Cosmopolitan Los Angeles - Multicultural Topics

[saiholmes]

Freida Pinto shopping in Little India
On a recent visit to Southern California, "Slumdog Millionaire" actress Freida Pinto toured Artesia's Little India for the first time.





by The Los Angeles Times

[saiholmes]

Downtown’s Costco, With a Thai Twist
Asian-Themed Mega-Market Caters to Restaurants and Residents
by Ryan Vaillancourt
The Los Angeles Downtown News
Published: Friday, May 1, 2009 4:01 PM PDT

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Downtown has a grocery store so big it could store airplanes, or at least it feels that way. And it’s not Ralphs.

East of Chinatown, at 1100 N. Main St., LAX-C is a mega-store stocked with tons (literally) of produce, fresh fish, frozen meats and other foodstuffs. Described by many as a sort-of Thai Costco because of its vast selection of Thai and other Asian products, it primarily caters to small restaurants looking to save by buying in bulk.

But amidst the 50-pound bags of yellow onions, 45-pound boxes of butchered lamb and 25-pound bags of rice, there is an array of foods and household items that make LAX-C a viable, one-stop grocery option for Downtown residents.

“The average new person walking in a place like that, they’ll be overwhelmed, but I do know that especially in the Chinese community you have many brothers and sisters, families, who are still close and they’ll buy in bulk and share,” said George Yu, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District.

LAX-C started as a small market in Chinatown and, according to its website, has expanded into the largest Thai-owned company in the United States. Company owners did not return multiple calls requesting an interview.

The LAX-C kitchen and grocery emporium is about a block east of the Metro Gold Line Chinatown station and a half-mile north of Philippe The Original. Also included on the sprawling property are a Thai language bookstore and the headquarters of a Thai newspaper.

On the weekends, a food stand in the parking lot sells sweet coconut cakes and succulent pork or beef satay.

But the focus is definitely LAX-C, a common stop for many Los Angeles restaurateurs and a smaller, knowing clientele of individuals looking for bargains on groceries.

“It’s just like when we go to Costco, we figure out how to buy in bulk and save, but just not with as fancy packaging,” Yu said.

Grocery List

LAX-C is a gold mine for anyone who knows how to prepare Asian or southeast Asian cuisine. Aisles with ceiling-high racks stock dozens, if not hundreds, of different kinds of noodles.

One section sells dozens of specialty Asian flours (there’s all-purpose white and wheat flour too), and bags of tempura batter. Soy sauce, fish sauce and plum sauce are among a litany of bottles of flavoring. Most of the produce, including lemon grass, Japanese eggplants, zucchinis, snow peas and green onions, comes stuffed in plastic bags.

The meat section may disappoint a shopper looking to pick up a couple of steaks, but customers planning a barbecue are in the right place.

A 44-pound box of boneless pork “butts” (it’s actually the shoulder), which is most commonly used to slow roast and turn into pulled pork, costs $50.60, or $1.15 per pound (at Ralphs, it goes for $2.49 per pound). A 40-pound box of frozen Australian lamb costs $63.75, or $1.59 per pound. A 15-pound box of oxtails goes for $2.25 per pound; mainstream supermarkets commonly charge more than $4 per pound.

About 70% of the store’s customer base is Los Angeles-area restaurants, said Arturo Chia, a store manager. The inventory, which Chia estimated is 85% Asian food, is mostly imported from China, Thailand and Taiwan.

One of the most practical sections in LAX-C for household shoppers is the seafood area, where Maine lobsters go for $11.99 per pound ($14.99 per pound at Raphs) and dozens of whole, fresh fish including rock cod, tilapia and catfish are on ice. It’s also next to a mini-restaurant that sells plates of noodles, meat and papaya salad.

The store’s toiletries section has all the regulars: toothpaste, shaving necessities and nail polish. It also has an aisle devoted to Thai healing remedies that require some fluency of Thai, or a bold curiosity to try foreign, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals.

Then there is the decor section that probably satisfies the designers of the city’s Asian eateries. A warehouse-sized showroom is full of imported furniture, southeast Asian musical instruments and sculptures.

A four-foot elephant statue carved out of wood is $2,495, and there is also a wide selection of five-foot-tall gongs, man-sized Buddhas and a half-dozen mannequins modeling exquisite, silk Thai dresses.

“I think people would be very interested to find out about these places,” Yu said.

LAX-C is at 1100 N. Main St., (323) 343-0030 or lax-c.com.

[saiholmes]

Hello Kitty: A cool cat turns 35
The 1970s Japanese cartoon character has her paws in many enterprises all over the world.
By Sophia Kercher
The Los Angeles Times
November 1, 2009

Hello Kitty is all grown up.

The docile little creature with red bow and yellow button nose turns 35 today. And just look at her now! At her inception in the 1970s, few could have known that the cute cartoon would become a global phenom complete with a theme park, TV series and restaurant featuring an image of her sweet whiskered face baked into bread.

