Family: John Koester Is My Father
As long as I’ve been alive, John Koester has always and only been my father. It turns out, he’s lived a whole life of his own and contains a universe of thought based on those experiences.
Growing up, John Koester (my father) seemed like a pretty straight-forward fellah. The more I learned about the world however, the more complicated he became to me. Those complexities would be frustrating if Dad weren’t able to speak with clarity and insight about them. I suppose the guiding question of this episode is that impossible-to-answer chestnut, “what does it feel like to be you?”. John does an expert job navigating an answer. When we finally turn to The Fishbowl, we pull Best Thing (courtesy of Steve Hamilton) and the Scott Oshima classic, Favorite Place To Hide and others. As always, thank you for listening!
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 05
Family: John Koester Is My Father
Recorded on December 27, 2018
Released on February 5, 2019
Episode Duration: 01:18:54
John Koester can be found at www.http://jkfoodequipment.com/.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Family: Selina Hamilton, née Koester, Is My Little Sister
Selina wasn’t always my little sister. There were almost 3 years when she didn't exist at all in my life. But, now she does and I couldn’t be more thrilled for it.
You’d be hard pressed to find someone in this mini-series who is more of a pastor than Selina. Besides, you’d be wasting your time as she’s pretty darn good at her job (her patience, empathy and a willingness to answer any questions about religion are all on full display here). But, she wasn’t always and only a pastor. There’s some literature, teaching and scuba diving mixed in there before she settled on her adult life. She walks us through all of that (despite Jesse’s best efforts) and then we turn to The Fishbowl. When we do, we pull questions on the second amendment (courtesy of James Choi, S01E32), Ground Work (courtesy of Alan VonDreditor), Bad Friend Stories and Favorite Freeway (courtesy of Scott Oshima, S01E33). As always, thank you for listening!
NOTES
Season 02 Episode 04
Family: Selina Hamilton, née Koester, Is My Little Sister
Recorded on December 24, 2018
Released on January 29, 2019
Episode Duration: 01:13:49
Selina Hamilton, née Koester, can be found preaching at Rosedale United Church of Christ in Laureldale, PA.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Family: Emily Koester Is My Big Sister
(Setup) As a child, I always looked up to my older sister Emily. (Punchline) And that’s not just because she was taller than me. When we were kids, she spent a lot of time well and comfortable in her head. While she was doing that, I was with my friends producing fake radio shows on a boom box with a built-in microphone. Here we are today and I’m interviewing my sister on my latest fake radio show and, wouldn’t you know it, neither of us have changed. We both just got more-so. As always, thank you for listening!
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 03
Family: Emily Koester Is My Big Sister
Recorded on November 25, 2018
Released on January 15, 2019
Episode Duration: 01:27:23
Emily Koester can be found in Ithica, New York.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Family: Janice Eshleman Is My Mother
Janice Eshleman has always and only been my mother. At least, from my perspective. It turns out she had a whole life before I was born and also is an entire universe of thought independent of me. Go figure.
Mom didn’t have everything figured out when she and Dad jumped in a stepvan and drove across the country hoping to find work and build a family. That trip took them up and down the United States, landing them in Riverside, California. Sometimes no plan is the best plan. Who knows if there’d be a Fishbowl at all had they thought things through clearer. Which leads to the most mind-aching question I know how to ask: Why am I the one inside my body? It really doesn’t make sense in the grand scheme of things. But, as Mom will tell you, “Everything is everything”. And it is. Thank you for listening!
NOTES
Season 02 Episode 02
Family: Janice Eshleman Is My Mother
Recorded on October 20, 2018
Released on January 8, 2019
Episode Duration: 01:12:35
Janice Eshleman can be found on Instagram @janiceeshleman and in Pennsylvania baking bread.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Little Tokyo: Shoshi Watanabe Creates Very Singular Art
For our final episode of the Little Tokyo series, of Season 1 and of 2019, we spoke with the immaculately metered ceramicist Shoshi Watanabe. Get ready to not be stressed about anything.
Even-keeled assessments of Russia seem to be in short order these day. Shoshi might not have any of those but he certainly has some insights into life in the USSR, where he grew up. From there, he moved to Japan before finally landing America. It’s a winding path that led to a diverse professional life that includes teaching, ceramics and shakuhachi (which we learn is good for meditation specifically because it’s difficult to play). There’s only one place to discover the intersection of all these places and professions and that’s right here on The Hollywood Fishbowl. As always, thanks for listening!
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 36
Little Tokyo: Shoshi Watanabe Creates Very Singular Art
Recorded on November 16, 2018
Released on December 27, 2018
Episode Duration: 01:28:03
Shoshi Watanabe can be found on Instagram @flappingdeer and on the web at www.shoshiwatanabe.com.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Little Tokyo: Darin Maki Has Studied Divergent Timelines
Darin and Jesse have one thing in common - a deep,undying love of Back To The Future 2: The New Batch. From there, it’s all basketball, brand management and clothing manufacturing, all topics on which Darin is an expert and Jesse is not.
Darin just wanted to be good at basketball and here he is with his own clothing line. It wasn’t a straight line that got him from those early days of practice (and subsequent ability to dunk on some fools) to his pop-up shop in Little Tokyo. There were some detours to Asia, parties at Feria, a stint with an airline and, through it all, a fascination with paper cranes. What does this all have to do with Back To The Future 2: The New Batch? Listen and find out for yourself!
