The Brief

Little Tokyo is no longer the neighborhood it was when Suehiro Cafe first opened its doors in 1972. Back then, there were hundreds of family owned businesses, and thousands of Japanese and Japanese American families called it home.

But it's changing.

Little Tokyo is 'kind of bleeding'

There are still plenty of Japanese bakeries, gift stores, mochi and sushi spots, but as you walk along historic First Street you’ll see several long-standing businesses that have closed or face closure, and the number of Japanese or Japanese American residents within the neighborhood’s official borders has dwindled to just a few hundred, according to census data.

Little Tokyo Arts & Gifts closed its doors on Jan. 1, 2024, when owner Elaine Taiyoshi received an eviction notice. Shabu Shabu House, the first shabu shabu restaurant in the U.S., closed in late 2023.

Suehiro is the latest legacy business to close in Little Tokyo, serving its last meal in the neighborhood on Jan. 9. The How to LA team was there Sunday to enjoy one last lunch and talk with Kenji Suzuki, the second-generation owner of the restaurant.

“Little Tokyo I think is kind of bleeding,” says Suzuki. “It's bleeding its soul.”

Little Tokyo’s First Street in 1942. The Sperl building where Suehiro Cafe was located is the shorter one, second from right.

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LA Public Library

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Suzuki’s business was evicted after a prolonged legal battle with his landlord Anthony Sperl, whose family has owned the building since its construction in 1882.

He says he’s not sure what will next occupy his former space, but he says he heard a permit application was filed for a cannabis dispensary with the same address. Suzuki has also heard there may be a tattoo shop coming to the building.

“He basically told us that he wanted to create a place more like Melrose,” says Suzuki. “Bringing in things that really have nothing to do with the Japanese community. And that's the reason why he wanted us to go, because we didn't fit in with his plan.”

How Suehiro began and built a community

Suzuki says when his mother and aunt started Suehiro Cafe, their original dream was to build a mahjong parlor.

“While they were looking for a space, my father's friend — who was a cook at a restaurant here in Little Tokyo — wanted to have his own restaurant, but he just needed a partner,” he says. And so Suehiro Cafe, originally “Suehiro Restaurant,” was born.

“I think within the first year things start to falling apart,” Suzuki says with a laugh. “This cook left, and it was just my mother and my aunt by themselves — two women with absolutely no business experience, no restaurant experience.”

That’s when they started serving their trademark comfort food, he says. It was all they could do.

Junko Suzuki (right) serves a customer at Suehiro Cafe’s counter.

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Courtesy of Kenzi Suzuki

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Courtesy of Kenzi Suzuki

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“The message my mother gave me was, ‘Whatever you like to eat, put on the menu.’ It wasn't anything complicated. It wasn't anything beautiful. It was, in the true sense of the word, just comfort food, because we didn't have a real chef.”

But Suzuki says if it wasn’t the food that hooked early customers, it was his mother’s charm.

“When she welcomed you, you really felt it,” he says. “When she asked you to please come back, you almost felt an obligation. Even to this day we have customers that come in from overseas and they want to make sure they come back here because they still remember my mom.”

Junko Suzuki retired in 2001, passing the business to her son, Kenji. She died during the COVID-19 pandemic after contracting the virus.

“We've been in Little Tokyo for the last 52 years now,” he says. “This is our home, our roots are here, my mother put in a lot of work to keep things going.”

A neighborhood relationship

When Suehiro Cafe started having trouble with their landlord, Suzuki reached out to the Little Tokyo Service Center (LTSC). It’s a nonprofit organization that focuses on housing and community preservation. It also owns several buildings throughout Los Angeles, where they say they try and foster culturally appropriate small businesses.

“There was a time when no one wanted to be in Little Tokyo, and no one really wanted to be in downtown,” says Mariko Lochridge, small business programs coordinator for LTSC. “A lot of businesses left Little Tokyo and went to the South Bay area.”

But Lochridge says Junko Suzuki was adamant about staying in the neighborhood and in the Sperl building.