Indeed, Ms. Kitty has come a long way from her Japanese homeland. Christian Dior, Cynthia Rowley, Betsey Johnson and Kimora Lee Simmons have all hopped on the Hello Kitty pop icon bandwagon over the years, whisking the kitten around the world in high style.

But back to the beginning: Hello Kitty was created in Japan, in 1974, by Shintaro Tsuji as part of his greeting card company Sanrio. After an in-house design contest, the little Sanrio kitten was born, and Hello Kitty quickly became popular, boosting Sanrio's sales in just two years and bringing her cute "kawaii" style to coin purses, diaries, stationery and notebooks. The childlike Sanrio cat quietly made its way to the United States in 1976, only two years after she was invented, and remained relatively dormant until the 1990s. As Hello Kitty matured into her late teens she was given her first boyfriend, Dear Daniel, an equally enigmatic fellow kitten with a spiky pompadour. Daniel tends to wear blue and, like Hello Kitty, he embodies the Sanrio values of sharing and friendship.

By 1995, the Sanrio star's fans were growing up along with the fetching feline, and not without frisky behavior: The New York Times that year noted that the kitty was popular in the rave scene. Hello Kitty fans in their late teens and early 20s took to wearing such Hello Kitty merchandise as barrettes, watches and backpacks equipped with supplies for all-night parties. In 1997, Hello Kitty was suspected of having a naughty streak -- going feral, maybe? -- when a licensee introduced a Hello Kitty shoulder massager that ended up being a popular item on adult store shelves. The massager was taken off the market after a couple of years, but Hello Kitty's introduction into sexuality was born. By this time, Hello Kitty had blown up in the U.S. with the help of Grammy-winning darling Mariah Carey and other seductive celebrities who were captivated by the critter.

At the start of the millennium, Hello Kitty pitter-pattered into adulthood with an assist from top designers, who helped her develop into a regal, elegant icon while keeping her youthful charm. For Kitty's 30th anniversary, the bouncy Betsey Johnson designed a flashy, three-tiered pink dress in honor of the kitten, while the chic Cynthia Rowley created a simple yet classic Hello Kitty design for an Airstream trailer. But nowhere has Hello Kitty's foray into adulthood been more present than in her collaboration with Kimora Lee Simmons, which began in 2004.

"I thought how can we make this bigger and better than just some little notepad?" Simmons says.

Simmons, designer for Baby Phat and Simmons Jewelry Co., crafted a line of high-end jewelry featuring Hello Kitty's face plated in diamonds and platinum, selling the top-dollar designs at tony stores such as Neiman Marcus. To those unfamiliar with the lure of the brand, the success of the jewelry has been surprising, but not for the model-mom-mogul.

"Who doesn't love Kitty? Everyone from Paris Hilton to me, to Kelly Ripa, Christina Aguilera, Britney Spears, Tyra Banks, Iman. I mean everybody loves Kitty," Simmon says. She adds that though she is a woman in her 30s she adores the timeless inner youth that the Sanrio icon represents. Simmons even designed a blue pendant of the kitten for Vogue's editor-at-large Andre' Leon Talley.

This isn't the first time the moon-faced creature has made an impression on Vogue. Christian Dior featured his collection in Japanese Vogue in 2008 with the stubby white feline as a model for his designs. Further confirming Dior and Simmons' view of the pop icon as fit for grown-ups, a Hello Kitty-themed maternity hospital recently opened its doors in Taiwan. The hospital chose the cartoon theme hoping to ease the stress of childbirth and increase business. The facility features Hello Kitty baby blankets and nurses in pink uniforms with kitten-themed aprons, proof that a whimsical world follows the feline along with her maturing fans.

In Los Angeles, Hello Kitty's birthday is being celebrated with a multi-week extravaganza. A birthday party today takes place at the site of a multidimensional exhibit titled "Three Apples" -- in the lore, Hello Kitty weighs as much as three apples -- which opened Oct. 23 and runs through Nov.15. The exhibit at Culver City's Royal/T cafe and art space, features more than 80 pop artists and designers including Amanda Visell, Frank Kozik, Natalia Fabia and Simone Legno showcasing their interpretations of the feline. Several other fashion-infused events are planned as well. (See details in accompanying story.)

The wave of celebrations -- including a sushi workshop, karaoke night and a Halloween party over the last few days -- suggests that Sanrio's little kitty has come a long way from her early years as a schoolgirl obsession.

Simone Legno, the L.A.-based designer/artist of the colorful tokidoki brand, grew up in Rome glued to anime TV shows, obsessed with the Japanese. Not surprisingly, he's ecstatic at displaying his art at the show. "It's a huge honor because Hello Kitty is the most iconic cute character," Legno says.

