LOS ANGELES, Calif. — Little Tokyo is celebrating their 140th anniversary this year and marking the occasion with an event called Delicious Little Tokyo. It’s on May 4, where food tours and demos will feature the culture and foods that mark Little Tokyo’s legacy businesses.

Rumi Yamaguchi of Mitsuru Café will be on the griddle making traditional imagawayaki, while Yoko Lama will be demonstrating how to make savory miso balls, among many other events.

Established in 1884, Los Angeles’ Little Tokyo is one of only three official designated Tokyo’s in the entire country, alongside San Jose and San Francisco.

“Little Tokyo is where we are today because it was the only place where Japanese people were allowed to live in the city of LA at the time,” said Kristin Fukushima of the Little Tokyo Community Council. “That is particularly meaningful when there used to be over 80 Japantowns across the country and 50 of them here in California. Due to a lot of the things that have happened to our communities, in particular WWII, we’ve seen the erasure and displacement of a lot of this community. So we’re only here for 140 years because people have worked hard and fought for this community to survive.”

For more on Delicious Little Tokyo and other events to mark the anniversary, visit the Little Tokyo Community Council website.