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Welcome to LA Stories, a section where I interview people from all walks of life that have made LA their home.
As a result of the pandemic, pop-ups have taken over the LA food scene. During lockdown, many people that worked regular 9 to 5 jobs, finally decided to follow their dream of creating a food business. Instagram allowed these people to promote their businesses in a cost-effective way. Many pop-ups do deliveries on certain days or make an appearance every other week.
But what if instead of waiting for your favorite pop-up, you could actually go to a permanent space whenever you wanted?
Founded by Mike Suede and Jamie Sameshima, Lokels Only is a community-based kitchen, open six days a week in Chinatown. Think of it as the brick-and-mortar of Smorgarsburg, LA’s most famous weekly food market.
The first time I heard about Lokels Only was through SueEllen, owner of Sad Girl Creamery. If you haven’t tried her ice cream, I cannot emphasize enough how good they are. I wrote about her in my post, “The Best Ice Cream Places in LA.” Besides, doing pop-ups, you can always find her ice cream pints at Lokels Only, but you have to order quickly because she sells out very fast!
Upon walking in to pick up my pint a few months ago, I was immediately greeted by Jamie, co-owner of Lokels Only. Her warm welcome really stood out to me. She made me feel like I was part of the business, even though I had never set foot there before. The camaraderie between the cooks and the staff was another immediate standout. At Lokels Only, no matter what your background is, you’re treated like family.
The daily menu is subject to change, but you can always check Lokels Only IG story to see if they have a new vendor on the menu that day. You can also find Lokels Only signature smashburger on the menu as well, which comes with tater tots or fries. When I came back for my interview with Jamie, I ordered it and it was delicious! I loved the crispiness of the pressed-thin patty and the tater tots. All the ingredients, from the melted cheese to the bun, stood out on their own and held up excellently against their counterparts. I don’t say this because it was a complimentary meal, but it was a solid 10/10. You can find it on their menu under the name Lokel Build-A-Burger. I requested mine with everything minus the bacon.
A vendor that I was really intrigued by was @Nostalgia.Cheesecakes, a Black-owned business created by ReShan Wilder, who was featured on Masterchef! See? This is why Lokels Only is the perfect gateway to discovering new businesses. I can’t wait to try them!
In addition to the burger, I was offered a drink from @aguas_locas_la. I had seen the owner before at a pop-up, but they were sold out of the aguas locas drinks, which are made of all-natural ingredients. It was perfectly sweetened and so incredibly thirst-quenching.
To place an order, you can either pre-order online and pick up at the walk-up window or order inside the store. If you want to eat your food there, you can just place your order once you arrive through the QR menu, and they’ll bring the food to your table. They only accept credit card payments.
There’s parking right next door, inside an apartment complex parking structure called Jia Apartments. The first hour is free with validation, which beats all the expensive parking lots in the area. Did you know this apartment complex has an exclusive delivery service with Lokels Only? Talk about spoiled!
Lokels Only has a second location in Little Tokyo called Lokels Only Cafe, which is an outdoor space where they hold events.
Here’s my interview with Jamie, co-owner of Lokels Only. We covered pretty much all the bases regarding Lokels Only. I also picked Jamie’s brain on her favorite places and restaurants in LA. Keep reading!
Hi Jamie! Can you tell me a little bit about yourself before we get started?
I was born in Vancouver, Canada. We moved down here when I was three because my grandfather had a business in commercial furniture. As much as I try to run from that and my degrees have nothing to do with that, I ended up in the commercial furniture business for 8 years, and that was my job prior to this. There, I was doing sales and marketing and those are skills that you can utilize in a lot of different ways. Once I met Mike, it just seemed that highlighting small businesses was something that I really wanted to do. To be able to create a space and a community where we could make a living based off of helping other people, I knew that’s what I wanted to do.
What is Lokels Only? How did it start?
We call it a community kitchen. We basically provide a home for local LA pop-ups. Being a small business is really hard. Mike and I have backgrounds in sales and marketing so we thought: How awesome would it be to be able to create a business where we’re able to help out small businesses? Creating this little community where everybody can kind of lean on each other and there’s a beautiful synergy that happens with everybody.
It started four years ago. Mike had his regular 9 to 5 but it wasn’t fulfilling for him, so he created a podcast called The Lokels Show. He started this podcast where he would go out and highlight small businesses. He bought podcast equipment, he learned how to use it, and then he went out and found different businesses, small business owners, performers, artists to shed a light of them, that was his whole goal.
