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Jingme Norbu
From Bloomingpedia
Jingme Norbu, nephew to the Dalai Lama, is most famous for owning and operating the Snow Lion Tibetan restaurant on Grant Street. His father, Thubten Norbu, moved his young family to Bloomington in 1965 to join the Indiana University department of Uralic and Altaic studies, and Jingme spent many of his formative years in town before heading for Japan to study international law. Later he returned to Bloomington and started the Snow Lion in 1987.
The success of that restaurant encouraged him, and he entered into several other entrepeneurial ventures including the Golden Dragon in Bedford and the Diamond Inn motel. In 1991 he purchased the former Schmalz's Department Store on North Walnut and extensively renovated it, creating the Shangri-La oriental grocery, Passage to India restaurant, and the Mirage nightclub. But these ventures proved less than successful and he was forced to file bankruptcy in 1994.
In 2001, HBO sent him on a trip to India in hopes he could gain an interview with the then-17-year old Karmapa Lama, at which task he was successful.
The Norbu family established the Tibetan Cultural Center, and Jigme, his father, his wife Yaling Norbu, and his mother Kunyang Norbu, were all board members until the center ran into financial difficulties in 2005, at which time a new director of the center was named and all but Thubten Norbu resigned.
Jigme Norbu later formed N&N Enterprises LLC with Clayton Nunes, which is planning on renovating the Home Laundry Building on East Third Street into the Plaza at Third and Lincoln, consisting of commercial space and high-end lofts. The corporation also owns Fourth Street Plaza, the former license branch building.
He also managed Fortune Properties and operated the Bazaar Cafe. The Bazaar Cafe is closed and The Cereal Barn & Peanut Butter Cafe is now operating at that location. His parents, Thubten and Kunyang Norbu are still Bloomington residents, and Kunyang Norbu owns Cafe Django.
Jigme has two brothers, Lhundrup Norbu and Kunga Norbu, both Bloomington residents.
