The Rebirth of a Cultural Icon
400 East First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013
Centre Urban Real Estate, Stantec, Kritzinger & Rao, and CBRE, along with community partners Señor Fish, Far East Cafe, and Sake Dojo, have teamed up to produce a collective vision for the Opportunity Site in the form of our proposed Little Tokyo/Arts District Joint Development Project. This collective vision will not only enhance and elevate the site for Metro riders, it will also help to reinforce the entire Little Tokyo community as a key social, economic, and cultural center for Los Angeles, all while being cognizant of the cherished history of the neighborhood.
“On the outskirts of the civic center of Los Angeles, and much closer to the ragged edge of the city, the burgeoning art scene co-existed with the punks in this nether world of bohemians, tramps, junkies, mobsters and world class artists. If it could all be boiled down to one place, one nexus, one geographical location that served as ground zero where all these disparate groups met, where there was no animosity, no cultural arrogance, and certainly no exclusionary practices it was surely the iconic and legendary Atomic Café.”
The proposed project pays homage to the specific history of the site and the hard work of Japanese Americans, such as Ito and Minoru Matoba who founded the legendary Atomic Café in Little Tokyo in 1946 and eventually came to call a discrete brick building on the corner of First and Alameda home. Inspired by the distinct and special retail experiences of the Grand Central Market in Los Angeles, the Vanderbilt Food Hall and Bryant Park in New York City, the Hawker Centers of Singapore, and the yokocho alleys of Japan, we strive to make our project more than a set of buildings - a cherished destination where people from across Southern California can converge to experience the charm, energy, and history Little Tokyo has to offer. We will accomplish this by drawing from these national and international places.
Project Vision
The modest mixed-use Project will be comprised of a imaginative “food village” and creative office incubator, showcasing small businesses from the local community and beyond. The Project will be anchored by an indoor yokocho food hall at the base of a central structure and will also feature open air stalls and container stands throughout the Site. The small-format modules will fulfill an increasing demand for affordable spaces throughout Los Angeles, which will facilitate the creation of new, unique concepts and ideas, with the goal that future Michelin-star establishments will someday find their roots in Little Tokyo. Likewise, with the creative office component, the goal is that burgeoning local start-ups and businesses will call the site home. The resurrected Atomic Café and a destination restaurant/retail concept will bookend the site.
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Project Goals
‣ Respond creatively to Site opportunity and constraints ‣ Serve current and future needs of the community ‣ Improve transit experience ‣ Meet urban design and sustainability priorities ‣ Collaborate with LACMTA and other stakeholders Development Program ‣ 8,000 sf of Restaurants (Modulized at 8'x40' each) ‣ 960 sf of General Retail ( Modulized at 8'x20' each) ‣ 2,920 sf Commissary ‣ 4,090 sf Anchor/Destination Restaurant(s) ‣ 12,000 sf of Creative Office ‣ 8,500 sf Private Rooftop Event Space ‣ 9,260 sf Public Open Space |
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Design Overview
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Urban Design Factors
‣ Opportunity Site is part of the regional transportation hub of the entire Los Angeles metropolitan region, linking the Metro Gold, Blue, and Expo lines ‣ Opportunity Site is adjacent to, surrounded by, and within a ten minute walk of the Little Tokyo Village, the Japanese American National Museum, historic First Street, the Arts District, and the future “Mangrove” site Site Organization ‣ Maximizing perimeter exposure of program elements ‣ Partially dematerializing the Metro portal by modifying the structure to introduce usable ground-level retail opportunities at its two ends ‣ Locating landmark icons at the two 100% corners – the resurrected Atomic Café at the Central and First corner and the destination restaurant at the First and Alameda corner ‣ Selectively locating colorful prefabricated containers housing food and retail pop-ups along the perimeter of the site ‣ Placing the primary structure – the mixed-use office building – along the southern boundary |
