Food and culture make up the rich fabric of historic Little Tokyo in Los Angeles, located east of LA’s city hall.
A stroll around E. 1st, San Pedro and Judge John Aiso streets features a sweet shop dating back 107 years, a Japanese arts-and-crafts store and a neighborhood cafe.
Two Los Angeles food trucks are taking Asian cuisine to the masses, fusing traditional recipes with innovation.
Alex Chu, owner of The Dim Sum Truck, launched his business in February and serves delicacies such as sticky rice. His favorite homemade recipe is a blend of Peking duck, pickled cucumber, red onion and hoisin sauce, all wrapped on a corn tortilla.
“There’s a lot of people who say, ‘Oh, I’ve never had dim sum before, you know, what should I try?’ ” Chu said. “Usually, I’ll suggest shu mai and the barbecue pork bun and the har gow, and the response has been really good. People really like it.”
Misa Chien and Jennifer Green, co-owners of the business Nom Nom Truck, make banh mi, or Vietnamese sandwiches, from Green’s family recipes.
“My favorite thing is it’s such an evoking industry, just growing and innovative,” Chien said.. “There are no right boundaries and so many new things.”
– Dominique Fong ?
Just hours after the Prop 8 announcement, Voices caught up with longtime couple Ted Kresel (left) and Jack Corbett (right) at a store in West Hollywood to talk about the implications of the decision on their lives, relationship and for California as a whole. They traveled to Portland, Ore., to marry but the license was nullified by the California law.
By Elizabeth Gyori
Voices
Nadia Chayka, second from left, and her fiance Luke Otterstad, second from right, both proponents of Proposition 8, stand alongside Ron Weaver, left, and Billy Bradford, right, both opponents of Proposition 8, outside of the Phillip Burton Federal Building in San Francisco, Wednesday, Aug. 4, 2010. The first word on whether California's same-sex marriage ban can survive scrutiny under the U.S. Constitution is expected to come down Wednesday when a federal judge issues his ruling in a landmark case challenging the voter-approved Proposition 8 as an unlawful infringement on the civil rights of gay men and lesbians. Attorneys on both sides have said appeals are certain if Chief U.S. Judge Vaughn Walker does not rule in their favor. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)
Los Angeles and the AAJA Convention was all abuzz once news that a federal judge in San Francisco struck down Proposition 8, a voter-approved ban on same-sex marriage in California.
The decision, issued in San Francisco by Judge Vaughn R. Walker, is a temporary victory for gay-rights advocates in what looks to be a long legal battle. Proponents of Prop. 8 have said that they will appeal the decision to higher courts.
But more than 300 miles away at the AAJA Convention, many members who are also part of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community expressed joy and relief about the decision.
“I hope for one day we can get married just like anyone else,” said Paul Cheung, Associated Press interactive and graphics editor. “I mean, we’re not any different than anyone else in a long-term committed relationship.”
A longtime member of AAJA and the National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association, Cheung believes true equality is not just about race but about factors such as sexual orientation and socio-economic class.
“We’ve come a long way but there are a lot more (roads) we need to pave. So, I think, with this decision, it’s the first step,” he said.
Romey Louangvilay, a freelance writer for FIGHT! Magazine, said the decision not only personally affects him because he is gay, but also two of his friends who have been involved in a gay relationship since high school. He hopes they will be able to get married one day.
Several AAJA members sent tweets once they heard the news. Television reporter Lisa Ling posted: “Happy for my gay friends today. Love reigns.”
At a West Hollywood community center, Joseph Lee took a break from posting signs for a forthcoming AIDS march to talk about the excitement the decision has sparked in the gay community. He heard the news after seeing the avalanche of tweets online.
“They’re going crazy on Twitter world. They’re really excited,” Lee said. “I feel like celebrating, jumping in the streets.”
The decision had big ramifications on his personal life. If he and his boyfriend are able to get married, it could open a world of opportunities for their life together, he said.
“You can’t help who you fall in love with,” Lee said. “Let’s have some summer weddings. I might even get married now.”
Restaurants, bars and stores in the area are offering complimentary or discount drinks, food and merchandise in the wake of this win for the gay community.
Sur Restaurant in West Hollywood offered a “Pink Prop. 8 Cocktail” for $5 Wednesday in honor of the overturned ban, while Dan Deutsch Optical Outlook handed out free beer and cocktails for Happy Hour.
Organizations that have worked to overturn Prop. 8, such as Equality California, a gay-rights group that filed an amicus curiae brief for the overturn of the ban, also rejoiced.
“We want to take time today to celebrate this really encouraging win ’cause it really just shows that gay and lesbian couples and families are really getting the dignity and respect they deserve,” said Mike Ai, an Equality California organizer.
A rally scheduled Wednesday, sponsored by the American Foundation for Equal Rights, were attended by about 1,000 people at West Hollywood Park for a march to downtown Los Angeles.
