Please forward this error screen to mail. Onizuka Street with Weller Court, Challenger Memorial and Los Angeles City Hall in background. Little Tokyo, also known russian dating los angeles 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. In 1905 the area of “Little Tokyo” was described as “bounded by San Pedro, First and Requena streets and Central avenue.
The area 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 incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II emptied Little Tokyo.
After the war, due to lack of housing in Little Tokyo, many Japanese Americans returning from the camps moved into neighborhoods surrounding the downtown area, into apartments and boarding houses. In the late 1970s, a redevelopment movement started as Japanese corporations expanded overseas operations and many of them set up their US headquarters in the Los Angeles area. Several new shopping plazas and hotels opened, along with branches of some major Japanese banks. During the 1970s and 1980s, artists began to move into nearby aging warehouse spaces in the area, forming a hidden community in the industrialized area. Land use has been a contentious issue in Little Tokyo due to its history, the proximity to the Los Angeles Civic Center, the role of Los Angeles as a site of business between Japan and America, and the increasing influx of residents into the Arts District. The current site of Parker Center, the Los Angeles Police Department’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.
In 1959, Los Angeles entered a sister city relationship with the city of Nagoya. Nagoya is Los Angeles’ oldest sister city, along with Eilat, Israel. 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.
What is left of the original Little Tokyo can be found in roughly five large city blocks. The original Hompa Hongwanji Buddhist temple. Community Center is located in Little Tokyo, as well as the Japanese American National Museum. 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.
A queen and court will be selected. Little Tokyo has quite a few public sculptures and artwork, including a monument to Astronaut Ellison S. There are numerous Japanese restaurants, catering to both Japanese and non-Japanese clientele. Little Tokyo are among the oldest food establishments in Los Angeles.
Little Tokyo has several shops that specialize in Japanese-language videos and DVDs, while other shops specialize in Japanese electronics and video games. The Weller Court shopping mall has several restaurants, karaoke clubs, and a Bubble Tea cafe. For tourists visiting from Japan, there are a number of shops specializing in expensive name brand products such as Coach handbags. The Japanese Village Plaza is located roughly in the center of Little Tokyo. 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 a number of restaurants that are open later than those in the court. The area is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Los Angeles Public Library operates the Little Tokyo Branch. This section does not cite any sources. One of the roots of Pentecostalism started in Little Tokyo. Where the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center Plaza is now located was once the home of the First Pentecostal Church, a multiracial congregation called the Azusa Street Mission. This is where the Azusa Street Revival started in 1906. Francis Xavier Chapel is the center of the Japanese Catholic community in Little Tokyo.
The former Catholic Cathedral of Saint Vibiana is just to the west of Little Tokyo. This section needs additional citations for verification. National Historic Landmarks Program: Little Tokyo Historic District”. National Historic Landmark Designation Nomination: Little Tokyo Historic District”. Chiune Sugihara Memorial, Hero of the Holocaust”. The Face Of Little Tokyo Is Changing”. Archived 2014-03-30 at the Wayback Machine.
