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Miami Herald
5 days ago
- Business
- Miami Herald
Los Angeles businesses need help to bounce back from raids and tariffs, advocacy group says
Businesses in downtown Los Angeles need the support and patronage of locals in these tough times, Central City Association President and Chief Executive Nella McOsker says. Places that hadn't yet come back from the cratering caused by COVID-19 are now dealing with rising costs from tariffs and employees worried they could get caught up in the crackdown on undocumented workers, she said in an interview. The images of the violent downtown protests last month were another punch in the gut for the association's members, she said. Some businesses have decided they just can't take it anymore. There has been growing list of recent restaurant closures in L.A., including the 117-year-old Cole's French Dip downtown, soul food bistro My 2 Cents on West Pico Boulevard and natural wine bar Melody in Virgil Village. The most recent beloved venue set to close downtown: the Michelin-starred Shibumi. Set up in 1924, the Central City Association is one of the top advocacy organizations in the Los Angeles region, representing the interests of more than 300 businesses, trade associations and nonprofits from a broad range of industries. McOsker, who has been leading the chamber since 2019, spoke with The Times about how the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and tariffs are affecting local businesses. Q: Businesses have been through a lot lately. How are they coping with the challenges? A: There's been a series of really compounding challenges. It's hard to not start the story with the coronavirus pandemic. But in some ways, I think the challenge starts with COVID-19, and then a series of crises or a series of challenging scenarios compounds such that right now is largely an unsustainable state of affairs in downtown L.A. In some ways, it's representative of a wider experience for Los Angeles business. You think about three types of people that come into downtown: visitors, employees and residents. In the residential sector, there's huge growth, actually. Downtown Los Angeles is one of the few downtowns across the country that saw growth pre- to post-pandemic. And there's a potential for downtown to continue to become more of a neighborhood than just an office market. But the office market is challenged in the ways that every office market is across the country from work-from-home trends. So, we're already in a sensitive business environment, sensitive to perception, given the challenges of public safety and homelessness already, and sustaining yet another really tough blow. The message is, please come to downtown to support businesses here. Please use your patronage as a way to support local communities, support small businesses. We see far too many businesses shuttering because this is the last and final straw. Q: Has normalcy returned to downtown? A: The impact is still going on. It will help tremendously when there are reduced ICE operations that will help at least all of us who care about downtown to be in a position when we can change perception and really call for people to come back to downtown, and then focus on the things that downtown needs investment around any way in infrastructure, in safety, in abating homelessness. Q: What businesses have been most affected? A: Hospitality, retail, food and beverage, entertainment. You see it, of course, in other sectors. I would say there's challenges in construction and manufacturing, but you're seeing the most present and real, the math no longer works because we can't stay open if no one's coming through and supporting the businesses in downtown. Q: How hard were businesses hit? A: It depends on the neighborhood. I heard 30% drops in the Fashion District, and I bet you that's even more so now. Little Tokyo had sustained some of the most damage after those first days of unrest and again, targeted criminal activity. How devastating that was because it's a neighborhood built on families, immigrant families. Some of them have owned and operated the same business for several generations and shouldn't be the target, especially by other Angelenos, to protest against these actions by the federal administration. Q: Are your members dependent on migrant labor? A: Yes, absolutely. You could say this across almost all sectors of Los Angeles. We are a community of immigrants. The impact of aggressive immigration enforcement actions has a chilling effect on business in a number of different ways. One is pausing projects. Some of this has to do with the layered impact of something like tariffs. It has a chilling effect in that the potential patronage of businesses no longer wants to spend money or go out or make that visit to an area that has been a site of these tactics. And then it creates uncertainty. What every business in any place across the globe would say is that certainty is the best environment for planning ahead, for knowing how to keep doors open. And when you don't have certainty, it's simply impossible to manage your business day to day, pay your employees, get out those deliveries, do all of the daily operations that are necessary to make those thin margins often just work. Q: What impacts do your members see from the fluctuating tariffs? A: Some of the businesses are closing down. One of them is Cole's French Dip. Terrible. This is more than 100 years old. The owner operator has several different properties within the downtown ecosystem. He's one of these investors, early investors and champions of downtown locations. And many of his beloved spaces are under turmoil, in part, again, because of these compounding challenges over the last five years. Q: How are your members doing about higher tariffs? A: They're doing with the best they can, by calling on residents or local Angelenos to come support them, by calling on the local government and state government to provide relief. What we're banding together to do right now is a very localized and locally controlled recovery plan. What would it look like for us to really call on Angelenos to come support these businesses? Maybe they don't live in the downtown ecosystem. And that massive residential population are among the heroes who are coming out of their homes under curfew and to support their shop on the corner. Q: Are your members doing anything to support, accommodate or protect workers that might be targeted by the immigration enforcement efforts? A: Yes. There are efforts to educate. There are efforts to create safe spaces within buildings or within physical properties. There are messages and communications of support for those that are known on various staffs and teams who may be undocumented or who are concerned about actions, regardless of status. There is a feeling, and I really saw a shift when we saw that aggressive action taken towards Sen. (Alex) Padilla. The mayor organized a press conference, and you saw a huge swath of L.A. sectors, nonprofit, business, faith organizations come together to articulate the fact that this has gone too far and this is enough. We are reliant on each other's health, wellness and protection to make it through this uncertain period. Copyright (C) 2025, Tribune Content Agency, LLC. Portions copyrighted by the respective providers.
