Junko Suzuki (middle), her mother (right), and one of the waitresses at Suehiro Cafe (left).
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Courtesy of Kenji Suzuki
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Courtesy of Kenji Suzuki
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Topline:
Suehiro is the latest legacy business to close in Little Tokyo, serving its last meal in the neighborhood on Jan. 9.
Why it matters: 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 US, closed in late 2023.
Why now: Suehiro closes its doors officially on Jan. 16, moving to serve at its new location in Downtown L.A.'s Historic Core.
The backstory: Junko Suzuki started Suehiro Cafe back in 1972, but the 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,” says Junko's son and current owner of Suehiro, Kenji Suzuki. 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.
Evicted From Little Tokyo - What's Next For Suehiro Cafe?
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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LAist
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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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Courtesy of Suehiro Cafe
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LAist
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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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Josie Huang
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LAist
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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.”
Los Angeles Dodgers owner and chairman Mark Walter speaks during a ceremony to honor the Major League Baseball 2024 World Series Champion team in the East Room of the White House, April 7, 2025, in Washington.
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Evan Vucci
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Associated Press
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Topline:
Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and multiple insurance companies he owns have been sued, alleging they failed to disclose an ongoing federal probe to customers while directing policyholders’ money into Walter’s other companies.
Who's behind the suit: Ira Rosner, a 67-year-old Florida man, brought the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday. He purchased a policy from Delaware Life in April and he had until late May to withdraw his money without penalty. However, the company did not disclose the investigation to him until June, Rosner is seeking a jury trial in the lawsuit that seeks damages for negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and aiding and abetting fraud.
The backstory: Walter has been under investigation since last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission following a whistleblower complaint regarding alleged misrepresented loans made between companies within his business portfolio.
Los Angeles Dodgers owner Mark Walter and multiple insurance companies he owns have been sued, alleging they failed to disclose an ongoing federal probe to customers while directing policyholders’ money into Walter’s other companies.
The lawsuit lists Walter, Delaware Life Insurance Co., Clear Spring Life and Annuity, TWG Global Holdings and Walter’s Guggenheim Partners investment firm as defendants.
Ira Rosner, a 67-year-old Florida man, brought the class-action lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Miami on Wednesday. He purchased a policy from Delaware Life in April and he had until late May to withdraw his money without penalty. However, the company did not disclose the investigation to him until June,
Rosner is seeking a jury trial in the lawsuit that seeks damages for negligent misrepresentation, breach of contract and aiding and abetting fraud.
TWG Global didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment on the lawsuit.
Walter has been under investigation since last year by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Manhattan and the Securities and Exchange Commission following a whistleblower complaint regarding alleged misrepresented loans made between companies within his business portfolio.
TWG Global Holdings is the holding company through which Walter controls Delaware Life, Clear Spring Life and Annuity Co. and his stake in Guggenheim Partners. TWG Global denied any wrongdoing involving the probe in a statement last month.
Walter and co-owner Todd Boehly sold their stakes in English Premier League club Chelsea this week. Last month, Walter agreed to sell the Los Angeles Lakers in a surprise move less than a year after buying the NBA franchise from the Buss family. The deal is under review by the league.
The Dodgers have been adamant that Walter has no plans to sell the baseball team.
Compton Unified Superintendent Darin Brawley has won a national education prize recognizing his leadership in improving student achievement in the district. Brawley will receive the 2026 Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education, which includes a $50,000 award, at a ceremony in New York City in November.
Why it matters: The McGraw Center for Education Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, which administers the prize, cited the “extraordinary impact” of Brawley and the two other recipients. Brawley won for his work in K-12; prizes are also awarded for higher education and lifelong learning.
Why now: With about 20,000 predominantly low-income Black and Hispanic students, Compton was singled out nationally for test scores in math and reading that did not fall back during the COVID-19 epidemic and continued to exceed the national and state averages since. The center noted that Compton’s graduation rates increased from 58% to 94%, and college acceptance rates exceeded 95% during Brawley’s 14 years as superintendent. It also highlighted the district’s expanded college and career pathways and innovative industry and community partnerships.
Compton Unified Superintendent Darin Brawley has won a national education prize recognizing his leadership in improving student achievement in the district.
Brawley will receive the 2026 Harold W. McGraw Jr. Prize in Education, which includes a $50,000 award, at a ceremony in New York City in November.
The McGraw Center for Education Leadership at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education, which administers the prize, cited the “extraordinary impact” of Brawley and the two other recipients. Brawley won for his work in K-12; prizes are also awarded for higher education and lifelong learning.
“At a time when schools and communities are confronting profound educational challenges, three visionary leaders are demonstrating what meaningful change can look like,” the McGraw Center said.
