Cosmopolitan Los Angeles - Multicultural Topics

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Originally Posted by Curbed LA

Commissary, A High-Low Koreatown Country Club

With plenty of friends and family dinners, Commissary isn't exactly a secret anymore, but here now, the full photographic introduction to Roy Choi's latest achievement inside The Line Hotel. After a successful debut of POT, Pot Bar, and CaFe, this is the final piece to Roy Choi's commanding presence at the heart of the largest Korean enclave in America. And it's a cool show. Housed inside a massive greenhouse on the rooftop deck of the hotel, Commissary focuses on vegetables, which means grilled corn, asparagus, and salads galore. It's a fancy schmancy country club pool, right smack in K-Town.

http://la.eater.com/archives/2014/08...untry_club.php

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Originally Posted by LAT

New downtown L.A. boarding school aims to enhance culture, education

The elevator doors slide open on the 11th Floor, and Annie Chau, 14, walks down a plush carpeted hallway, a backpack slung over her shoulder.

She pushes open a door to reveal a lushly appointed dining room with a sweeping view of the downtown Los Angeles skyline. A catered lunch has been laid out — gyros, saffron rice and pita bread with more than a dozen fixings. She joins a group of teenagers gathered around an iPad at a polished granite table.

It's lunchtime at the American University Preparatory School, a new private boarding school that occupies two floors of a luxury downtown hotel off Figueroa and Third streets.

The school is the brainchild of Chinese billionaire Wei Huang, who made his fortune in real estate.

California has seen a wave of Chinese investment in the last few years — more than $1.3 billion between 2000 and 2011 alone, according to a report by Rhodium Group, a New York consulting firm that studies global economic trends. Immigrant wealth has built hotels, shopping centers and mansions across the suburbs of the San Gabriel Valley.

But the high school represents a different kind of international investment — an attempt to add to the city's cultural and educational infrastructure for both foreigners and Americans.

The school caters to students from families in the U.S. and around the world. Tuition and board cost $45,000 a year, every student gets a school-issued iPad and some of the teachers hold doctoral degrees. Some financial aid is available.

http://www.latimes.com/local/educati...024-story.html

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Originally Posted by LAT

HOW ARCADIA IS REMAKING ITSELF AS A MAGNET FOR CHINESE MONEY

Chan and Tong, whose names are featured in San Gabriel Valley real estate listings as prominently as Frank Gehry's is on the Westside, tailor their showy Mediterranean-style houses to appeal to wealthy Chinese buyers, many looking to park some of their money here or to enroll their children in American schools.

In the last year alone, more than 90 houses have sold for more than $2.5 million in Arcadia, a city of 56,000 that sits just east of Pasadena at the base of the San Gabriel Mountains.

Prices in Arcadia are up more than 39% from their peak in 2007 before the housing downturn. The city, now 60% Asian, has become more expensive than Calabasas, the suburban enclave that is home to Justin Bieber and the Kardashians. It's become known as the "Chinese Beverly Hills."

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...511-story.html

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Originally Posted by LAT

San Gabriel Valley's El Monte getting a boost from Chinese investors

Overhead, colorful flags whip in the breeze, advertising opportunities for wealthy Chinese investors. A large sign above the sidewalk explains the reason for the trucks: the construction of a 133-room Hilton Garden Inn on a run-down section of Valley Boulevard.

The Hilton is part of an unprecedented wave of Chinese investment in a working-class, mostly Latino city, where more than $720 million in projects are under discussion or development.

When it opens in 2015, the Hilton will become El Monte's first full-service hotel since the city was incorporated in 1912. If approved, a $220-million development with about half a million square feet of retail and office space would add another hotel.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...213-story.html

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Originally Posted by LAT

Chinese firm buys Los Angeles Airport Marriott for $160 million

Chinese real estate developer has purchased the vast Los Angeles Airport Marriott for $160 million and vowed to make substantial improvements.

It was the largest hotel sale of the year in Los Angeles County, brokers said, and a sign that the appetite for Southern California properties remains strong among Chinese investors.

Sichuan Xinglida Group Enterprises Co., which has built numerous mixed-use projects in mainland China, bought the hotel through its U.S. subsidiary, XLD Group. The seller was DiamondRock Hospitality Co., a Maryland real estate investment trust that owned it for about a decade, according to Karin Chao of Asia Pacific Capital Co., an adviser to the buyer.

The Airport Marriott is one of the largest hotels in Los Angeles County, with 1,004 rooms in 18 stories. It was completed in 1972 at 5855 W. Century Blvd.

About $35-million worth of improvements are coming to the hotel, said Eddy Chao of Asia Pacific. Meeting rooms on the top floor will be eliminated to create a new "executive floor," where guests in Marriott's rewards program can lounge and eat breakfast.

http://www.latimes.com/business/real...219-story.html

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West L.A.’s Sawtelle neighborhood, which has been known as a Japanese American community for decades, was officially designated as “Sawtelle Japantown” by the Los Angeles City Council on Wednesday.