“She felt that since they helped [the cafe] during a tough time, she and her family should stay and stick it out,” Lochridge says.

That decision came with financial risk, but ended up paying off as the neighborhood began to see huge influxes of tourists and non-local shoppers.

But Suzuki’s patience wasn’t rewarded, Lochridge says. “Now that the neighborhood's doing well, it feels like, ‘they're saying OK cool, thanks for getting us through that rough patch, now goodbye’.”

Interior of Suehiro DTLA’s new counter.

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Lochridge says that when businesses like Suehiro leave the community, there is a real fear that it diminishes the cultural significance of Little Tokyo — especially when they’re replaced by non-Japanese stores.

“Back in the day there were hundreds of family owned businesses in the neighborhood and hundreds of families that lived here, so it was very easy to be connected.”

But now, she says, maintaining a relationship with Little Tokyo requires a much more intentional approach.

What's next

Suzuki’s new location in Downtown Los Angeles’ Historic Core is now open for business, and it’s several times larger than the original location in Little Tokyo. It will eventually feature a small museum on the bottom floor. This is where Suehiro’s famous lunch board will continue to live, plus one of the original wooden booths, and the plastic food display that lined the storefront windows.

Kenji Suzuki poses in front of a mural of his aunt and mother, painted by Robert Vargas, at Suehiro's new location in DTLA’s historic core.

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“We have a big mural of my mom and my aunt at the new location,” Suzuki says. “Every day I look at it and I tell my mom, 'make sure that you don't let me quit.'”

Despite his feeling of grief about leaving the community where he grew up, the younger Suzuki says he’s hopeful for the future of Suehiro Cafe.

“Twenty years from now I hope to be able to tell my landlord thanks for evicting us,” he says. “I’ll say, ‘now we have a bigger store, a better store, more customers.’ That's where I'm putting all my energy, to make sure that the new place works.”

As federal officials suspend funding to L.A.’s main homelessness agency — citing mismanagement — a recent audit found the agency did not spend tens of millions of dollars allocated to it.

The audit found the L.A. Homeless Services Authority (LAHSA) underspent its overall budget by $108 million in the last fiscal year ending in June 2025, mainly because of “program delays.” The year before, the underspend was nearly $150 million. Some of it was carried forward to future years, auditors wrote.

Specifically to federal dollars, the audit shows LAHSA spent at least $7 million less than it had budgeted last fiscal year. LAHSA had budgeted $61.5 million in such dollars. It spent only about $49 million to $54.4 million, per the audit.

Underspending at LAHSA was called out more than four years ago, in a January 2022 audit that found the agency left $3.5 million in federal grants on the table by not using them.

A spokesperson for LAHSA has not responded to a request for comment.

LAHSA is governed by a 10-member commission that is half appointed by L.A. Mayor Karen Bass, and half appointed by each of the five county supervisors. Bass has served on the commission since she appointed herself to it in fall 2023.

Bass’ office said in a statement that the mayor “has grave concerns about LAHSA and zero tolerance for mismanagement and negligence.” The federal money suspension puts lives and progress on homelessness at risk, the statement added.

The mayor’s office statement says the mayor “previously directed the city to evaluate how to move away from the agency.”

When the City Council considered in March whether to withdraw the city’s funds from LAHSA and instead have the city directly oversee the dollars, Bass cautioned that the city first would need “a serious, thoughtful transition plan,” adding that “the last thing we need is a new department and more bureaucracy.”

Spokespeople for the county supervisors have not returned messages for comment on the underspending.

City of L.A. also underspends

The city of L.A. also has been underspending its homelessness budget — to the tune of $513 million in Bass’ first full fiscal year as mayor that ended June 2024, according to an analysis later that year by City Controller Kenneth Mejia’s office.

Federal officials cited that in their letter Thursday as one of many reasons for their suspension of funds to LAHSA. The letter incorrectly attributed the full underspend to LAHSA. The findings were instead about the city’s overall homelessness spending, a portion of which goes to LAHSA.

