I love LA, precisely because of places like Little Tokyo and establishments like Suehiro and Fugetsu-do.
Little Tokyo has grown in popularity the past ten years, especially with young people. But Little Tokyo is in the historic heart of LA and just a few blocks from Skid Row. Putting a dispensary there is exactly the wrong thing to do to develop the area. People go there for dining and shopping. The dispensary will only attract more skid row residents into the area IMHO.
I'm not saying LA is perfect, just that it isn't so bad. There's a public artwork a block away from there that features my family.
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Unfortunately it had become a homeless camp. You can see the bronzer pillar just right of the portable toilets, between the gingko trees.
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They've been cleared out. We were there last night and the area was fenced off. There was graffiti on the artwork.
Growing homeless encampment prompted the closure for repairs
spectrumnews1.com
Speaking of graffiti. You know how that is one of my pet peeves when I go hiking? I met the guy from Sierra Club/State Parks who is in charge of removing graffiti. He was very philosophical about it, advising me not to get angry. "Humans, animals really, have felt the need to leave their mark since time immemorial. You just remove it. They might come back once and try again but then you remove it again and eventually they give up."
This is what he uses and is now going in my hiking pack -
You can complain, or you can act.