Endangered Little Tokyo, L.A. County's population is up (slightly), and more

Little Tokyo, the cultural center of the Japanese American community in Southern California, has seen the displacement of numerous legacy businesses within the past decade. The changing landscape of the neighborhood has now landed the neighborhood as a whole on the National Trust for Historic Preservation's list of the 11 Most Endangered Historic Places of 2024.

The neighborhood, one of only four remaining Japantowns in the United States, was founded in the late 19th century at a time when racist covenants severely restricted where people of Japanese descent could live. Since the mid-20th century, the size of the neighborhood has been impacted by the encroaching L.A. Civic Center, with the construction of Parker Center perhaps standing as the most notable example of this trend. The National Trust points to the work of community-based organizations such as the Little Tokyo Community Council, Little Tokyo Service Center, the Japanese American Cultural and Community Center, and the Japanese American National Museum as a way to save the neighborhood - specifically through the Sustainable Little Tokyo coalition. Projects such as LTSC's First Street North apartments are adding affordable housing to the neighborhood, while also providing a space for displaced legacy businesses to land.

A new car-free CicLAmini event is coming to Wilmington on Sunday, May 19. Check out the open streets even from 10 am to 3 pm on a 2.25-mile route that connects Wilmington Waterfront Park and Banning Park.

In case you've forgotten how this works: only people-powered vehicles allowed. That means no electric scooters, skateboards, hoverboards, unicycles, motorcycles and other non-people-powered vehicles are permitted. However, Class 1 e-bike pedal-assist is allowed, Class 2 e-bikes are allowed when throttle is powered off, and Class 3 e-bikes are allowed when pedal-assist is powered down.

Here's what we're reading this week:

Affordable housing at the expense of existing tenants? L.A. council seeks new protections "The mayor’s initiative, part of her larger fight against homelessness, was created to ensure that 100% affordable housing projects are approved within 60 days, without public hearings. Renters facing displacement from such projects say that timetable leaves them with less time to mobilize — or fight back." (LA Times)

2023’s Wet Winter Saved California From Drought. Will We See Another Like It Anytime Soon? "However, the odds of that happening aren't all that high, according to a recently published study in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, which says the event was about a 1 in 54-year occurrence. That means there was a roughly 2% chance of it happening in the current climate regime. It was so exceptional that the authors said that about 5% of observed sites saw a 1 in 320-year occurrence." (LAist)

In L.A., thousands of newer apartments have rent caps. Tenants don’t always know. "Unbeknownst to many tenants across the city, an obscure city rule requires some newly built rental properties to be put under the city’s rent stabilization ordinance, commonly referred to as rent control." (LA Times)

California’s population increased last year for first time since 2020 "Los Angeles and Orange counties grew last year, though not by much; the former saw a population rise of just 0.05% — or nearly 4,800 people — while the latter notched up 0.31% — or nearly 9,800 people." (LA Times)

Freeway Drivers Keep Slamming into Bridge Railing in Griffith Park "Drivers keep smashing the Riverside Drive Bridge railing - plus a few other Griffith Park bike/walk updates" (Streetsblog LA)

A tale of two downtowns in L.A.: As offices languish, apartments thrive "Downtown has about 90,000 residents, a slightly higher population than Santa Monica or Santa Barbara, said Jessica Lall, head of real estate brokerage CBRE’s downtown office. They live in 47,000 residential units, most of which are apartments rented at market rates....But for a variety of reasons, most of L.A.’s downtown residents don’t work there. It is an unusual reality not seen in many other big cities that decouples the apartment market from the fate of the millions of square feet of offices for rent in the area because residential landlords do not rely on office workers to fill their units." (LA Times)

Karen Bass aims to reverse L.A.'s — and the nation's — decadeslong struggle with homelessness "Bass and a task force of other mayors across the country are creating a multi-pronged plan to end homelessness in America." (NBC)

Los Angeles roads remain deadly in first quarter "Another 77 people have died in traffic collisions in 2024" (Crosstown)

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