The designation was approved by all 14 council members who were present (Jose Huizar was absent). Last week, the City Council’s Education and Neighborhoods Committee recommended approval by a vote of 2-0.

Jean Shigematsu, a member of the West L.A. Neighborhood Council and West L.A. JACL, was part of a contingent from Sawtelle at the council meeting.

“I want to thank all of you for doing the great job that you’re doing,” she told the council members.

http://www.rafu.com/2015/02/sawtelle...n-designation/

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K-Town landmarks hope to begin summer construction

The Olympic Gateway, a long-projected landmark for Los Angeles’ Koreatown, as well as the Madang project at Da Wool Jung, are expected to begin construction as soon as mid-May.

The projects were approved for contract extension last year by city’s Designated Local Authority and are expected to cost about $2.8 million.

The Korean American Chamber of Commerce of Los Angeles and the Korean American United Foundation are working with Los Angeles Neighborhood Initiative, a community revitalization organization, to receive an R-permit from the city to build the projects.

http://www.koreatimesus.com/k-town-l...-construction/

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This is where Los Angeles tourists came from

Los Angeles attracts visitors from around the globe, and those tourists boost the local economy in myriad ways including booking hotel rooms and dining at restaurants. Here are 2014’s top 10 foreign markets and the number of visitors who come to L.A. from each country:

• Mexico 1,732,000

• Canada 739,000

• China (excluding Hong Kong) 686,000

• Australia 401,000

• United Kingdom 328,000

• Japan 310,000

• France 281,000

• South Korea 254,000

• Germany 234,000

• Brazil 128,000

http://www.sgvtribune.com/lifestyle/...ists-came-from

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In his remarks, Abe confirmed that the Japanese government planned to open a "Japan House" in Los Angeles, one of three in the world aimed at showcasing the country's cutting-edge technology and its traditional and popular culture. Japanese media have reported that officials hope the project will increase international support for Japan amid disputes with China and South Korea.

Jon Kaji, a Japanese American businessman, said Abe's outreach seemed to underscore new interest by Japan in both Little Tokyo and the United States market. Many Japanese firms abandoned Little Tokyo after the deep recession of the 1980s, but Kaji said he is working with various business groups interested in possible new investments. Among other things, Kaji hopes to lure the Japan House project to Little Tokyo.

Earlier this week, Abe touted Japan's high-speed rail technology to Gov. Jerry Brown with a simulation of the nation's famous Shinkansen bullet train. He also tested an all-electric Tesla car and spoke about technological innovation at Stanford University.

http://www.latimes.com/local/califor...502-story.html

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Asian Garden Mall to get statue symbolizing Vietnamese-American success since fall of Saigon

WESTMINSTER – A 16-foot-tall, totem pole-like structure representing the success of Little Saigon will go up outside the Asian Garden Mall over the next year, the Vietnamese American Cultural Alliance announced Monday.

A five-member selection committee unanimously backed "Of Two Lineages" by James Dinh for the Courage to Rebuild project, a public art display dedicated to Orange County’s Vietnamese community and its achievements in the last 40 years, since the fall of Saigon.

“Of Two Lineages” was inspired, in part, by a Vietnamese legend about a king from the lowlands in Vietnam who marries a princess from the highlands. They have 100 children but do not get along and ultimately move to their respective kingdoms.

The father takes 50 of the kids back to the lowlands and the mother takes the other 50 to the mountainous highlands.

The 100 children become the ancestors of all of the Vietnamese people.

The welded-steel column in the center of the display represents the highlands and will be composed of 100 facets. The plaza, where there will be seating, represents the lowlands.

The benches’ backrests will likely bear portraits of 100 different Vietnamese-Americans.

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/v...h-project.html

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MORENO VALLEY: Fisker plans to build cars at Inland plant

Fisker Automotive and Technology Group on Tuesday announced plans to re-enter the luxury automotive market by opening its first U.S. manufacturing plant in Moreno Valley.

The City of Moreno Valley, in a press release, said the plug-in hybrid electric vehicle Karma will be produced by Fisker in a newly built, 555,670 square-foot facility it will lease at 17100 Perris Blvd in the South Moreno Valley Industrial Area.

As part of the bankruptcy case settlement, Fisker Automotive’s ownership shifted from Hong Kong billionaire Richard Li in 2014 to Wanxiang, a Chinese parts maker with a deep-pocket plan to put the company’s gas-electric hybrid Karma back on the assembly line and introduce lower-cost vehicles by 2017. In May, the company launched a support website for Karma owners, thenewfisker.com, offering parts and service assistance.

http://www.pe.com/articles/fisker-77...ey-moreno.html

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California Marketplace Construction Process
http://www.gajumarketplace.net/gaju-...ction-process/

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Chinese homebuilder Landsea buys 569-house Lake Forest project
Nov. 24, 2015 Updated 12:19 p.m.

