On a mild afternoon in mid-June, Mayor Karen Bass posed for photos in Little Tokyo with a rag in her hand.
Little Tokyo Sparkle, which started in 2016, is a community-organized cleanup event held annually to help beautify the neighborhood. Even though hundreds of volunteers had just participated in the last cleanup less than a month prior, more than 150 volunteers showed up again for an “emergency Sparkle” to scrub graffiti off of local businesses.
In the aftermath of ongoing protests against ICE, and the ensuing and forceful response of LAPD, Little Tokyo businesses were hit hard with graffiti, in addition to damage from fireworks, smoke bombs, and flash bangs.
Cultural landmarks, including the Japanese American National Museum (JANM) and Little Tokyo Towers, which provide affordable housing to seniors, were also damaged by vandalism.