Go For Broke Plaza & First Street North Residences will be the new home of Suehiro Cafe.
The beloved Suehiro Cafe is coming back to Little Tokyo.
After being evicted in 2023, the 54-year-old family-owned Japanese restaurant will return as a tenant in Go For Broke Plaza & First Street North Residences, Little Tokyo Service Center’s new mixed-use development in the heart of historic Little Tokyo.
“Little Tokyo is the heart and soul of Suehiro, and LTSC is the reason we’re able to come home,” said Suehiro owner Kenji Suzuki. “The last few years were a blur, but now that we signed the lease at First Street North, we have an anchor.”
Three years ago, Suehiro left its longtime location on First Street and moved to 400 Main St., which is in Downtown Los Angeles but outside of Little Tokyo.
Suzuki said in a video posted on social media that the current location will continue to operate even after the Little Tokyo location opens.
Go For Broke Plaza & First Street North Residences, 232 Judge John Aiso St. between Temple and First streets, is built on land the Little Tokyo community lost to eminent domain during urban renewal in the 1950s. For decades, it sat as a surface parking lot. LTSC, in partnership with Go For Broke National Education Center, is transforming the site into one of the city’s largest 100% affordable housing developments with 248 units of affordable housing and 40,000 square feet of ground-floor commercial space.
Construction started in early 2024 and completion is expected later this year.
This marks the first time in decades that Little Tokyo has expanded its borders, with Suehiro’s return being the exact kind of homecoming this project was designed to make possible.
With over 20 of Little Tokyo’s small businesses lost during the COVID-19 pandemic — and immigrant-owned businesses now facing economic pressure from federal tariff policies — the stakes for legacy businesses like Suehiro are high. This new LTSC commercial space offers stability, affordability, and a supportive community that the open market cannot match.
“Suehiro is more than a restaurant,” said LTSC Co-executive Director Takao Suzuki. “It is a symbol of everything Little Tokyo stands for — immigrant grit, community love, and the refusal to disappear. Protecting Little Tokyo’s future through community-driven projects like First Street North is exactly what LTSC was built to do.”
Go For Broke Plaza & First Street North Residences will offer ground-floor retail space along Jackson Street, with commercial spaces available for lease. Ideal tenants include:
– Legacy and long-standing Little Tokyo small businesses
– Community-based nonprofit organizations
– Cultural institutions serving the Japanese American and broader AANHPI community
– Businesses that complement and strengthen the existing Little Tokyo neighborhood
For commercial leasing inquiries, contact Erich Nakano at (213) 473-3030 or enakano@LTSC.org, or visit www.LTSC.org/FSN.