With about 20,000 predominantly low-income Black and Hispanic students, Compton was singled out nationally for test scores in math and reading that did not fall back during the COVID-19 epidemic and continued to exceed the national and state averages since.
The center noted that Compton’s graduation rates increased from 58% to 94%, and college acceptance rates exceeded 95% during Brawley’s 14 years as superintendent. It also highlighted the district’s expanded college and career pathways and innovative industry and community partnerships.
Last year, EdSource detailed an unusual drama program at Compton’s Dominguez High. Another EdSource article this year highlighted the inclusion of student-centered “calming corners” and learning stations in school renovations.
The McGraw prize, named after the CEO of the McGraw-Hill education publisher, has been awarded since 1988. Other recent California recipients have included Debra Duardo, Los Angeles County schools superintendent; Jody Lewen, president of Tamalpais College, who introduced academic programs at San Quentin Rehabilitation Center; Stanford University professor and researcher Roy Pea; and Sol Khan, creator of a worldwide free online education and tutoring platform.
The higher education prize went to Shai Reshef, who founded the University of the People, the first nonprofit, tuition-free, accredited online university, and the lifelong learning prize was awarded to Michael Webber, a nationally recognized professor of mechanical engineering and public policy at the University of Texas at Austin.
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A group of frogs piles on top of one another in a tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach, where they are being raised before being released into the local mountains, Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026.
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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Topline:
A program at Aquarium of the Pacific has nearly closed out its fifth year with a major milestone: more than 1,000 frogs raised and released into the wild.
The backstory: By the time the mountain yellow-legged frogs was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2002, fewer than 100 adults remained in Southern California. A count in 2020 put the number at about 188 in the wild, though biologists say that figure has almost certainly shifted since.
Why that matters: That’s more than five times as many mountain yellow-legged frogs — named for the lemon-hued streak along their hind legs — believed to be in the wild when last recorded in 2019, reduced to small pockets of wild streams in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains.
Inside three water tanks in a tucked-away room at the Aquarium of the Pacific, biologists are tasked with bringing back a population of frogs that once thrived across the state’s mountainous streams but has since reached the brink of extinction.
It’s a program that’s nearly closed out its fifth year with a major milestone: more than 1,000 frogs raised and released into the wild.
That’s more than five times as many mountain yellow-legged frogs — named for the lemon-hued streak along their hind legs — believed to be in the wild when last recorded in 2019, reduced to small pockets of wild streams in the San Gabriel, San Bernardino and San Jacinto Mountains. By the time the frog was listed under the federal Endangered Species Act in 2002, fewer than 100 adults remained in Southern California. A count in 2020 put the number at about 188 in the wild, though biologists say that figure has almost certainly shifted since.
The species’ collapse is tied to a compounding list of threats: wildfire, mudslides, pesticides, fungal disease, habitat loss and the appetites of non-native trout, bullfrogs and crayfish. It’s a decline so severe that biologists consider the species among the rarest vertebrates on Earth.
Staff at the Aquarium of the Pacific in Long Beach are working to change that math, one tadpole at a time.
In the latest release, about 653 of the endangered frogs were returned to their native mountain habitat by staff from the Aquarium of the Pacific, the Los Angeles Zoo and the U.S. Geological Survey. Of those, 394 had been head-started at the aquarium — its largest release of the species yet, bringing its total to 1,032.
The frogs were bred at the Los Angeles Zoo’s breeding program, then transferred to Long Beach as tadpoles, where aquarium staff reared them through metamorphosis into froglets and frogs. The process typically takes one to two years, though the species can remain in its tadpole stage for up to five years, making a given frog’s age something of a mystery even to the people who raised it.
A tadpole chills by the rocks in a tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific, where it is being raised before being released into the local mountains, Tuesday, Sept., 15, 2026
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Thomas R. Cordova.
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Long Beach Post
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Inside the aquarium, the water is engineered to mimic the mountains it’s standing in — kept near 60 degrees in summer, the temperature currently found in the streams the frogs call home, and cooled to around 52 degrees in winter, with reduced UV exposure to simulate the season’s shorter, dimmer days.
The aquarium’s involvement began in 2021, in the aftermath of the 2020 Bobcat Fire, which tore through the central San Gabriel Mountains and destroyed an estimated 95% of the frog’s remaining usable habitat.
“They had salvaged some tadpoles from the fire-impacted areas, and they ended up bringing a handful of them here,” said Erin Lundy, with the aquarium’s conservation team. “And then we also had some captive-bred ones from the L.A. Zoo that year, and that was our first group.”
Since then, the team has expanded to include the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, the U.S. Forest Service and the California Department of Fish and Wildlife, which help monitor populations and oversee releases.
