A symbol of the cultural integration of the community is the local hang out, The Holiday Bowl. “Ichioka who grew up in the district said: ‘In the late '60s, you could go to Holiday Bowl on a Saturday night and see African-Americans . . . coming to eat Japanese noodles with chopsticks. In that sense, it was an extraordinary situation."’ I too was a client of the Holiday Bowl.
In this picture I educate my little one to teach her what happened in this neighborhood so she knows that racial harmony is possible. I personally thought some of the best sushi in town was served at the Bowl. As a student at UCLA in the early 1970’s I would often take out of town visitors to the Holiday Bowl for sushi or a late night soul food breakfast of biscuits, sausages and grits.
The Holiday bowl was built in 1958 on Crenshaw Boulevard by a Japanese American
investor. It served a as an integrated leisure space for decades where African Americans, Japanese American, Mexican Americans, and Anglo Americans could interact. It had a bowling alley, pool, hall, bar, and coffe shop that served a variety of ethnic dishes.
Menu
A sample collection of what they served.
Japanese: saifun, yakisoba, donburi
Chinese: Chow mein, pork noodles, foo yong
Black Southern: hot links, grits, salmon patties, short ribs, biscuits and gravy
The 1999 LA Weekly describes Holiday Bowl as a place that "speaks of Crenshaw’s bright, enduring middle-class dreams, with its ’50s-inspired orange-and-green décor and giant plate-glass window that affords a grand view of Baldwin Hills to the south." source>
In memory of the Holiday Bowl:
Duke Kim says that he takes " clear pride in Holiday’s staying power, in its history, in the fact that it was designed by Armet & Davis, the architectural firm that popularized Googie-style coffee shops and turned diners like Holiday and the nearby Wich Stand into zig-zaggy emblems of L.A. optimism. Kim likes to point out that, not only was his establishment not damaged during the ’92 riots, but people came in and bowled that night, April 29. " source>
(Youtube video is embedded within the side panel.)
The Holiday Bowl today:
Today the Holiday Bowl has been replaced with a shopping center housing a
Star Bucks, Walgreens Denny’s,
Big 5 etc. The community fought to stop the demolition of the Bowl but again the property was taken for development. Is shopping progress? There are
several drugstores walking distance from the Walgreens and lots of places to eat and drink. There was another Star Bucks just a short distance away which has since closed as the community could not support both.
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