LITTLE TOKYO: The Japanese American Cultural & Community Center is hosting a sort of extension of the common cherry blossom festivals usually held around this time of year--they're putting on a nine day art and music festival called LA Bloom (it started last Friday). Landscape architect Calvin Abe (of AHBE) and artist Hirokazu Kosaka are co-curators and have transformed Little Tokyo's Noguchi Plaza with five million pebbles "arranged to represent timeless puddles in one of the world's largest Zen gardens." Other landscape architects have put in installations to the east, north, south, and west sides of the area. All the events and info are listed here. [Curbed Inbox]
KOREATOWN: Once a pot-tel, soon a boutique hotel, and now a landmark: the Hotel Normandie has been declared a city historic-cultural monument, according to the newsletter of the Office of Historic Resources. They say: "Built in 1926 in the Wilshire Center area, this four-story hotel was designed in the Renaissance Revival style by Albert R. Walker and Percy A. Eisen. The building's notable exterior features include combed brick and masonry walls, terra cotta detailing, decorative molding surrounding the entrances, and diamond patterning under the second story windows." Walker & Eisen also designed the Oviatt Building (home of the Cicada) and the United Artists Theatre building (soon to be an Ace Hotel). [Curbed Inbox]