An 800-pound gorilla

DJ, producer and clothing designer Nigo landed in L.A. on Tuesday to open his long-awaited A Bathing Ape store on Melrose Avenue. Over the last 14 years, he has transformed his Tokyo-born, hip-hop-inspired streetwear business into a $59-million lifestyle empire and attracted legions to dress in hoodies with “BAPE” across the front, including Kanye West and Pharrell Williams.

So what does A Bathing Ape mean, exactly? It’s from the Japanese expression “To bathe in lukewarm water,” and it’s a comment on pampered kids. The irony, of course, is part of the appeal.

Dressed head to toe in his own line – T-shirt, worn-in jeans, trucker’s cap and red hoodie with an embroidered bamboo-eating panda – the 37-year-old looks like any of the ultra-hip sneakerheads who touch down in L.A. each year.

But Nigo – pronounced NEE-goh – is the creative and marketing genius behind one of their most coveted brands. And when he smiles a rare smile, he reveals a grill of platinum and four colors of diamonds. His ears bling with heart-shaped, molar-sized diamonds; he wears a ring on his right hand, and his retractable key chain is white gold crusted in diamonds. All by Jacob the Jeweler.

With the help of a translator, we pulled him away from Williams – who popped in for an early look at the store – for a quick chat on the eve of the Ape’s L.A. opening.

You are a huge collector of vintage Americana. What is your favorite L.A. find?

Once I found a Charles Eames molded plywood chair with a heart-shaped cutout in it.

Will there be anything different about this store? Any special merchandise?

There is a special T-shirt just for Los Angeles, but that’s it. I like all my stores to be as much alike as possible.

Oh yeah, that T-shirt with palm trees on it. And there are two huge palm trees out front. What’s with the palm trees?

Coming from Japan, the palm tree symbolizes the warm climate, and in my mind it’s a kind of shortcut to L.A.

Why is camouflage such a big part of the Bathing Ape look?

It is a basic part of everyday, not exactly background, but like the Louis Vuitton monogram, it’s just there.

How did you hit on the idea of limited runs of everything?

When I first started, the reality was I could only make a few of each thing. Now people don’t want to be wearing the same thing as everyone else, so sometimes there will only be 10 of one jacket in the whole world or maybe a couple hundred T-shirts, but that’s it.

Besides throwing the opening party, what else will you be doing while you are here?

I’m here for a week and I plan to see Pharrell and Kanye perform, and I am also going to Las Vegas for the first time, where I plan to see as many Cirque du Soleil shows as I can.

Do you think there is a Los Angeles/Tokyo connection style-wise?

Actually, I see more of a connection between Los Angeles and Yokohama. Yokohama has this real West Coast hip-hop vibe, there are a lot of [skateboard] riders there.

adam.tschorn@latimes.com