“I am elated that Judge Vaughn Walker has overturned the same-sex marriage ban in California,” said Don Chareunsy, AAJA Governing Board member and at-large representative for the AAJA Advisory Board. “My gay brothers and sisters are not asking for special rights, only equal rights. The fight isn’t over, but it is a big step in the right direction.”
Voices staff writers Peter Sessum and Pimpan Jongchirawongsa contributed to this story.
Voices staff
If you have a car this week, you’ve probably already experienced a taste of Los Angeles’ brutal traffic. (The drive from downtown to the convention site on the Hollywood Freeway, a journey of about eight miles, can take half an hour or more at the height of rush hour.) If that wasn’t bad enough, there’s the matter of stashing your car once you’ve arrived at your destination.
You have two main parking options: Let the hotel’s valet staff take your car, or park it yourself in the structure underneath the Hollywood and Highland shopping center. The more glamorous valet option costs $29 a night, but you have in-and-out privileges (meaning, you can come and go as you please and the rate does not change).
If you choose to self-park, it’s $10 for a full night, but it comes with disadvantages. You’re charged anew every time you leave and return, and the structure closes between 2 and 9 a.m. each morning.
The Joe Louis Arena is home to the Detroit Red Wings and sits just alongside the Detroit River. | AAJA Photo/The Detroit Metro Convention & Visitors Bureau/Chris Lark
By Carolyn Chin
Voices
While next year’s AAJA Convention will be set in glitzy Hollywood, the 2011 Convention will take place in Detroit, arguably one of the most economically troubled cities in the U.S.
Detroit has its fair share of problems – a fading identity, a dying auto industry, a struggling public school system. And there’s no forgetting the deep corruption in city government.
It raises the question: What does Detroit have to offer?
Detroit Free Press copy editor Frank Witsil and Detroit News multimedia producer Ankur Dholakia, co-chairs of the Detroit convention, are adamant that this convention will benefit both AAJA and the city. AAJA will mark its 30-year anniversary in 2011.
Detroit is one of few cities that still have two competing daily newspapers and a key broadcast market. “We’re an essential city in America journalistically,” Witsil said. “Journalistic stories are unfolding here.”
Detroit has upheld its reputation as the Motor City since the early 20th century. The recent struggles of the city’s Big Three automakers – Ford, General Motors and Chrysler – to stay afloat has hurt not only Michigan’s economy, but the national economy as well.
The city was also the site of a landmark hate crime. In 1982, American-born Chinese Vincent Chin was beaten to death after a dispute in a Metro Detroit bar just days before his wedding. Two American auto workers suffering from a bad economy blamed Chin for the success of Japanese automakers.
Chin was mistaken for someone of Japanese descent, yet the assailants saw only an Asian face. The two assailants got a mere slap on the wrist, serving no jail time and paying less than $4,000 in fines and court fees. The backlash sparked a Pan-Asian and Asian American movement.
“In many ways, Detroit is ground zero of the Asian American movement,” Witsil said.
The Detroit area is also home to the largest Arab population outside the Middle East. Holding the convention in Detroit 10 years after 9/11 is also significant to AAJA because of the discrimination the area’s Arabs and Arab Americans have faced.
“This is an opportunity to highlight the diversity of our group and show what Arab Americans, people of Middle Eastern descent have to offer,” Witsil said. “It really helps to send a message that emphasizes the impact that journalists can have in fighting for civil justice, social justice.”
AAJA’s Michigan chapter, one of the youngest and smallest in size with roughly 50 members, has planned to hold a national convention in Detroit for the past four years. The Michigan chapter was created in 1988, but because of the Detroit Free Press and Detroit News strike in 1995, the chapter closed. It was revived in 2003.
The New York chapter also vied to host the AAJA Convention in 2011. Cheryl Tan, who helped lead New York’s bid, noted that Detroit was economically more desirable. “Money – especially in these tough times – is always an important consideration,” Tan said. “Room rates were much lower in Detroit than in NYC, which will make it financially easier for members to attend.”
Detroit’s chamber of commerce also offered $10,000 in the package.
“There are lots of factors that go into picking a convention city, not purely dollars and cents,” AAJA National President Sharon Chan said.
“The Detroit committee is working incredibly hard to make this happen. We have a lot of confidence in the Michigan chapter making this a success.”
Gannett and the Detroit Media Partnership supported holding the convention in Detroit, as did Visit Detroit, the local visitors and convention bureau.
“When you see the locals and the organization being so passionate about it, you want work harder to get it for them,” said Sheila Neal of Visit Detroit.
Individuals who supported the effort include Dave Hunke, former Detroit Free Press publisher and current USA Today president and publisher; Paul Anger, current Detroit Free Press publisher and editor; Jon Wolman, The Detroit News publisher; and Osama Siblani, publisher of The Arab American News.
The damaged image of Detroit could factor into convention registration, but Dholakia remains hopeful.
“Having journalists come to Detroit I think will open their eyes and see what Detroit’s really like,” Dholakia said. “Yeah, it has its shortcomings, but … Detroit is trying to find another identity. Hopefully it will be a lot better in 2011.”
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