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 35
Little Tokyo: Darin Maki Has Studied Divergent Timelines
Recorded on November 13, 2018
Released on December 25, 2018
Episode Duration: 01:14:19
CRFT By Maki can be found on Twitter @crftbymaki, Instagram @crftbymaki and on the web at https://crftbymaki.com/.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Little Tokyo: Scott Oshima Is Looking For A Bookstore And Pizza
We’ve covered the history of Little Tokyo. We’ve spoken with those making tracks today in Little Tokyo. Now, it’s time to get the perspective of the community organizers, starting with Scott Oshima.
Scott’s job title is a monster; He’s the Lead Community Organizer and Project Manager Of Sustainable Little Tokyo at the Japanese-American Cultural Community Center. While we’re not exactly sure what that job title means, we know what Scott does. He works to keep the public and community spaces in Little Tokyo public and communal. This involves working with businesses, politicians, and the residents to ensure that Little Tokyo doesn’t lose itself to gentrification. Basically, if Scott could get transported into any 80’s Slobs Vs Snobs movie, the slobs would have a reasonable chance of protecting their community from the heartless developers. When we turn to The Fishbowl, we get a string of sexy questions before debating the best highway in LA and ultimately talk Advice Advice Advice. Thanks for listening!
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 33
Little Tokyo: Scott Oshima Is Looking For A Bookstore And Pizza
Recorded on November 14, 2018
Released on December 18, 2018
Episode Duration: 01:09:05
Sustainable Little Tokyo can be found at www.sustainablelittletokyo.org and @sustainablelittletokyo
Japanese-American Cultural Community Center can be found at www.jaccc.org and @jaccc_la
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Little Tokyo: James Choi Succeeded A Bit Later Than Planned
As the owner and operator of Cafe Dulce, James Choi is the perfect guest to talk about business building in Little Tokyo. Funny story - more interesting than the successes are the challenges faced along the way and the businesses that didn’t make it.
Cafe Dulce can be found in the heart of Little Tokyo. And also down at 777 Alameda. And at any of the mobile or pop-up cafe experiences that they do from time to time. With so much happening in his business, it’s a real stroke of luck that we could pin down owner and operator James Choi to talk about his experiences growing the business. More revealing still are the stories of the businesses he operated leading up to Cafe Dulce, the ones that worked and the ones that didn’t. Listen along and see if you’re not inspired to run a few failed businesses yourself, all in the pursuit of the one that succeeds and succeeds repeatedly.
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 32
Little Tokyo: Little Tokyo: James Choi Succeeded A Bit Later Than Planned
Recorded on November 12, 2018
Released on December 14, 2018
Episode Duration: 01:12:11
Cafe Dulce can be found on Twitter @cafedulcela, Instagram @cafedulcela and on the web at www.http://cafedulce.co.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Little Tokyo: Kayoko Suzuki-Lange Has All The Breathing Room She Needs
With one foot in the past, one in the present and one in the future, Kayoko has a lot of feet. In this episode, we learn about the journey that led her to creating The DTLA Book, a multi-volume collection of interviews, profiles and photographs of the people, places and business that make Downtown LA so vibrant.
It wasn’t a straight shot from Osaka to Los Angeles for Kayoko. In fact, there were many pit-stops around Japan and the US, all of them contributing to her newest project, The DTLA Book. @DTLABook is a real-time, history-as-it’s-happening profile of Downtown Los Angeles, with profiles, interviews, photos and more of local people, places and businesses. With volume 3 coming soon, Kayoko not only talks about the genesis of The DTLA Book but also how it’s growing, changing and evolving. Most relevant to this conversation is the addition of a profile of Bronzeville, a singular slice of Little Tokyo history. When we turn to The Fishbowl, we pull Fantasy Animals and Reasons For Living, topics as different in tone and timbre as possible and yet perfectly congruent with the tone and timbre of this episode. Thanks for listening!
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 31
Little Tokyo: Kayoko Suzuki-Lange Has All The Breathing Room She Needs
Recorded on November 16, 2018
Released on December 11, 2018
Episode Duration: 01:15:17
Kayoko Suzuki-Lange can be found on Twitter and Instagram @DTLAbook and on the web at www.district8media.com.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.
Little Tokyo: Carol Tanita Was Involved In A Classic Sci-Fi Film
Week 1 - The Historical Perspective with Carol Tanita
Before Rafu Bussan was a shop in Little Tokyo, it was a cart. That was right after the war when Japanese families were starting over from after the camps. In those days, Rafu Bussan was supplying families with essentials like rice, flatware and utensils. Now, as a brick and mortar under the watchful eye of Carol Tanita, Rafu Bussan is a one-stop shop for gifts, artwork, cooking-ware and Chinese imports.
NOTES
Season 01 Episode 30
Little Tokyo: Carol Tanita Was Involved In A Classic Sci-Fi Film
Recorded on November 14, 2018
Released on December 7, 2018
Episode Duration: 00:58:43
Rafu Bussan can be found on the web http://rafubussaninc.com/.
Hollywood Fishbowl can be found on Instagram and Twitter @HWFishbowl and at www.hollywoodfishbowl.com.