A Chinese homebuilder with a $1 billion war chest has moved its U.S. headquarters to Orange County and recently made Lake Forest the site of its fifth U.S. development.

Landsea Holdings Corp., the private subsidiary managing U.S. development for one of China’s top 100 builders, moved its U.S. base to Irvine from Pasadena earlier this year to be closer to the national and regional offices for a host of homebuilding firms.

And it confirmed Monday it recently acquired the bulk of the 95.5-acre Portola Center South project in northeast Lake Forest, with approval to build up to 569 homes, in “an off-market transaction.”

http://www.ocregister.com/articles/l...nt-center.html

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Hillary Clinton returns to her mother’s San Gabriel Valley roots, seeks to appeal to Asian Americans

For Hillary Clinton, the San Gabriel Valley didn’t just provide a politically safe spot to launch her effort to attract Asian-American voters and donors, it also provided a link to her family’s past.

Her late mother went to high school in Alhambra, she told a crowd of hundreds of supporters Thursday afternoon at an event at the San Gabriel Hilton launching Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders for Hillary.

After being “rejected” by their parents in Chicago, Clinton’s mother, Dorothy Rodham, and her younger sister were put on a train by themselves to live with their grandparents in Alhambra. When that arrangement didn’t work out, Clinton’s mother, at the age of 14, began working as a maid in a nearby home.

Her employer soon realized how important school was to Rodham and allowed her to go to Alhambra High School if she finished her housework before and after class, Clinton told the crowd.

“When I think about this part of California, the first thing I think about is my mom, and how kind people were to her here when her own family was not,” she said.

“I know how important family is to all of you,” she continued. “That is how I see our country. I see us when we are at our best, as lifting up families, helping families be strong, helping families get the support they need to do the best they can for their children and for their parents.”

http://www.sgvtribune.com/government...sian-americans

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Chinese conglomerate Dalian Wanda Group has acquired Legendary Entertainment, the Hollywood production company behind "The Dark Knight," "Jurassic World," and "Godzilla," movies.

At a signing ceremony in Beijing on Tuesday morning, Wanda Chairman Wang Jianlin announced that his company had signed an agreement to buy the Burbank production company for as much as $3.5 billion in cash.

The deal represents the largest acquisition to date of a U.S. production company by a Chinese firm and the latest sign of the deepening ties between Hollywood and the world's most populous country.

http://www.latimes.com/entertainment...111-story.html

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Los Angeles County reports record 45.5 million visitors for 2015

For the fifth year in a row, Los Angeles reported a record number of tourists for 2015, thanks in part to the continued growth of the number of big-spending international visitors.

Mayor Eric Garcetti announced at a news conference at Los Angeles International Airport that Los Angeles County had welcomed a projected 45.5 million visitors last year, an increase of 2.8% from the previous year.

LAX, now the nation's second busiest airport, saw a record 74.5 million travelers in 2015, 5.6% growth over the previous year.

Garcetti noted that much of the increase has come from international sources. China, for example, has surpassed Canada as the second biggest source of international visitors, behind Mexico.

Chinese visitors are important because they tend to stay longer and spend more than all other visitors. Los Angeles County had 779,000 visitors from China last year, up 13% from 2014, according to Los Angeles tourism officials.

Los Angeles tourism officials have already opened three offices in China. A total of 48 weekly flights take off from LAX to China, carrying an average of 17,000 seats per week.

http://www.latimes.com/business/la-f...111-story.html

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Conan In Armenia

The entire series is streaming on TBS's website
http://teamcoco.com/video/conan-asks...aWQiOjkxODQwfQ

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Chinese insurer acquiring Hotel del Coronado as part of $6.5B deal

Blackstone Group, a New York private equity firm, has agreed to sell its Strategic Hotels & Resorts Inc., which owns 16 luxury properties, to Anbang Insurance Group, a person familiar with the transaction said Saturday.

The portfolio, according to Strategic's website, includes the Santa Monica hotel and the famed Coronado hotel, as well as two other Southern California properties -- the Montage Laguna Beach and the Ritz-Carlton Laguna Niguel. There are three properties in the Bay Area: the Ritz-Carlton Half Moon Bay, the Four Seasons Hotel in East Palo Alto and the Westin St. Francis in San Francisco.

Beijing-based Anbang has been investing in luxury U.S. hotel properties, including its acquisition last year of the Waldorf Astoria in New York for $1.95 billion from Hilton Worldwide Holdings.

http://www.sandiegouniontribune.com/...-del-coronado/