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 edit
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 edit
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 edit
- ^ a b Vivien Hao, [1] Archived 2011-08-09 at the Wayback Machine, AsianWeek, November 19, 2007. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
- ^ a b Ryoko Onishi, [2], Rafu Shimpo, December 11, 2012. Retrieved September 13, 2015.
- ^ 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.
- ^ "About | Giant Robot Biennale 4 | Japanese American National Museum". www.janm.org. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
- ^ "Exhibition | Oakland Museum of California". museumca.org. Retrieved 2015-09-13.
- ^ "Gr/eats - CLOSED - Sawtelle - Los Angeles, CA". Yelp. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ a b James, Falling (2019-12-16). "Eric Nakamura: The Robot Man". LA Weekly. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ a b Toney, Jason. "gr/eats Officially Open". LAist. Archived from the original on 2019-12-17. Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ "Eric Nakamura '93 and Martin Wong '90 |". Retrieved 2019-12-17.
- ^ "Peter S.'s review of Gr/eats". Yelp. Retrieved 2019-12-17.