Giving Back To Little Tokyo

November is the month of giving and we want to take this time to give back to our community. Being based in Little Tokyo, it's important to us to support the organizations that work day and night to support and shape the vision of the Little Tokyo community. In an effort to give back, we've created a “Thank You, Little Tokyo” collection of our Japanese-inspired designs, including best selling designs. During the rest of the month of November leading up to "Giving Tuesday" November 30th we will be donating 20% of net sales from that collection to The Little Tokyo Community Council. That roughly breaks down to $4 for every tote bag, $6 for every shirt, and $8 for every sweater purchased that will be donated to LTCC (we're rounding up to the closest dollar!)

We also want to get the wider community of Little Tokyo lovers involved! We'd love to hear about some of your favorite memories from Little Tokyo! Using the hashtag #ThankYouLittleTokyo on Instagram share your favorite memories with us throughout the month of November. 5 winning posts will receive their choice of any item from our "Thank You, Little Tokyo" collection! Additionally, 3 more will win a $50 Popkiller gift card to shop in-store on their next visit to Little Tokyo! 

More about LTCC & Friends

The Little Tokyo Community Council is a non-profit organization made up of residents, businesses, religious, and community organizations. The LTCC actively produces events, projects, and community hubs to enrich and preserve the Little Tokyo culture. You may be familiar with their Halloween event “Haunted Little Tokyo,” a Halloween theme event that includes a Halloween Block party, Pumpkin patch, Scavenger hunt, and store to store trick or treating. Haunted Little Tokyo is one of the many events run under the “Go Little Tokyo” initiative. Go Little Tokyo aims to highlight the unique cultural experiences within the Little Tokyo community of events, dining, small businesses that have been staples in Little Tokyo. Due to the ever-expanding Los Angeles transit system, it's become easier than ever to reach many of the iconic locations here. 

During the height of the pandemic, LTCC sprung into action, sending out weekly updates to the community with Covid-19 resources, including information on food aid and mental health services, and updates on rules and regulations. During this time, they also created the Little Tokyo Small Business Relief Fund in an effort to support small businesses impacted by the tumultuous time and navigating uncharted business models. By creating a GOFUNDME, their goal was to raise $2,000 per small business through community-generated funds, their ultimate goal being $500,000 total. Little Tokyo being 137 years old means many of the long-standing legacy businesses have a historic and meaningful significance to the community, and they have survived many hurdles with support from the community. The donations are being done in rounds, and in 2020 they reached their first milestone of $60,000 which allowed them to help 25 businesses, 24 being considered Legacy Businesses. In 2021 they reached their second milestone of $100,000 enabling them to disburse a second round of grants. For more information and if you wish to donate directly please visit the GOFUNDME page directly. 

Sustainable Little Tokyo (SLT) is another project, in cooperation with LTCC, that is committed to creating the community vision while honoring the long-standing history of Little Tokyo and the Japanese - American community and culture. Some SLT initiatives include youth art programs, Azusa Street improvement, and the First Street North project that helped stop the commercial selling of First Street and now allows for a more community focused renewal of the block. SLT is made up of the Little Tokyo Community Council. Japanese American Cultural & Community Center, and Little Tokyo Service Center. If you would like to see all of their projects, and get involved head over to sustainablelittletokyo.org. 

FIRST STREET NORTH

If you would like to donate directly to LTCC or any of the other projects or organizations mentioned here, check the links below! Thank you for reading and supporting us!

LTCC - Littletokyola.org

Go Little Tokyo - golittletokyo.com

Little Tokyo Small Business Relief Funds - littletokyola.org/gofundme

Photo's provided by LTCC, Haunted Little Tokyo, and SLT