Spokespeople for HUD have not responded to an emailed request about the inaccuracy.

A controller’s analysis for the following fiscal year, ending June 2025, found the city again underspent its homelessness budget, by at least $473 million.

“Breaking City Hall from its decades old dysfunctional system is how we finally brought homelessness down by 17%,” Bass said in a statement at the time. “I’m glad to support the controller’s recommendations to further reform the status quo.”

Other problems found in audit

The federally required audit, known as a single audit, must be done each year by an accounting firm hired by LAHSA.

The latest one, finalized last month and covering the fiscal year that ended last June, found failures surrounding poor bookkeeping and accounting of taxpayer money at the agency — which spent over $800 million in public funds last fiscal year.

The agency’s financial statements initially included “significant” inaccurate amounts that needed to be adjusted late in the audit process, the auditors found.

It found the inaccuracies stemmed from a "significant deficiency” in LAHSA’s “internal controls,” which are supposed to safeguard against financial inaccuracies and fraud.

Vacant tax-funded apartments

LAist reported Thursday that LAHSA has been using tax dollars to pay for more than 250 empty apartments as part of an initiative Mayor Karen Bass introduced years ago to make housing readily available to unhoused people. That’s just over a third of the units in the strategy, known as master leasing, according to an LAist review of official data.

The vacancies have been tying up tax dollars — largely overseen by the county — that could house hundreds of people in other approaches, according to official financial data.

Other funds leaving LAHSA

In response to previous audits that found major problems with LAHSA’s oversight of tax dollars, county supervisors decided last spring to withdraw all of the county’s $300 million-plus in annual funding of services through LAHSA and instead have the county directly manage it starting July 1.

Problems identified in the latest audit reiterate why the county pulled its funding, Supervisor Kathryn Barger said in a statement Monday.

The city is considering moving in a similar direction as the county. A key City Council panel — its homelessness committee — recently recommended the full council start shifting city homelessness funding out of LAHSA over the course of the next fiscal year. Bass urged caution, saying moving too quickly to shift funding could disrupt services for unhoused people.

LAHSA has long functioned as the L.A.’s homeless services department, with over $300 million in city money expected to flow through LAHSA this fiscal year.

A cookie business with well over a dozen flavors ranging from Mexican hot chocolate to mango sticky rice? How very L.A.! Lei’d Cookies started as a pandemic pop-up. Nowadays, you'll find them in the Culver City Arts District.

About the owner

Baker and owner Leilani Terris posing, holding two cookies from Lei’d Cookies.

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Co-owner Leilani Terris originally thought she'd become a physical therapist. After applying to school, she took a gap year, taught herself to bake and connected with co-owner James Lewis to start their cookie business.

Terris sat down with Austin Cross, who hosts AirTalk every Friday, to explain how their cookies take customers on a bite-sized journey to other countries.

What's the best way to experience Lei'd Cookies?

Add ice cream to a warm cookie at their Culver City shop. If you want a more communal experience, take a trip with a group of friends to Smorgasburg L.A., which takes place every Sunday in downtown L.A.

Known for international flavors

Terris wants customers to get a taste of other cultures. Lei'd Cookies has put a spin on ghriba, a type of shortbread cookie from Morocco, and spicy Mexican hot chocolate.

Bakery details

• Although Terris didn't start with professional culinary experience, her co-owner, James Lewis, worked in restaurant management for years prior to opening.
• They joined Smorgasburg L.A.'s list of vendors in 2021.
• Lei'd Cookies opened its brick-and-mortar in Culver City in 2023.

Cookies we tried

• Orange Date Blossom Cookie (Ghriba inspired and includes apricot jam and walnuts)
• Mayan (cinnamon, cayenne, and chocolate from Tabasco, Mexico)
• Mango Sticky Rice
• Guava and Goat Cheese (their best-seller)

What should we try next?

Southern Californians could face floods and fires this year.

A hot, dry winter has led to fires already, and experts said Friday at a news conference in Los Angeles that that is projected to continue.