When we met three years ago, I was working in marketing and sales. Immediately, we both knew we had business minds, so we started talking and we formed a company after 6 months we met each other, to help small businesses market themselves. We took on a few different clients, learned a lot from that. The beginning of January 2020, we were offered the opportunity to have a brick-and-mortar space, and it had a tiny kitchen that was attached to a large parking lot. This was before the pandemic, so we invested a lot in redoing the space. The concept was to have one chef a day (because it was just a tiny kitchen with a to-go window) and then each day it would change. That’s how it started.
When the pandemic hit restaurants that had a to-go window were the only ones allowed to operate. Also, Smorgasburg (food market in DTLA) closed down, so there were a lot of vendors that didn’t have a home either. In this way, we were able to utilize the parking lot that was attached to this tiny kitchen and have six different vendors operate out of one tiny to-go window. That grew and we started a program called Local Love, where people would work with the vendors on creating a lower price point. We were collecting donations and then we were using that money to feed our central workers. It was all connected within the community. We would put a post up: Does anybody know anybody working at a hospital? And then we would have inquiries coming in and through our network, we were able to find people to feed, who were helping everybody.
Three months into that, we were offered a larger space in Little Tokyo through another relationship that Mike had. It was a very large kitchen that had to shut down due to the pandemic. In that kitchen, we were able to operate five chefs at a time, so we were able to kind of really test it out and play around with what exists today.
Previously, we were playing around different partnerships. But when you’re trying to do something that’s community-based, it doesn’t always make sense on a spreadsheet. This time around, it’s just us and we don’t have to convince anybody as to what we do and why we do it.
What’s the experience you want people to have when they come in?
We want them to understand and feel that their dollars are being spent in a meaningful way. There’s something called the food hall fee that the consumers pay, and we do that in order to keep the drop and rates low for our vendors. So it really is a community supported kitchen.
Even on social media, you can see our vendors share each other’s products, and they’re also sharing audiences. There’s something beautiful and heartfelt that comes through that and that’s what we want people to experience. It’s also very important to us to support local artists and musicians, we’ll always have music playing from local artists. In both of our spaces we have artwork from local street artists and we try to put together events that highlight local musicians.
Who’s your favorite food vendor?
Gosh it’s so hard, it’s like picking your favorite child. We were able to have @evil_cooks for our grand opening and they’ve been doing this for a while. I think a lot of our vendors look up to them and we’re really impressed by them.
Any time a vendor with a lot of experience comes through, it’s an inspiration for the vendors. And it’s a learning experience for us because there’s something we can learn from everybody, whether they’ve been around for a long time or they’re new. The new vendors might be better at social media. All of our vendors come from different walks of life and we all meet together on this love of food. They’re veterans in the game.
@Eastlosmisubi has been in the vending business for seven years, and they’ve become part of our team as well. They help put out vendor events, manage the kitchen…we lean on a lot of people.
@Ninongsdessertlab had a restaurant for 10 years and we were getting this started, we also relied on them to help guide us. We’re not from the restaurant business, we just had an idea that we were passionate about. So there’s been many people that have been in the game a lot longer than us. We appreciate, value and respect their knowledge, experience and struggles. They’ve all been open-hearted and very generous with their time and energy in helping us get to where we are today.
Can you tell me more about the events that Lokels Only hosts?
In the Chinatown location, the current event that we have is Mystic Fridays (@mystic.fridays) that happens every other Friday. There are vendors selling aura candles, a tarot card reader, and there’s also a DJ and live performers.
In our Arts District location (@lokels.only.cafe), we’ve partnered with @djlesortiz and @sopitagvng for a Sunday event called Flav Sundays. They’re really focused on highlighting local performers and local DJ’s. But what we really want to do with that space is allow for many different types of groups to come through and put their fingerprint on it. We’re utilizing the space to grow and expand our community as a whole.
Note: Make sure you check out the Lokels Only website to stay updated on their upcoming events!
What has been the most rewarding thing about Lokels Only?
When you’re a new restaurant starting out, there’s not a lot of money. Our foundational team (chefs, front-desk, social media team), they’re not here because we’re blowing up their bank accounts, they’re here because they believe in what we’re doing. We’re finally getting to a place where we’re able to reward them financially and value them in that way. That’s probably been the most rewarding thing for us. They knew what they were stepping into and it was beyond the money for them, but we all need money to survive. So, to finally be getting to a place where we can compensate them more in line with what they contribute, that makes us very happy. It’s our goal to provide everyone who works here a livable wage and health insurance. Those basic things that everybody needs. That’s at the forefront of everything that we do.