Los Angeles Times
6 days ago
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
Central City Assn. says businesses need help to bounce back from raids and tariffs
Businesses in downtown Los Angeles need the support and patronage of locals in these tough times, Central City Assn. President and Chief Executive Nella McOsker says. Places that hadn't yet come back from the cratering caused by COVID-19 are now dealing with rising costs from tariffs and employees worried they could get caught up in the crackdown on undocumented workers, she said in an interview. The images of the violent downtown protests last month were another punch in the gut for the association's members, she said. Some businesses have decided they just can't take it anymore. There has been growing list of recent restaurant closures in L.A., including the 117-year-old Cole's French Dip downtown, soul food bistro My 2 Cents on West Pico Boulevard and natural wine bar Melody in Virgil Village. The most recent beloved venue set to close downtown: the Michelin-starred Shibumi. Set up in 1924, the Central City Assn. is one of the top advocacy organizations in the Los Angeles region, representing the interests of more than 300 businesses, trade associations and nonprofits from a broad range of industries. McOsker, who has been leading the chamber since 2019, spoke with The Times about how the lingering effects of the COVID-19 pandemic, the ongoing Immigration and Customs Enforcement raids and tariffs are affecting local businesses. Businesses have been through a lot lately. How are they coping with the challenges? There's been a series of really compounding challenges. It's hard to not start the story with the coronavirus pandemic. But in some ways, I think the challenge starts with COVID-19, and then a series of crises or a series of challenging scenarios compounds such that right now is largely an unsustainable state of affairs in downtown L.A. In some ways, it's representative of a wider experience for Los Angeles business. You think about three types of people that come into downtown: visitors, employees and residents. In the residential sector, there's huge growth, actually. Downtown Los Angeles is one of the few downtowns across the country that saw growth pre- to post-pandemic. And there's a potential for downtown to continue to become more of a neighborhood than just an office market. But the office market is challenged in the ways that every office market is across the country from work-from-home trends. So, we're already in a sensitive business environment, sensitive to perception, given the challenges of public safety and homelessness already, and sustaining yet another really tough blow. The message is, please come to downtown to support businesses here. Please use your patronage as a way to support local communities, support small businesses. We see far too many businesses shuttering because this is the last and final straw. Has normalcy returned to downtown? The impact is still going on. It will help tremendously when there are reduced ICE operations that will help at least all of us who care about downtown to be in a position when we can change perception and really call for people to come back to downtown, and then focus on the things that downtown needs investment around any way in infrastructure, in safety, in abating homelessness. What businesses have been most affected? Hospitality, retail, food and beverage, entertainment. You see it, of course, in other sectors. I would say there's challenges in construction and manufacturing, but you're seeing the most present and real, the math no longer works because we can't stay open if no one's coming through and supporting the businesses in downtown. How hard were businesses hit? It depends on the neighborhood. I heard 30% drops in the Fashion District, and I bet you that's even more so now. Little Tokyo had sustained some of the most damage after those first days of unrest and again, targeted criminal activity. How devastating that was because it's a neighborhood built on families, immigrant families. Some of them have owned and operated the same business for several generations and shouldn't be the target, especially by other Angelenos, to protest against these actions by the federal administration. Are your members dependent on migrant labor? Yes, absolutely. You could say this across almost all sectors of Los Angeles. We are a community of immigrants. The impact of aggressive immigration enforcement actions has a chilling effect on business in a number of different ways. One is pausing projects. Some of this has to do with the layered impact of something like tariffs. It has a chilling effect in that the potential patronage of businesses no longer wants to spend money or go out or make that visit to an area that has been a site of these tactics. And then it creates uncertainty. What every business in any place across the globe would say is that certainty is the best environment for planning ahead, for knowing how to keep doors open. And when you don't have certainty, it's simply impossible to manage your business day to day, pay your employees, get out those deliveries, do all of the daily operations that are necessary to make those thin margins often just work. What impacts do your members see from the fluctuating tariffs? Some of the businesses are closing down. One of them is Cole's French Dip. Terrible. This is more than 100 years old. The owner operator has several different properties within the downtown ecosystem. He's one of these investors, early investors and champions of downtown locations. And many of his beloved spaces are under turmoil, in part, again, because of these compounding challenges over the last five years. How are your members doing about higher tariffs? They're doing with the best they can, by calling on residents or local Angelenos to come support them, by calling on the local government and state government to provide relief. What we're banding together to do right now is a very localized and locally controlled recovery plan. What would it look like for us to really call on Angelenos to come support these businesses? Maybe they don't live in the downtown ecosystem. And that massive residential population are among the heroes who are coming out of their homes under curfew and to support their shop on the corner. Are your members doing anything to support, accommodate or protect workers that might be targeted by the immigration enforcement efforts? Yes. There are efforts to educate. There are efforts to create safe spaces within buildings or within physical properties. There are messages and communications of support for those that are known on various staffs and teams who may be undocumented or who are concerned about actions, regardless of status. There is a feeling, and I really saw a shift when we saw that aggressive action taken towards Sen. [Alex] Padilla. The mayor organized a press conference, and you saw a huge swath of L.A. sectors, nonprofit, business, faith organizations come together to articulate the fact that this has gone too far and this is enough. We are reliant on each other's health, wellness and protection to make it through this uncertain period.
