Eric Nakamura
* The editor of the zine Giant Robot and owner of the new Giant Robot Store in West L.A., which specializes in Asian pop culture.
Little Tokyo West: In the Sawtelle Corridor, there are three restaurants that we tend to go to. One is Asahi Ramen, which is a few doors down from our store. Across the street is Sawtelle Kitchen, which is like Continental, Japanese-style food. They make this meatloaf, which is awesome, with something called demi-glaze sauce. And then there’s Hide Sushi, which is like two doors down and always crowded, but it’s good and cheap. And, you know those boba tea shops? I go to Volcano Tea and Upper House, which is brand-new, so it’s not crowded. I usually get this mango, icy type of thing. I also like watching Japanese fighting tournaments on video, which you can get at Japanese video stores on Sawtelle. It’s kind of like Ultimate Fighting, but it’s classier and less hick.
Lightning Bolt: Sometimes, the Smell [a downtown L.A. music club] has metal nights, where they have new indie heavy-metal acts. I saw this band Lightning Bolt, from Rhode Island, who were out of control, kind of like old-style Boredoms, just two guys going crazy. One guy played drums and the other guy played guitar, and they were wearing masks. I didn’t think anyone would even know who they were, but the place was packed.
Pop Exhibit: I saw the “Super Flat” exhibition at MOCA about a year ago. That was one of the most memorable art shows I’ve been to. It was like Japanese contemporary art, and a lot of it was anime-influenced. The aftermath of that is any time there’s a show with one of those artists somewhere, I go check it out.
Korean Hot Spot: The Corner Place on James M. Wood Boulevard, though it’s not even on a corner, does Korean barbecue, but their specialty is the cold noodles. The broth is cold and looks watery, but it has a lot of vegetable flavor to it. It’s a secret recipe. Everybody who is Korean will probably know about this place. It’s basically famous around the whole country. It gets kind of hectic, a lot of people and a lot of smoke. You get out and your clothes are kind of smelly, but oh well.
Big Fish: There’s a place called Aquatic Depot near Randy’s Donuts, close to LAX, that’s like going to a tide pool. You go to aquarium stores and they are a certain size that you’re used to. This place is like 10 times that size. I think it was once a wholesaler, but now it’s open to the public. I take friends there and they’re just amazed. They have all kinds of fish and jellyfish there.