I snapped this picture during the short exploration of Little Tokyo, and it looks ordinary enough — nothing remarkable. It seems like a small town in Texas. Except this is in the middle of the 2nd largest city in the United States.

I’m confounded by the development of Los Angeles. A city with a substantial downtown, towering skyscrapers, and notable big city architecture. But there are still remnants of its older, less-developed past.

Little Tokyo is close to downtown. Yet, this strip of stores reminds me of Taylor, Texas, a small city in the suburbs of Austin.

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