By MIYA IWATAKI
Okay. I’ll come clean. I’m not a seasoned, dyed-in-the-wool Dodger fan. But I am a BIG fan of Little Tokyo. And Little Tokyo – and Far Bar in particular – became World Series Central last night.
Dodgers won the World Series! With huge TV screens and monitors on every wall and corner of Far Bar. An almost theatre-size monitor above the window provided an IMAX-like view for upstairs and downstairs denizens alike!
Every crevice of Far Bar was filled with FANS. Not just any fans. Raucous. Loud. Chanting. Jubilant. One big multi-ethnic, multi-age Dodger family! (I never realized how large Far Bar is. It needed more bathrooms — ha ha).
We had a long table — reserved — upstairs each night of the World Series (thank you, Carrie Morita). The fabulous Don Tahara had even added a special Dodger/Yankee World Series menu including a delicious Dodger wagyu dog, Shohei Ohtani sushi roll and a Shohei cocktail! Free sake shots with every Shohei home run (oh well). But complimentary champagne flowed to celebrate the Dodger victory! Yay, Don!! For providing a Dodger home base in Little Tokyo!
Everyone was part of the Dodger family. Wearing Dodger hats, jerseys, hachimaki, Ohtani-Mookie-Freeman, etc. T-shirts. And then you had Rumi, who owns our own LT Dodger store on First Street (next to Azay), wearing Dodger hachimaki, handmade beaded letter bracelets, chains.
It was crazy good. With every home run, a collective loud, long cheering followed by many minutes of chanting, stomping, pounding. It was exhilarating!!! Folks from all over coming together to celebrate!
The night before, KTLA Channel 5 News had heard about Dodger Central at Far Bar. They came down, took shots of screaming, happy fans upstairs and downstairs, immediately went back to the studio and ran it on their 10:30 p.m. broadcast. Last night, there were even more television and podcast crews crawling around all night capturing the joyful ambience and getting sound bites. Did I mention the even longer lines outside waiting to get in? I felt privileged as the security guard ushered me in – when I said, “Upstairs.”
DODGERS TAKE THE WORLD SERIES! 7 to 6 Dodgers. Yaaaah! The place erupted in minutes-long cheering and chanting – which I caught on video and wish I could share here. It was that feeling of jubilation like you never want it to end. The feeling I used to get with Kobe and the Lakers. No one was ready to call it a night.
People hung out lining both sides of First Street. Then an electric blue lowrider Pontiac parked in the middle meridian and did that hydraulic bouncing. The driver got out to join our cheering First Street crowd. Suddenly there was a parade of honking cars slowly driving through both sides of the street, cheering, waving Dodger signs, standing up waving banners and other Dodger paraphernalia out of sunroofs. The street went crazy, high-fiving hands extended outside of car windows, everybody savoring victory, sharing in the moment!
After a while – lost track of time – we went to the car. Carrie said, “You want to drive down First Street and honk?” SO WE DID! Then Kristin Fukushima, screaming into her phone, called, “I missed you! Did you drive down in front of Far Bar? I didn’t see you. Drive by again!” SO WE DID! More LT folks coming from another viewing party (?) had come down.
A really cool spontaneous firework display took place in front of Far Bar and the Shohei mural. Also got great video of that. It was crazy fantastic. No police came. No trouble happened. Everyone went on their way happy, celebratory, filled with camaraderie.
To think, just a few decades ago this vaunted upstairs space, formerly Far East Café, was home to generations of Issei and Nisei celebrations, weddings, funerals.
Thank you Don Tahara, for honoring this legacy. Thank you, Little Tokyo.
This is the Los Angeles, the Little Tokyo we love!
GAMBARE!
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Miya Iwataki can be contacted at [email protected]. This column and my heartfelt thanks and best wishes are dedicated to Gwen Muranaka, who has done a terrific job in bringing life and energy toRafu Shimpo! Good luck in your future endeavors. We will miss your sure hand, your writing and fantastic cartoon characters!