Erin Lundy from the Aquarium of the Pacific looks into a tank at frogs as she gets them ready to be released into the local mountains Tuesday, Sept. 15, 2026
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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As the aquarium’s tadpole numbers have grown, some are now sent to the Santa Ana Zoo each October to continue growing until they’re ready for reintroduction. Frogs are carefully separated by genetics and population of origin, so each can be released back into its native range and preserve healthy genetic lines.
“I think that we have some responsibility to give the animals the best chance that they could possibly have,” Lundy said, “but this is certainly a species that without a good amount of human intervention would not exist to this day.”
Much of the aquarium’s work is now focused on an even more elusive threat than fire: chytrid fungus, a microscopic pathogen that attacks the keratin in amphibian skin, blocking the salt absorption frogs rely on and eventually causing cardiac arrest. It has driven amphibian populations to collapse worldwide, and mountain yellow-legged frogs appear especially vulnerable to it.
“Some amphibian species over time have developed a resistance to chytrid, and so part of the intention of growing so many animals is hoping to find what gene that is that introduces some chytrid resistance,” Lundy said. Researchers are testing whether frogs can be inoculated before release, or whether introducing different microbes to their skin might help them fend off the fungus on their own.
Tadpoles swim in a tank at the Aquarium of the Pacific as they are raised before being released into the local mountains, Tuesday, Sept., 15, 2026
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Thomas R. Cordova
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Long Beach Post
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Lundy has now been on three of the aquarium’s release trips, watching frogs she has cared for — some for years — carried up into the mountains and set loose into the streams they were bred to repopulate. It is, she says, a strange kind of joy.
“It’s a little bittersweet because, oh no, I’ve been taking care of you for so long, but that is the point, so it feels a little bit like Christmas Day,” Lundy said.
Not every frog leaves the same way. Some, she said, shoot off into the current without so much as a pause. Others linger at the water’s edge beside her for a few minutes before finally disappearing beneath the surface.
“Almost feels like they’re saying goodbye,” she said.
Manny Valladares
is always looking for the next tasty bite to feature on "AirTalk" Food Friday on LAist 89.3.
Published September 18, 2026 3:37 PM
The Keno's Anaheim Hills location opened in 1980, but wouldn't become an established fixture locally until 1983.
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Courtesy Greg Rogers
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Top line:
Keno's Restaurant in Anaheim Hills blends classic steakhouse vibes with a cafe twist — and it's a place you can find a 15-pound burrito on the menu. That's right, 15 pounds.
The vibes: You can experience the cafe, with a bustling diner feel, or you can step into their steakhouse, which has a fireplace inspired by the Peppermill in Las Vegas.
Live event programming: Along with the Rat Pack-era interior, they also have plenty of live music to check out in the evenings. Your dinner and a show could include artists like a Frank Sinatra cover artist or a more general acoustic set.
15-pound burrito: Keno's serves up lots of traditional menu items like a Monte Cristo or chicken sandwich, but you can also find a 15-pound burrito and a 32-ounce Tomahawk steak.
Keno’s in Anaheim Hills — lively steakhouse meets cafe
Keno’s Restaurant in Anaheim Hills is a family-run business with a vintage feel — and a 15-pound burrito on the menu.
General Manager Shauna Reyes joined Austin Cross on AirTalk, LAist 89.3's daily news show, to talk about what customers can expect at the decades-old steakhouse that has a cafe twist.
About the owners
Vintage photos of Keno's, back when it first opened, and was a 24-hour restaurant.
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Courtesy Greg Rogers
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Keno's originally opened in 1972, gaining enough popularity to expand into a small chain of restaurants. Gus Cooper helped build and operate the Anaheim Hills location since its opening in 1980. The Anaheim Hills location eventually changed hands to Gus' nephew, Steve Cooper, in 1993. Steve Cooper and his family have been running Keno's ever since.
What it's like being a Keno's customer
Photo of Keno's lounge and steakhouse section.
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Courtesy Greg Rogers
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According to Reyes, the ambiance and customer connections are what set Keno's apart.
You can experience the cafe, with a bustling diner feel, or step into their steakhouse, which has a fireplace Reyes says was inspired by the Peppermill in Las Vegas.
Address: 5750 E La Palma Ave, Anaheim Hills, CA 92807
Hours: Sunday – Thursday, open 7 a.m. to 9 p.m.; Friday and Saturday open from 7 a.m. to 10 p.m.
Cost: The Lumberjack breakfast costs $23; the Monte Cristo costs $17.79; the California Chicken Sandwich costs $17.49; the 32-ounce Tomahawk steak costs $80.
What should we try next?
What should we try next?
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