New Report on LA-Based Real Estate Group Details the Significant Changes in West Adams

The predominantly Black and Latino neighborhood of West Adams is experiencing rapid and substantial change, mostly due to a focused redevelopment effort by LA-based real estate firm CIM Group. Yesterday, Bloomberg published a story detailing how CIM is currently working on 40 different West Adams properties, including 15 new buildings with retail components that include restaurants, record stores, and the Alsace Hotel. Meanwhile, longtime residents worry about the changing faces of the neighborhood. The story also offers a lengthy profile of CIM co-founder Shaul Kuba.

The piece details Kuba’s alleged tactics toward a liquor store owner, the eviction of an elderly veteran from one of CIM’s buildings, and a property owner who refuses to sell. The article also says CIM tests “the notion that a single developer can turn around a chronically underfunded inner-city neighborhood, block by block, in the tight, 10-year time frame of a real estate investment fund.” In recent years, a crop of new restaurants has either opened or reopened in the neighborhood, including Mizlala, Tartine, Highly Likely, Cento, Alta Adams, Mian, and Johnny’s Pastrami.

LA’s new “zero waste” policy

Yesterday, the Los Angeles City Council unanimously approved measures that restrict the use of plastic utensils, polystyrene or styrofoam food containers, plastic water bottles, cups, straws, and bags. Head over to KTLA-5 for the full story.

Tipping perspective from a restaurant owner

Still questioning whether those surcharges or added gratuities are fair? All Time owner Ashley B. Wells makes the case for them in an op-ed for Grubstreet.

Best mac n cheese in LA

KFI radio ranked Los Angeles’s best mac n cheese, with Dulan’s Soul Food beating out Delish’s Jackie Iadonisi’s version, along with other contenders that include Bludso’s, Jon & Vinny’s, and SunCafe Organic.

Ramen and HBO’s Tokyo Vice

HBO Max partnered with Jinya Ramen Bar for some ramen and merchandise to promote the series Tokyo Vice. At every location today, Jinya is giving away a free pint glass of beer to the first 96 guests that order a new ramen bowl called the Tokyo spicy that has clear chicken broth, pork chashu, ground pork soboro, onsen tamago/soft-cooked egg, cilantro, green onion, white onion, sesame seed, chili flakes, and thin noodles.

A-Sha Noodle Bar food truck roving through SoCal next month

A-Sha Noodles, the LA-based noodle brand from Taiwan, will be popping up all over the region this May in celebration of Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders month. The first one is Friday at the LA Uprising Saigu Peace Gathering in Liberty Park. Check A-Sha’s Instagram for details of the other two events, or head to Smorgasburg on May 22.