Eater
08-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Eater
In a Brutal Week for Los Angeles, Three More Prominent Restaurants Say Goodbye
During a year that has already seen the loss of numerous longtime Los Angeles restaurants, the city is facing another wave of closures. On the heels of Cole's French Dip, Los Angeles's oldest restaurant, announcing its permanent closure, three other prominent restaurants will cease operations or have already closed. Mid-Wilshire's Southern specialist My 2 Cents ends dine-in service on July 31, chef Michael Mina's Mother Tongue closed in June, and Shibumi's final day in Downtown is July 19. The last few years have been punishing for Los Angeles restaurants and bars, which continue to feel the ripple effects of COVID-19 and the 2023 Writers Guild of America and Screen Actors Guild strikes. Los Angeles restaurant operators who had built solid catering, industry meeting, and private events revenue streams noticed a 30 to 40 percent decline in revenue during the strikes, which never recovered as television and film productions in Los Angeles ground to a screeching halt. Many producers, technical crew members, industry set designers, costumers, and more have been without consistent work since 2023, leading a reliable revenue stream for restaurants throughout the region to dry up. As restaurant owners adapt to these unprecedented events, they continue to struggle with the daily challenges of running a business, such as the rising costs of goods and labor, in an exceedingly untenable environment. Here are the latest Los Angeles restaurant closures to know about. My 2 Cents - Mid-Wilshire Founded in 2013 by Alisa Reynolds and her pastry chef sister, Theresa Fountain, My 2 Cents is a Los Angeles staple for soul food. Reynolds, who hosted Searching for Soul Food on Hulu and was nominated for a Best Chef: California James Beard Award in 2024, announced the closure of the restaurant in an Instagram post. After the restaurant closes on July 31, it will transition into a catering operation while producing a line of products and merchandise. Reynolds told the Los Angeles Times that the shift is something she's been considering for years, and looks forward to feeding people in their homes and doing pop-ups. Mother Tongue - Hollywood Michael Mina debuted Mother Tongue in 2022 on the top floor of Hollywood fitness club Heimat with a menu that catered to wellness enthusiasts. (Mina is also the chef behind Orla, which opened in the Regent Santa Monica Beach in late 2024.) The restaurant suddenly shuttered in late June with no formal announcement; its Instagram has disappeared entirely. Shibumi — Downtown Less than two weeks after retaining its Michelin star, chef David Schlosser announced his Japanese kaiseki restaurant Shibumi would close on July 19. The closure was announced in an Instagram post on July 7, with Schlosser writing that that 'Shibumi was a revelation in 2015 Los Angeles,' and hinting that future projects are 'on the horizon,' including a collaborative book on the Japan's cuisine and culture from the 1600 to 1800 Edo period. Open since 2015, Shibumi received a favorable review from the Los Angeles Times' former food reviewer, Jonathan Gold, and was a semifinalist for the James Beard Best New Restaurant Award in 2017. Eater LA All your essential food and restaurant intel delivered to you Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.
