History is repeating itself at the Little Tokyo Towers, a nonprofit affordable senior apartment building in Downtown Los Angeles. The project has its origins in the 1970s, when the Little Tokyo neighborhood endured significant redevelopment due to the expansion of the nearby Civic Center and local street widening projects. Meanwhile, many seniors, who were often first-generation immigrants, lived in decaying hotels slated for demolition. Because of the displacement underway and the poor quality of housing for seniors, a group of local charitable organizations—the Japanese American Citizens League, the Southern California Gardeners Federation, the Southern California Christian Federation, and the Los Angeles Buddhist Church Federation—banded together to create a place so their elders could remain in the neighborhood, and the development was born.

Now, another wave of displacement threatens the long-standing roots of Japanese Americans in the enclave. Downtown has become a more popular place to live for Angelenos, and development encroaches on Little Tokyo. Many businesses have shuttered, and evictions are underway yet again. In 2024, the National Trust for Historic Preservation included Little Tokyo on its list of the 11 most endangered historic places in the United States. Long-standing community groups believe that affordable housing is critical for maintaining the neighborhood’s identity.

OWIU designed custom oak furniture for the new common spaces of Little Tokyo Towers to make them more welcoming for residents. " layout="wide" credit="Photo by Austin John, courtesy OWIU" photoUserId=""/>

The towers are responding with a $50 million rehabilitation, including seismic retrofits, new elevators, energy-efficiency upgrades, a cool roof, renovations to the 301 apartments on-site, and a complete overhaul of the 7,000-square-foot ground-floor communal spaces. Basis Architecture and Consulting served as the architect of record. These renovations extend the cultural preservation work at the heart of the development. “It is very important to the board to make sure that this building is around in perpetuity,” says Lisa Arakaki, a member of the Little Tokyo Towers board.

Initially, the building’s communal spaces—which include the cafeteria for Little Tokyo Senior Nutrition Services, a nonprofit that serves low-cost meals to seniors, a ping-pong room, a craft area, a music room, a library, and a computer room—weren’t part of the rehabilitation project. However, the board thought that the building should represent its history and context more visibly, find a way to coax residents out of their rooms, and make them feel more at home throughout the space. So the 7,000-square-foot communal spaces on the ground floor became an important focus.

Lisa enlisted the firm OWIU, whose offices are not far from the towers, to assist. After firm founders Joel Wong and Amanda Gunawan came to the building, they felt a neighborly sense of duty to take on the renovation. “We felt very drawn to helping them and a community aspect played a part,” Wong says.

Senior living facilities usually skew institutional, and Wong and Gunawan wanted to extend warmth instead, looking to the community within the building, many of whom are Japanese American, and the surrounding neighborhood for inspiration. Keeping with the theme of hospitality, OWIU referenced Japanese ryokan—small, traditional inns found in the countryside—in its design for the space. With oak carpentry, shoji screens, and dark quartz counters, the rooms are almost spa-like.

Residents are staying here for the rest of their lives, Wong says. “We thought, We really need to make this place nice.” The firm’s approach shows how thoughtful design can make a positive impact in a category of building that does not typically receive that kind of attention.

Before the renovation, the communal spaces showed their age. They looked generic, like a hotel ballroom from the 1970s. (Think dark carpets, a drop ceiling, and stacks of tables and chairs in the corner.) They were functional but didn’t offer much ambiance or visible connection to the community they served. “You want to enter a space, have a sense of calmness, and feel like you can walk around without any stress or anxiety and let your eyes do the work of observing,” Wong says.

Serenity guided the design. OWIU dialed down the temperature of the artificial light inside and installed soft warm cove lighting with dimmable spotlights. The rooms now look like they glow. A palette of natural materials—which include white oak details, a custom coffee table composed of a boulder with a live-edge wood top, and a patinated copper security desk—helps continue the calm sensibility. And the finishing touch? A small exhibition of the building’s history. “We also feel that it’s very important for people to understand how [Little Tokyo Towers] started,” Lisa says. “This is not some developer coming in and doing this—this is a community facility.”

Since the renovation, the residents hang out in the communal areas more—the cafeteria especially, even when it isn’t mealtime. Post-renovation, resident Josephina Kilroy, who works part time as a nanny, sometimes brings the children she babysits to the towers since they like the space so much. “They feel safe being here, and the attention that they get from the old folks just makes them feel important,” Josephina adds.

Additionally, the towers have received more interest from prospective tenants, according to Jason Arakaki, a leasing agent (and Lisa’s brother), who remarks that the public areas feel more welcoming. There’s now a long wait to get in the project. “It almost went from no waiting list to almost three years,” he says.

As a whole, the project represents a dignified approach to low-income senior housing. “Just because you’ve lived a wonderful long life doesn’t mean that you should come home to something that doesn’t look like what everybody else might experience in terms of living facilities,” Lisa says.

And while some of the Korean residents wish there were more artifacts from their history represented, according to the gossip Josephina has overheard, the results have been a hit. “Especially for older people, your surroundings have a lot to do with your mindset,” Josephina says. “Every time I come home, it’s not like coming home to a facility that caters to elderly people like me. It’s a happy place.”

Top photo by Austin John, courtesy OWIU

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Correction: Basis Architecture and Consulting has been added as the architect of record for the Little Tokyo Towers renovation project.