Nostalgia brought us to the door of Thousand Cranes in Little Tokyo. There was a time in the 80s when nightfall turned downtown LA into a wasteland dotted with random nightclubs and loft parties, It was a punk rock playground, inhabited by night owls, homeless people and junkies. One oasis in the sea of cement and alleyways was the New Otani Hotel. It never ceased to amaze us that a well-tended Japanese garden even existed on a rooftop in the center of vast nothingness. more ›