The high stakes of an anime convention

Good morning. It’s Friday, July 10. You can expect temperatures to reach the 80s before noon across most of the county — but get ready for things to get hotter next week.

If you were in DTLA last weekend, you saw them roaming the streets: People in capes, heavy makeup, sometimes furry animal ears. Men with spiky bleach-blond haircuts, women with two pink side-ponytails. Plush characters worn on belts and as backpacks.

They were there for Anime Expo, the largest anime convention in the country, hosted at the L.A. Convention Center, the timeworn city-owned events hall nestled between the 10 and the 110.

Now in its 17th year in L.A., the Expo — which draws about 100,000 adherents — represents the largest annual event at the Convention Center, and has become hugely consequential to the downtown economy. Maybe the most powerful indicator of Anime Expo’s value to Los Angeles: The city, despite a years-long budget crunch, only charges the organizers $1,000 per year to use its 720,000 square feet, which carries a rack-rate price tag of $460,000 for events of the Expo’s size.

Why would a cash-strapped city open its pockets to throw an anime party? To find out, I went downtown on opening night of the convention and paid a visit to Yard House, a chain sports bar with a location in the L.A. Live complex.

The aesthetic overlap between Yard House (classic rock, onion ring towers, polo shirt uniforms) and anime fandom (neon cybercore, giant-eyed cuteness, Victorian macabre) is roughly zero percent. But pilgrims to Anime Expo have developed a feverish loyalty to the bar — transforming the L.A. Live location into an unlikely mecca for devotees of Japanese animation. One X post from an Expo-goer before the convention, essentially just sharing the Yard House’s address, got five thousand likes. Someone even made an inscrutable Yard House-themed Anime Expo t-shirt.

Karla, Amor, and Payton were among the hundreds of people lingering outside on Thursday night — there was a 45-minute wait for a table around 5:30 p.m. It was their third, fourth, and fifth Anime Expo, respectively, and they go to Yard House every year.

“It’s got a big menu,” shrugged Payton, in cosplay as Hange Zoë from the series Attack on Titan. “There’s a lot of space to wait outside,” added Amor, in a bodysuit costume of the show’s Female Titan.

Others I spoke to mentioned the indoor capacity, specific menu items, or just that it was “nearby.” The bar’s namesake drink, a “half yard” of beer served in a narrow glass about 18 inches tall, came up repeatedly — some fans posted pictures on social media of their toys drinking or swimming in a half yard.

Of the dozen anime fans I talked to, all were repeat customers from previous conventions. “It’s our tradition every year to come to Yard House and grab a big boy,” said MacGwire, an expo-goer from Orange County, gesturing to his half yard.

Much of the money spent by these convention-goers, at Yard House and elsewhere, comes back to the city. All alcohol transactions come with a 9.75% local sales tax. Most hotel stays, including those at the JW Marriott next door, involve a 14% transient occupancy tax. Throw in parking taxes and other fees, and forgoing the Convention Center’s rate for an event of this scale starts to look like less of a bad deal — especially if it keeps Anime Expo from relocating to Anaheim, Long Beach, Las Vegas, or another rival host city.

For Yard House management, the commitment of the anime faithful is appreciated. Daryl Basco, the general manager, told me that his location expected to beat its one-day sales record that weekend. (He didn’t respond to follow-up calls about whether it happened.) 

Despite the fact that many of them carry swords, Basco and Saul Angeles, the bar’s manager, said the anime fans cause few issues. “This is the one group that never complains,” said Basco. “Tonight we’ve got long ticket times, drinks taking an extra minute too long. We don’t hear a word of it.”

“They’re the nicest group,” said Angeles. “They come in, they drink, they leave.”

Residents of Boyle Heights and unincorporated East Los Angeles made their fury known last night at an intense town hall, with tension erupting through chants and jeers.

Public officials like Mayor Karen Bass, County Supervisor Hilda Solis and City Councilmember Ysabel Jurado were all loudly booed, but residents reserved their fiercest ire for Lineage Chief Operating Officer Jeff Rivera. Lineage’s sprawling cold storage erupted in flames late last month and millions of pounds of rotting food remain at the facility, with a terrible stench in the neighborhood. At one point, Rivera suggested the company could understand how upset people were, since their building had burned down. The comment drew gasps of disbelief.

Residents voiced widespread fears about continued toxic exposure and frustration around the lack of clarity from officials. Many speakers also invoked the haunting shadow of the now-shuttered Exide battery recycling plant and their ensuing health issues. The facility was permanently closed in 2015 after emitting decades of lead pollution in the community; the cleanup remains ongoing.

— Julia Wick

L.A. Material readers have narrowed down the initial Culinary Cup bracket from 16 restaurants to eight, with the biggest upset coming from Sara’s Empanadas over Michelin-starred Pasjoli.

Voters now have until Wednesday, July 15th at 3 p.m. to weigh in on the quarterfinals. To cast your vote, go to lamaterial.com/culinary-cup.

MY ZERO ACADEMIA: County analysts have found “severe” indications that LAUSD will fall so far into budget deficit by next year that it will not be able to make payroll, setting a 45-day deadline for the district to address its budget issues or cede control of spending decisions to county authorities.

ATTACK ON BITIN': Spurred to action by a proposal for a new In-N-Out, the City of Culver City is considering a ban on new drive-thrus, similar to restrictions already in place in San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara.

TONIKAKU KAWHI: The LA Clippers’ attempt to trade star Kawhi Leonard to the Toronto Raptors has been put on hold, with the team announcing that the transaction won’t be completed until the NBA has completed its investigation into whether the Clippers conspired to pay Leonard off the books to avoid salary cap rules.

ONE PICO: As the city’s Department of Transportation prepares to add bike lanes on 3.5 miles of Pico Boulevard, removing 228 parking spots, The LA Local spoke to business owners who have concerns about losing customers. Planners, meanwhile, say that the changes will make this stretch of road — where eleven pedestrians were killed between 2014 and 2023 — a lot safer.

COWBOY BOOKDROP: The Los Angeles Central Library celebrates its 100th anniversary with events all day Saturday, including tours of the building's Special Collections, a performance by the Linda Lindas, and a talk from Susan Orlean, who wrote the book on it. 

DRAGON BALL SRI: Echo Park’s annual Lotus Festival goes down both days this weekend, paying tribute this year to the culture and cuisine of Sri Lanka. 

BOZO'S BIZARRE ADVENTURE: The Gardena Cinema will spend Saturday celebrating a cult classic with the 3rd Annual Killer Klowns Punk Rock Fest: eight and a half hours of programming related to 1988’s demented Killer Klowns from Outer Space. The whole show is organized by the film’s composer, John Massari, and the winner of the costume contest wins a trip to Vegas.

MAHJONG SUIT GUNDAM: L.A.’s growing number of Mahjong obsessives can visit the Hammer Museum in Westwood this Sunday, where the Mahjong Mistress will host a screening of Edward Yang’s Mahjong followed by a three-hour open mahjong session with instructors on hand.

For today’s peek inside our subscriber-only Discord server, an assortment of recent sightings in the #celebrity-sightings channel.

“Tim Heidecker at The Novo for Kurt Vile/Ryan Davis and the Roadhouse Band” —@Connor

“Dr. Barbara Ferrer at the Music Center watch/dance party (and of course I said hi)” —@awalkerinla

“Jimmy Tatro working on a laptop at The Oaks” — @J.D. Connor

“Def a celeb sighting to me- Pepe the bird at echo park lake watch party.” — @Nicole

AND FINALLY… A poem to pair with your morning coffee: “The Maltreatment of Meaning” by Hiromi Itō.

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