While most of our country celebrated its 250th anniversary with hot dogs, fireworks, and parades, three LTSC staff explored a more nuanced narrative of American history at the Heart Mountain World War II Japanese American Confinement Site....
There was some doubt in the early days of the newly-launched Nikkei Helpline (NHL) as to whether anyone would use it, but the calls quickly flooded in. With the confidence of anonymity, callers asked about everything from cats stuck in trees to advice on divorces....
The beloved Suehiro Cafe is coming back to Little Tokyo. After being evicted in 2023, the family-owned Japanese restaurant will return as a tenant in Go For Broke Plaza & First Street North Residences, Little Tokyo Service Center’s new mixed-use development in the heart of...
Every year, the Social Services Department works with a local artist for a New Year’s card design. This year, Miki Yokoyama, who lost everything in the Eaton Fire, designed the card for the Year of the Horse. Here is Ms. Yokoyama’s incredible story....
On November 1st, 2025, Little Tokyo Service Center held the 4th Annual Ebb and Flow Community Mental Health Conference at Terasaki Budokan, with workshops hosted throughout Little Tokyo. Participants had the opportunity to explore the neighborhood as they walked to workshops at Nellita’s Craft, the...
It’s not a safe time to be a street vendor right now. Every day, vendors selling fresh fruit, ice cream, flowers, and more are faced with an everyday impossible choice: risk being racially profiled and arrested in a public immigration raid, or stay home and...
For the first time since 2019, students from our Angelina Preschool were able to “walk the stage” and receive their diplomas in front of their parents. Located inside our Angelina Apartments affordable housing development, the preschool is a full-day, year-round state program for children ages...
After 49 years of serving multiple generations of the Little Tokyo community, Mitsuru Sushi & Grill will be closing its doors for owners Mamoru and Dora Hanamure’s well-earned retirement. LTSC was honored to have the Hanamure family as clients of our Small Business program, and...
Residents are beginning to move into our newly built Santa Monica & Vermont affordable housing project: located next to the Santa Monica & Vermont Metro Station, the project provides 187 units for low-income residents of Historic Filipinotown. Half of these are permanent supportive housing units,...
LTSC recently hosted the Downtown LA site for the LAHSA Homeless Count, a county-wide volunteer-driven effort to gather crucial homelessness data. As one of the largest deployment sites, we were touched by all the volunteers that came together to make a difference. As we evaluate...
