I, GIANT ROBOT

t began with some folded pages, a few staples, and a lot of imagination, which spawned a magazine, a chain of pop culture stores, a restaurant, an art gallery, and, nearly, a way of life including movies, music, books, comics, toys, food, and fine art. In the process, one Palisades High graduate helped transform a nondescript section of Sawtelle Boulevard into one of the liveliest sections on the Westside. Five words come to mind: Rick Caruso, watch your back! The magazine is Giant Robot, and the PaliHi grad is Eric Nakamura, who, once upon a time, worked for the Palisadian-Post. But Giant Robot is not your ordinary pop culture publication. ‘It’s a lifestyle magazine,’ says Nakamura, 38. As president and publisher of the Asian-American-flavored periodical, Nakamura created a niche on the back of an American failure: the lack of Asian-American inclusion in mainstream American entertainment. Clearly, in the last five years, more Asian-American faces appear on television (‘Grey’s Anatomy,’ ‘Lost,’ and ‘Dancing With the Stars,’ on which no less than judge Carrie Ann Inaba, choreographer Cheryl Burke and champion Kristi Yamaguchi appeared last season). (Continued at Palisadian Post)