Another 'Green' facade has popped up. This one is in Culver City. Royal/T on Washington Boulevard is a So. Cal. incarnation of the popular Cosplay restaurants that originated in Tokyo as a part of the otaku culture and that include maid cafe's (Meido kafe) and butler cafes (shitsuji kassa) where the service staff dress as traditional maids or butlers. Inside, the space includes playful pieces by Takashi Murakami. The facade is uninterrupted fuzzy plastic green grass. The first significant artificial turfs were developed in the 1960s and AstroTurf was installed at the Astrodome in Houston in 1965. The quality and variety of synthetic grasses have increased dramatically in the last decade. Still, one wonders why it took so long to start applying it to the vertical surface of buildings.
