Greetings from Los Angeles, Cal. on NO KINGS DAY

"No illegal immigration on stolen land" - just one of the signs of protest seen in downtown L.A. since a new rash of Southland raids started on June 6th.

There are so many layers of strife since orange man took office.  He pardoned January 6 insurrectionists; he fired crucial federal workers; he has flown individuals out of the country without due process; and he is abducting hardworking persons through ICE raids.

His provocative order to send California National Guards and U.S. Marines to "assist" Los Angeles reminds me of another political stunt in February in which he released of billions of gallons precious California irrigation water, to "help" the far, far away L.A. Palisades & Eaton fires.

As the week has worn on, we know now that the military is here for an unknown duration to reinforce ICE operations.

As of this writing, it's Thursday, and today our distinguished State Senator Alex Padilla was handcuffed and bodily removed from a Perky Noem press conference.

U.S. Senator from California, Alex Padilla

Resist. This Saturday.

Update below from Saturday 6.14.2025 at Old Towne Orange, in northern Orange County:

Cafeterias, Lunch Counters & Old-School Restaurants Seen Through Postcards, Etc.

Previous blog post coverage of southern California restaurants include:

Marcel & Jeanne's French Cafe, Montebello, Cal.

Limehouse, Los Angeles, Cal.

Yama Japanese Restaurant, Alhambra, Cal.

Here's more:

Yama Restaurant

The above postcard advertised modernized decor at this Alhambra restaurant,
but their efforts backfired and soon the place closed up

Woolworth's

Woolworth built a novel lunch counter about 1937 at 4th & Broadway, Los Angeles

An earlier F.W. Woolworth Co. building stood since 1920 about three blocks away at 7th & Broadway. Notice the merchandise on the right side of the postcard - items were displayed in bins, rather than on shelves.

Ontra Cafeteria

Ontra Cafeteria

From the backside of the postcard

Fitch Cafe

Operated by G.W. Fitch between 1914 and 1917,
an example of the perpetual high turnover in the restaurant business

Statler Center Drug Store

The Statler Hotel provided some lucky hotel residents with views of the Harbor Freeway

Today, the Wilshire Grand Center has replaced it.

Below, the Statler's amenities included a swanky drug store...and look to the lower right...counter seating for a casual meal?

Tommy Wong's

Earliest listing found was in the 1938 city directory.  110 West Macy Street would have been on the south side of Cesar Estrada Chavez Avenue today where now is an open-air parking lot.  '38 was also the beginning of China City, a tourist compound across the street.

Matchbook inside graphic

Matchbook cover

San Quentin Dining Room, South Building

When I spotted this postcard, I was drawn to the oddness.  Later I learned that the mural was created by prisoner Alfredo Santos in the mid 1950s.

Papa Cristo's

Operating from the corner of Normandie and Pico in Los Angeles since 1948, it closed in early May, 2025.

Photos taken by E. Uyeda

Diversity, Equity, Inclusion in Little Tokyo, Cal.

 R  E  S  I  S  T

Art, culture, education and history - slowly being maligned by the new federal government.

Grand funding once provided by the National Endowment for the Humanities 

and the Institute of Museum and Library Services - yanked and clawed back from places like the

J  A  P  A  N  E  S  E    A  M  E  R  I  C  A  N    N  A  T  I  O  N  A  L    M  U  S  E  U  M

To ban the concept of DEI - diversity, equity & inclusion - 

comes under the guise of government efficiency.

The Japanese American National Museum will resist.

Museum board chairman Bill Fujioka said they

"will scrub nothing."

"Our community is based on D I V E R S I T Y,

E Q U I T Y is guaranteed to us in the Constitution,

and I N C L U S I O N is what we believe in."

HANDS OFF! our Democracy our History our Arts our Culture

 

April 5, 2025

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