How did you come up with the name?
The podcast was originally called The Lokel Show, it was spelled the same way. Mike has family members that have lived in Hawaii, so it’s really a play off of “Locals Only” from Hawaii. Although the phrase’s original intent was used to establish some kind of exclusivity, we’ve flipped it and want it to be a phrase associated with community and inclusion. When you walk through the doors, we want you to feel like a Lokel or Local!
Jamie drew a blank when I asked her what her favorite eating spots and places in LA were. She later DMed me on Instagram with her responses.
Ok this was tough but here are some of my faves:
–Yucca Tacos: I lived in Hollywood for a while and these were some of my faves!
-Sorrento’s: Growing up in San Pedro, the meatball sub was a must.
–Sweet Cherry’s Diner: This is a local spot for us in Sunland, but it’s hands down one of the best Reubens I’ve ever had.
–Chim!: Thai street food in Pasadena. It’s the pad see ew and yellow curry for me.
–Yamashiro: Beautiful date night in Hollywood with good eats and an amazing view overlooking the city.
–Bazaar: Chef Jose Andres never disappoints. From the Iberico and Manchego to the Cotton Candy Fois Gras, chef’s kiss.
–Mian: The spicy schezchuan pork dumplings are incredible!
Favorite LA spots:
–UA theater in La Cañada: reservable, reclining seats.
-Griffith Observatory: Great hike to an epic view of LA.
-Glendale Galleria: Walking around the outdoor area and grabbing a bite. The Sprinkles Cupcake ATM is always fun.
-Driving north up the coast starting on Western and 25th Street in San Pedro to Terranea Resort in Palos Verdes.
What do you like about living in LA?
I was lucky to have people in my life who pushed me to travel, so I spent a lot of my teens and 20s travelling all around. Something that I didn’t realize until I traveled was how much I really loved LA. It’s something that you don’t realize when you grow up in a place and you’re like, get me out of here! I appreciate the fact that there are so many different communities within LA. You can drive two blocks and be in a completely different area with a completely different demographic, where the billboards may have a different language, and there’s a lot of pride in these communities. I love that each little section of LA can define itself through the food, the people and the events that you can find. And there’s always so much to do. There’s also a real push for small businesses and there’s so many ways you can help small businesses. That’s what I love the most about LA, there’s this drive, loyalty and sense of community. You can spend months exploring all of LA, there’s just so much.
What are your favorite neighborhoods?
I grew up in San Pedro, so it’ll always have a special place in my heart. It’s nostalgic to me.
I love Montrose because it’s just one main street (Honolulu Avenue). To me, that’s such an ideal sense of a community. They close down the street on Christmas Eve, and on Halloween, all the small businesses will provide candy for the kids so that it’s done in a safe way. There’s a sense of protection for our community and our children. I used to live there by myself and I always felt safe. I have a special place for Montrose as well.
Do you have a favorite eating spot in Vancouver?
White Spot for me is near and dear to my heart. It’s a burger spot but it also has a nice sit-down area. I remember as a kid they used to have this thing called The Pirate Pack, and it was this pirate ship that would have a chocolate gold coin in it, and then you would have the fries and the burger. White Spot is to Vancouver, Canadians what In-N-Out Burger is to people from Los Angeles.
Is there anything you miss about Vancouver?
I mean…I miss my family the most, but Vancouver is such a beautiful city. The people are beautiful, friendly, loving, polite and kind. The air is always crisp and fresh. Downtown is beautiful. They have rules and restrictions on the construction of the high rise buildings there, that’s why it’s in the top 5 skylines in the world. It’s gorgeous. The food scene is amazing, and there’s so much to do. But yeah, the people are so friendly and polite, I miss that. Here in LA there’s a lot of hustle and bustle. My family is actually from a little town called Richmond, where they film a lot of TV shows. When you pass somebody you know there, you stop to have a conversation, whereas here you’re just like hey, hi, I’m on my way here, but I’ll talk to you later. Everything is slowed down a little bit for me when I go there.
If you still haven’t visited Lokels Only, what are you waiting for?
Address:
Lokels Only
635 N Broadway, Los Angeles, CA 90012
Lokels Only Cafe (Arts District location)
2010 E 7th St Suite B
