Eric Nakamura

Eric Nakamura is a Japanese American magazine publisher, gallerist, and entrepreneur. He is the co-founder of Giant Robot, owner of the Giant Robot store and GR2 Gallery, and curator of the Giant Robot Biennales and other museum exhibitions.[1]

Early life and education

Publisher Nakamura grew up in the Sawtelle, Los Angeles area. He attended Palisades High School and later Santa Monica College, where he'd work with the Palisadian-Post as their only photographer.

Nakamura attended UCLA, graduating in 1993 with a degree in East Asian Studies.[2]

Career

After graduation, Nakamura worked at VideoGames & Computer Entertainment shortly before starting Giant Robot.[3]

In 1994, he founded Giant Robot, which began as a self-published magazine and grew into a widely circulated bi-monthly magazine about Asian pop culture.[1] In 2001, he opened the first Giant Robot store in Los Angeles.[2] The magazine ceased publication in February 2011, but Nakamura continued publication through the curation of several Giant Robot Biennales at the Japanese American National Museum[4] and the SuperAwesome: Art and Giant Robot exhibition at the Oakland Museum of California Art.[5]

Nakamura opened Asian fusion restaurant gr/eats[6] in 2005.[7][8][9] It had an almost seven year run[10] in Sawtelle, Los Angeles, right by their physical Giant Robot store.[7][8]

References

  1. ^ a b Vivien Hao, [1] Archived 2011-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, AsianWeek, November 19, 2007. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  2. ^ a b Ryoko Onishi, [2], Rafu Shimpo, December 11, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
  3. ^ Fitzpatrick, Kyle (April 9, 2012). "The Ability To Do Everything: An Interview With Eric Nakamura". Los Angeles I'm Yours. Archived from the original on November 16, 2016. Retrieved 2020-01-28.
  4. ^ "About | Giant Robot Biennale 4 | Japanese American National Museum". www.janm.org. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  5. ^ "Exhibition | Oakland Museum of California". museumca.org. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
  6. ^ "Gr/eats - CLOSED - Sawtelle - Los Angeles, CA". Yelp. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  7. ^ a b James, Falling (2019-12-16). "Eric Nakamura: The Robot Man". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  8. ^ a b Toney, Jason. "gr/eats Officially Open". LAist. Archived from the original on 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  9. ^ "Eric Nakamura '93 and Martin Wong '90 |". Retrieved 2019-12-17.
  10. ^ "Peter S.'s review of Gr/eats". Yelp. Retrieved 2019-12-17.