Kinokuniya Little Tokyo's Back & LA Anime Artist Alley

 

Kinokuniya Little Tokyo

101 San Pedro Street
Los Angeles, CA 90012
Hours:
11:00am - 8:00pm (Daily)

The the second largest Kinokuniya in the US is up and running. Finally, had a chance to see it as AX
came in to town. And, woah, is it impressive.

 

People were lining up outside before it opened...just because. There was no giveaway or special event.They just wanted in. 

 

 The bookstore closed down for unspecified reasons last year from its decades old Weller Court home to move across the street from that exact location.

 

What an amazing selection, you could easily get lost in there for an hour. And, it being so close to plenty of other Japanese stores, since it's in Little Tokyo, it's easily makes it worth a trip to come out to visit it. 

 

 

After spending almost an hour at the store, we could have easily spent more time there. It was off to the LA Anime Artist Alley. This new artist alley was created because there's less room at the LA Convention Center for the official Artist Alley of Anime Expo. As the Convention Center undergoes construction for expansion it'll have less room for events. Many artists couldn't win the annual seats raffle and make it into AX. So, many banded together and held their own artist alley in the outskirts of Little Tokyo. It was free to attend, no badge required or tickets.

 

As you can see from the photos below many people came out to see what it was like and enjoyed it. It was quite the crowd. From their Instagram, the makers said the Artist Alley went great and they had a huge attendance.