As for the adorable Japanese kitten's future in 2010? Her popularity shows no signs of slowing. Lady Gaga was recently shot by famed photographers Markus Klinko and Indrani swathed in a remarkable gown of stuffed Hello Kittys. Janet Hsu, president of Sanrio Global Consumer Products, expects to keep welcoming up-and-coming designers to the Hello Kitty family, and knowing the little Nov. 1 Scorpio, there will be some mischief along the way.

Royal/T Cafe
8910 Washington Blvd
Culver City, CA 90232
www.royal-t.org

[milquetoast]

The Costco on Sepulveda was more "Cosmopolitan" than I would have needed

[Imperfect Ending]

Originally Posted by saiholmes

Downtown’s Costco, With a Thai Twist
Asian-Themed Mega-Market Caters to Restaurants and Residents
by Ryan Vaillancourt
The Los Angeles Downtown News
Published: Friday, May 1, 2009 4:01 PM PDT

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES - Downtown has a grocery store so big it could store airplanes, or at least it feels that way. And it’s not Ralphs.

East of Chinatown, at 1100 N. Main St., LAX-C is a mega-store stocked with tons (literally) of produce, fresh fish, frozen meats and other foodstuffs. Described by many as a sort-of Thai Costco because of its vast selection of Thai and other Asian products, it primarily caters to small restaurants looking to save by buying in bulk.

But amidst the 50-pound bags of yellow onions, 45-pound boxes of butchered lamb and 25-pound bags of rice, there is an array of foods and household items that make LAX-C a viable, one-stop grocery option for Downtown residents.

“The average new person walking in a place like that, they’ll be overwhelmed, but I do know that especially in the Chinese community you have many brothers and sisters, families, who are still close and they’ll buy in bulk and share,” said George Yu, executive director of the Chinatown Business Improvement District.

LAX-C started as a small market in Chinatown and, according to its website, has expanded into the largest Thai-owned company in the United States. Company owners did not return multiple calls requesting an interview.

The LAX-C kitchen and grocery emporium is about a block east of the Metro Gold Line Chinatown station and a half-mile north of Philippe The Original. Also included on the sprawling property are a Thai language bookstore and the headquarters of a Thai newspaper.

On the weekends, a food stand in the parking lot sells sweet coconut cakes and succulent pork or beef satay.

But the focus is definitely LAX-C, a common stop for many Los Angeles restaurateurs and a smaller, knowing clientele of individuals looking for bargains on groceries.

“It’s just like when we go to Costco, we figure out how to buy in bulk and save, but just not with as fancy packaging,” Yu said.

Grocery List

LAX-C is a gold mine for anyone who knows how to prepare Asian or southeast Asian cuisine. Aisles with ceiling-high racks stock dozens, if not hundreds, of different kinds of noodles.

One section sells dozens of specialty Asian flours (there’s all-purpose white and wheat flour too), and bags of tempura batter. Soy sauce, fish sauce and plum sauce are among a litany of bottles of flavoring. Most of the produce, including lemon grass, Japanese eggplants, zucchinis, snow peas and green onions, comes stuffed in plastic bags.

The meat section may disappoint a shopper looking to pick up a couple of steaks, but customers planning a barbecue are in the right place.

A 44-pound box of boneless pork “butts” (it’s actually the shoulder), which is most commonly used to slow roast and turn into pulled pork, costs $50.60, or $1.15 per pound (at Ralphs, it goes for $2.49 per pound). A 40-pound box of frozen Australian lamb costs $63.75, or $1.59 per pound. A 15-pound box of oxtails goes for $2.25 per pound; mainstream supermarkets commonly charge more than $4 per pound.

About 70% of the store’s customer base is Los Angeles-area restaurants, said Arturo Chia, a store manager. The inventory, which Chia estimated is 85% Asian food, is mostly imported from China, Thailand and Taiwan.

One of the most practical sections in LAX-C for household shoppers is the seafood area, where Maine lobsters go for $11.99 per pound ($14.99 per pound at Raphs) and dozens of whole, fresh fish including rock cod, tilapia and catfish are on ice. It’s also next to a mini-restaurant that sells plates of noodles, meat and papaya salad.

The store’s toiletries section has all the regulars: toothpaste, shaving necessities and nail polish. It also has an aisle devoted to Thai healing remedies that require some fluency of Thai, or a bold curiosity to try foreign, over-the-counter pharmaceuticals.

Then there is the decor section that probably satisfies the designers of the city’s Asian eateries. A warehouse-sized showroom is full of imported furniture, southeast Asian musical instruments and sculptures.

A four-foot elephant statue carved out of wood is $2,495, and there is also a wide selection of five-foot-tall gongs, man-sized Buddhas and a half-dozen mannequins modeling exquisite, silk Thai dresses.

“I think people would be very interested to find out about these places,” Yu said.

LAX-C is at 1100 N. Main St., (323) 343-0030 or lax-c.com.

Lawl.. I've been here many times and I want to run out everytime.
It's kinda like a freak show