Los Angeles Times
08-07-2025
- Business
- Los Angeles Times
A pioneering L.A.-style soul food bistro to close on Pico after 12 years
My 2 Cents, a soul food bistro that anchors a section of West Pico Boulevard that's home to multiple Black-owned restaurants, is set to close permanently on July 31. Opened by chef Alisa Reynolds in 2013, the restaurant became a neighborhood favorite thanks to a Southern comfort menu that's informed by Reynolds' L.A. upbringing, including turkey meatloaf, grit fries and BLT sandwiches with fried green tomatoes. 'It's something that I've been thinking about for the last few years,' Reynolds said of the restaurant's closure. 'For me, I think the best thing to do is to be able to feed people in their homes, do pop-ups, do collabs, and make the city excited again. I can do more as chef Alisa than I can do at My 2 Cents.' Moving forward, Reynolds, who was a private chef for the Dodgers and rapper-actor Common before opening My 2 Cents, will focus on expanding the restaurant's catering arm, in addition to collaborations and pop-ups with local chefs and restaurants. She is also developing a product line. 'I want to inspire the world through my food,' she said. 'Sometimes you have to make such decisions, especially during times when everything is changing.' Listed on The Times' guide to the 101 Best Restaurants in L.A. for two years running, My 2 Cents joins a growing list of notable restaurant closures this year, including fellow 101 awardee Here's Looking at You in Koreatown last month. Reynolds cited a host of reasons for the closure, including significant financial loss following the COVID pandemic, Hollywood industry strikes, January wildfires and, most recently, ongoing raids from Immigration and Customs Enforcement. 'I just kept going. I was like, 'Nothing's going to stop us. We have to,'' said Reynolds, who called the decision to close My 2 Cents one of the hardest she's ever had to make. 'I had so many great customers and clients that believed in this restaurant. Because I think that it was more than a restaurant. It was like a little movement of love.' This is not the first time My 2 Cents has been under threat of closure. In 2017, Reynolds launched a crowdfunding campaign to settle a lawsuit brought by former backers of the restaurant. Multi-hyphenate entrepreneur Issa Rae joined forces with musicians Solange and Earl Sweatshirt on a fundraising dinner that helped keep its doors open. When pandemic shutdowns forced the restaurant's closure in 2020, Reynolds launched Tacos Negros, a takeout and delivery menu featuring tacos that took inspiration from pan-African foodways, including a six-hour-braised oxtail taco that the Food team listed on its guide to the 101 Best Tacos in L.A. The tacos became so popular that after restaurants reopened for dine-in, she added the most-ordered options to the permanent menu. My 2 Cents is located in a shopping plaza that belongs to a single landlord, who Reynolds says is under immense pressure from developers. 'That's the hardest part because I love the neighborhood so much,' Reynolds said. 'But I don't want to invest any more money there because it could be gone any day.' Just a couple doors down from My 2 Cents sits Stevie's Creole Cafe, a long-standing storefront that serves what late restaurant critic Jonathan Gold once called 'the best bowl of gumbo this side of New Orleans.' A few blocks east of that is Sky's Gourmet Tacos, a Black-owned taco shop that popularized a distinctly soulful approach to tacos that has since proliferated across the city. 'I just wonder if we're going to recognize Pico in 10 years,' Reynolds said. When it first opened in 2013, My 2 Cents helped lay the foundation for an L.A.-inspired take on Southern comfort food to flourish across the city. Host of the Daytime Emmy Award-winning 'Searching for Soul Food' series on Hulu, Reynolds says the restaurant was one of the first in L.A. to put shrimp and grits on its brunch menu. 'My goal in opening [My 2 Cents] was, and the name is, my perspective on soul food,' said Reynolds, who's set her menu apart with scratch-made sauces, local produce and plenty of vegan and gluten-free options, including a six-cheese mac and cheese with brown rice penne. 'I thought that it would be my love letter to Los Angeles as a French-trained chef and yet, a Black girl who also remembers her mom made pork chops on Thursday.' At My 2 Cents, Reynolds coats her grilled pork chops in a sweet agave jerk sauce, an homage to the origins of Jamaican jerk seasoning, which was first used on wild boars. In the homey dining room, vibrant art hangs on the walls and seasoning blends popular in Black households — Old Bay, Slap Ya Mama — balance on shelves next to cookbooks, with an array of eye-catching desserts, all of them baked by Reynolds' sister Theresa Fountain, arranged on the counter behind them. Diners have plenty of opportunities to make memories at My 2 Cents before the restaurant closes its doors for good. Every Wednesday beginning this week, the restaurant will host a wine tasting alongside a Southern-inspired tapas buffet. A two-drink minimum grants customers access to the bottomless spread and the menu changes weekly based on Reynolds' whims, with past bites including jerk chicken sliders on pretzel bread and goat cheese with hot honey on naan. My 2 Cents will also continue to host its popular '90s brunch on Sundays, with a live DJ and guests encouraged to dress on theme. Though the restaurant will close its doors at the end of this month, its final celebration will take place in the shopping plaza's parking lot on Aug. 1, complete with food, drinks and a live DJ. As for the future, Reynolds says fans of My 2 Cents can stay updated about events and pop-ups on Instagram. 'It's been a 12-year run,' Reynolds said. 'It's going to be a wild ride, but we are not going anywhere and that food is still going to be here forever.'
