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Japantown Bowl Saga Not Over Yet

By Joseph Hong

From the outside, resignation seems to have set foot in Japantown — it appears the general consensus is that Japantown Bowl, the hub of social life in the neighborhood since 1976, is history.

Business owners and community leaders fear the bowling alley’s closure marks the demise of
“J-town” as a whole. Since Japantown Bowl shut its doors, patronage at nearby restaurants and shops and foot traffic at night has decreased dramatically, according to some locals.

“It sucks. Business is down,” said Bobby Okamura, whose family has owned Benkyodo mochi-coffee shop for half a century. “I grew up around that place. I was real sad but I’m getting use to it now.”

According to one Kintetsu employee who requested anonymity, the company actually expected louder protests by the community. That never happened, though. Instead, much of the community’s efforts have centered on the Japanese Cultural and Community Center of Northern California’s (JCCCNC) attempt to negotiate a buyout of the building from Kintetsu Enterprises of America for some $7 million, most of which the organization planned to obtain through loans, including one from Kintetsu itself. However, Kintetsu cited a lack of confidence in JCCCNC’s ability to sustain the business with such a large debt, so the company sold the property to a still unnamed buyer.

Objection to the closure peaked in August when 60 people gathered in front of City Hall and some 300 members of the community attended a public hearing by the Board of Supervisors to protest the bowling alley’s closure. But since the facility shut down in September, outcry has dwindled to a near silence.

A handfull of community leaders, however, hasn’t given up hope and some are now concentrating their efforts around zoning ordinances and permits. Supervisor Michael Yaki and others are trying to halt the destruction of the bowling center, claiming restrictive zoning laws limit the use of the building specifically for community use. They want to stop the sale of the building until Kintetsu or the new owners verify the property will be developed for community use.

Last week as crews continued to strip the bowling alley equipment, Yaki issued a cease-and-desist decree, arguing that the new owners did not have the proper permits to tear down fixtures of the building. During Thanksgiving weekend, however, the building’s windows facing Post Street were covered so that any further deconstruction is nearly impossible to view from the streets.

“I worked to have Redevelopment reaffirm its stringent zoning … and since then, Kintetsu has refused to talk to anyone about what’s going on, to the point where they claim to have a buyer but are unwilling to disclose who that buyer is,” Yaki said.

But Kintetsu officials contend they aren’t breaking any laws. Citing a memo by Redevelopment Agency executive director James Morales, Colin Gomez, Kintetsu’s general manager, pointed out that the permits and restrictions are not valid because neither the Nihonmachi Community Development Corporation (NCDC) master plan nor the Redevelopment Plan require the site to remain a bowling alley facility or any other recreational complex.

Both sides may be right. Said Morales: “There can be no question that it must be a community-serving site, but there is also the question of interpretation.”

According to the Redevelopment Agency master plan, the site must “enliven” the community and street and provide service to the surrounding area. But a number of businesses could meet the criteria, for example, medical offices, pet stores or even restaurants. Morales, though, did say “isolated, office space” would not qualify.

On Wednesday Yaki peered through the only uncovered windows, which face Webster Street. Looking past the defunct bowling alley coffee shop to the next room that was once the video arcade area, he saw three large items covered by white cloths.

Turning away from the windows, Yaki mumbled, “I can’t believe they’ve moved things around. We have a cease-desist-order … they’re not allowed to move anything.”

Yaki vowed to continue to fight, saying his next step is to get an inspection team out to the site. “We’re going to … demand we go inside the property and see what they’ve done.”