Different from previous wildfire seasons, though, experts are also closely watching El Niño, a powerful weather pattern that causes changes in winds and ocean temperatures.

“California is faced with multiple disasters, whether it be fires, floods, hazardous material incidents,” said Brian Marshall, fire and rescue chief with the California Office of Emergency Services. Marshall said the El Niño “could impact fires and could impact flooding across the state.”

The National Weather Service is predicting a 63% chance of a “very strong” El Niño from November to January. It could be one of the most powerful since 1950, according to the weather service’s Climate Prediction Center.

Heavy El Niño storms could trigger flash flooding and debris flows in wildfire burn scar areas.

The effects of the rapidly developing El Niño on this year’s wildfire season remain uncertain, and experts urged residents to stay vigilant.

“Even very strong El Niño events do not lead to the expected impact everywhere,” according to the Climate Prediction Center.

William Deverell, director of the Huntington-USC Institute on California and the West, said more rain can also increase plant growth, which can eventually dry out and create more fuel for fires.

Robert Garcia, fire chief in the Angeles National Forest, said the recent Burro Fire provided “some indicators of what may be ahead” as vegetation starts to dry. The Burro Fire charred 30 acres and burned for about a week in May in the San Gabriel Mountains north of Glendora.

What you can do to stay safe

Fire officials advised people to create defensible space around their homes by clearing it of dry vegetation and other flammable materials.

Pre-fire conditions, including the abundance of dry vegetation, were “dominant drivers” of burn severity in the Eaton, Palisades and Hughes fires in January 2025, according to a new study led by San Diego State University in collaboration with NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory researchers.

“Regions like Los Angeles … have a lot of human populations who are living closer to these environments that are susceptible to wildfires,” said Madeleine Pascolini-Campbell, a scientist at JPL and a co-author of the study.

Beyond fire prevention, defensible space also helps firefighters enter properties to extinguish flames.

“Wind-driven, ember-casting wildfires moving through a community without defensible space makes it very difficult for us to be able to combat those fires,” Los Angeles Fire Chief Jaime E. Moore said at the news conference. “It makes it unsafe for our firefighters and those that are working hard to protect your home.”

Los Angeles Unified has renamed two campuses previously named for Cesar Chavez. The move follows a New York Times investigation that found the famed labor leader sexually abused girls and women.

The board voted to rename the schools Friday following town hall meetings and a vote among staff, students and parents at each campus.

Cesar Chavez Learning Academies in San Fernando is now Arroyo High School, and Cesar Chavez Elementary School is now Oakland Street Elementary School.

How did the change come together?

A March New York Times investigation found survivors of Chavez’s abuse included United Farm Workers co-founder Dolores Huerta. The LAUSD Board voted unanimously a week later to begin a renaming process for the two campuses after a consultation with the schools’ communities.

With one exception, none of the other prospective names were associated with specific people.

Arroyo High School

Previously called: Cesar E. Chavez Learning Academy

Other names considered:

• Valley High School
• Rudy Acuña High School (Rodolfo "Rudy" Acuña is a Chicano studies scholar who died earlier this year at age 93.)

The vote: Arroyo High earned 557 of 1,063 votes, and was the most popular choice among each of students, parents and staff. It’s based on the street where the school is located. (“Arroyo” is Spanish for “creek.”)

Oakland Street Elementary School

Previously called: Cesar Chavez Elementary School

Other names considered: 

• Eagles Elementary
• Arroyo Elementary

The vote: Oakland Street Elementary received 211 out of 314 votes, and was the favorite among each of students, parents and staff.

What's next?

The district has designated $209,000 for renovations associated with the name changes, including changing signs and marquees.

The single largest cost is refurbishing the high school’s hardwood gym floor, which will cost an estimated $120,000. Other significant costs include removing and replacing metal lettering on the front of the high school for $25,000, as well as removing and replacing crash pads and banners in the gym for $30,000.

Have other thoughts on school names?

Senior editor Ross Brenneman contributed to this story.