, is another question altogether.


The Joy Luck Club
Thursday, Dec 18 at 8pm
Friday, Dec 19 & Saturday, Dec 20 at 2pm and 8pm
It closes Sunday Dec 21, at 2pm.
Henry Hwang Theater at the Union Center for the Arts
120 Judge John Aiso St (Near East First and San Pedro) in Little Tokyo
For more information call (213) 625-7000.

Pictured: Deborah Png in The Joy Luck Club.

Greeting Little Tokyo

At the Cherry Blossom Festival Kimono fashion show, guest model and council member Jan Perry bows to the Little Tokyo crowd. ['Konnichiwa' – and 'Aloha' – From Little Tokyo] [reliving the cherry blossom festival] [Little Tokyo Blossoms––Figuratively]

Little Tokyo Public Art Rededicated

Touching the Past: Councilmember Jan Perry after the Little Tokyo Service Center's February 29th rededication of the Harmony art project.The fan shaped public art is also the entrance to the Center's Community Development Corporation's Casa Heiwa. Artist Nancy Uyemura, who originally completed the project that uses historic photographs in 1996, guided the late 2007 restoration. It included switching out fading photos on aluminum panels to a more stable and permanent enamel.

According to the artist original statement, the mix media piece “depict a personal journey of the spirit and express ‘family” and relationships we have in life. As we pass through the seasons of life, we experience the ‘harmony’ created when man and nature are in balance.” The restored public art project is located at East 3rd and Wall Street.

New Ontani Hotel Gets a New Name

Little Tokyo's New Otani Hotel is now the Kyoto Grand Hotel and Gardens and will keep a Japanese theme to the grounds, according to the LA Times.  That news brings a lot of relief to the community who felt the Hotel, a fixture during Nisei Week, was sold out from under them last August 17. Today, the LATimes reports:

"Our hope has always been there would be a continuation of these kinds of relationships with the hotel," said Chris Komai, a spokesman for the Japanese American National Museum. "The fact that the new owners are going to maintain the motif and thematically be the same as the New Otani is very encouraging to us."

About $8 million worth of improvements have been made to the hotel in the last 18 months and more are planned, said Dave Durbin, president of Crestline. "It will become more upscale," he said."

If you remember, the purchase made in secrecy had Little Tokyo's leaders and Councilperson Jan Perry not pleased,  as they have been resolved in preserving Little Tokyo’s cultural identity. LAT

Other Tibit: A proposal for the issuance of a commemorative stamp for Nisei WWII veterans will be reviewed by the U.S. Post Office’s Citizens’ Stamp Advisory Committee Jan 24-25. [RafuShimpo] Online petition and how to write a letter of support at NiseiStamp.org