"For Everyday Wear" - LTTT
In Downtown Los Angeles, table tennis enthusiasts and fashion admirers alike congregate at Terasaki Budokan, a recently opened community center in Little Tokyo. A community center may not sound like a trending hotspot for such an array of people, but every Tuesday, Little Tokyo Table Tennis (LTTT) creates a unique space for the everyone involved.
Founded by Los Angeles creative Jiro Maestu, LTTT first started out two years ago as a way to stay interacting with friends during the pandemic.
“I was living at my mom’s house and we had a table tennis table in the backyard so me and my friends would play during the pandemic. That was our bubble. We would just pull up to my mom’s house and we’d play for 12 hours a day.”
Maestu further stated that his apartment was in close proximity to Terasaki Budokan and as the pandemic began to end, Budokan was just opening. Maestu asked if they were going to have a table tennis club and they said no but then proposed if he was willing to put it all together, they’d allow it.
“It was like destiny in a way, to have this place open up”, said Maestu.
Maestu is also the creator of the up-and-coming Los Angeles-based brand Poche and with the recent popularity of LTTT, it has taken a shape of its own.
Maestu and his creative team have a line of merch tailored towards the LTTT event, which has gained a lot of traction as of late. Especially with their LTTT Logo Cap, which champions an embroidered ‘LTTT’ across the front of the cap in a wide selection of colors. And not to mention the signature Poche tag put outside the cap stating the phrase, ‘for everyday wear’.
Merch aside, LTTT is a place where individuals can show up on a Tuesday from 6 PM to 9 PM and enjoy table tennis and the company of others for an entrance fee of 5 dollars per visit.
Xun, who is a regular at the LTTT events, says it’s helped him reconnect with the game after years of hiatus.
“My dad was really into it when I was a kid, he made me do it. I lowkey hated it at the time. He would drill me on ping pong day and night, I’d be crying n shit. Now as an adult, it’s fun to have something I’m good at. I feel like a kid again but I’m not crying this time.”
LTTT encourages anyone and everyone to play a game of table tennis, regardless of skill level. People wait their turn while chatting with friends and when a spot opens up, it’s fair game.
There are also attendees like Ian Walley, who uses the event as a night out and something to do on a Tuesday.
“I’ve been following Poche for a while, one of my homies introduced it to me a few years ago. And then once I was following the brand I found out they created this community. It’s a cool little community, which I feel brings people together that you would probably never interact with, all in a collected single place.”
It’s pretty incredible how it has managed to work out for Maetsu.
Maetsu has expressed that this sense of community is what has really driven the brand past any expectations he has had. Furthermore, to be able to start something fresh off of something like the pandemic screams volumes about how well things seem to be working out for the Jiro Maetsu and his team at Poche.
“It’s growing with the help and appreciation of the people that participate every week. I think it’s cool that the brand, the logo, and the message and energy is reaching far beyond the community. So, yeah, I’m kind of following its lead in a way. The people are generating this type of momentum and everybody feels that they are a part of it.”
