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Koreatown, Los Angeles, California
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Koreatown is a community of the Wilshire Center district in the Mid-Wilshire area of the City of Los Angeles, California.
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While Koreatown's boundaries are not formally set, it occupies much of the area of the Wilshire Center, and is found between Arlington Avenue/Wilton Place on the west, Melrose Avenue on the north, Hoover Street on the east, and Pico Boulevard on the south. Hollywood lies to the north, Westlake and Pico-Union lie to the east, Harvard Heights lies to the south, and Country Club Park and Hancock Park lie to the west.
Major thoroughfares include Beverly, Wilshire, and Olympic Boulevards, Western Avenue, Normandie, and Vermont Avenues, and 3rd, 6th, and 8th Streets. The Hollywood Freeway runs through the district's northeast corner.
Prior to the 1960s, Wilshire Center was a wealthy commercial and residential district. As Los Angeles rapidly decentralized along newly constructed freeway corridors, Wilshire Boulevard and the areas surrounding it went into a lengthy decline. With property values drastically diminished, the area saw a heavy influx of Koreans during the 1960s, after restrictions on immigration to the United States from East Asia were lifted in 1965.
In the 1970s, the Heavy-Chemical Industry Drive initiated by South Korean dictator Park Chung Hee, which displaced much of Korea's petty bourgeoisie, resulted in even more Koreans settling in Wilshire Center, which was soon rechristened "Koreatown." The name "Koreatown" had more to do, however, with the predominance of Korean-owned businesses on the community's major arteries--Western Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, Eighth Street, Sixth Street, Third Street and Vermont Avenue--than with the demographics of the residents, as large parts of the area were heavily Latino throughout the 1970s and 1980s while the level of Korean residents in other areas remained low as well.
In 1988, Pomona enacted an ordinance requiring businesses that displayed signs with "foreign alphabetical characters," to "devote at least one-half of the sign area to advertising copy in English alphabetical characters." Similar ordinances were also passed in Monterey Park, San Gabriel, and Rosemead. This ordinance was phrased to impact Asian American-owned businesses generally, but it was enforced to hamper Korean shopkeepers particularly.[1] The Pomona ordinance was struck down in 1989 by a federal district court as an unconstitutional restriction on the First Amendment right to free speech and the Fourteenth Amendment right to equal protection.
Further tensions arose when Korean shopkeepers who had experienced actual incidents of armed store robberies or had heard reports of armed store robberies treated black and Latino customers with suspicion. The March 1991 shooting death of black teenager Latasha Harlins at the hands of female Korean grocery clerk Soon Ja Du enraged many living in the area.
Many Korean-owned businesses were looted, damaged, and burned down during the 1992 Los Angeles riots. In the aftermath, much of the Korean population decamped to the San Fernando Valley and Orange County. The vacuum was largely filled by Mexican and Central American immigrants, who continued to make up a large part of the population of the area, particularly in the eastern portions of the neighborhood. At the end of the 1990s, Latino-Americans made up over three-fourths of Koreatown's population, while Asian Americans made up less than one-fifth of the total population.
The early 2000s have seen a revitalization of the area with many Korean-Americans returning, seeking a more urban lifestyle than could be found in Korean-heavy suburbs like Cerritos, and Irvine. The neighborhood has also become invigorated with the arrival of a new generation of middle-class immigrants from Korea, seeking better positions than are generally available in South Korea's stagnant economy. Koreatown has also become a somewhat chic destination for hipsters priced out of Los Feliz, West Hollywood, and Park La Brea, although the area's troublingly high crime rate [2] and crushingly overcrowded schools significantly reduce its desirability for families with children. (According to the LAPD's Wilshire Division, crime in the areas of Koreatown west of Normandie Avenue has plummeted, but gang activity and property crime remaining common in the areas adjoining Westlake and Pico-Union.)
Koreatown now brims with vibrant nightlife and commerce, and the construction of mid-high end residential buildings, including numerous apartments and condominiums continues to attract new residents. As of 2000, the estimated population of Koreans in Los Angeles is about 186,350 or 2% of the population [US Census 2000]. The construction of the Aroma Wilshire Center, a $40 million spa, which opened in June of 2001, caters to the city's affluent Korean population. Another notable addition is the construction of Koreatown Galleria, a 124,000 square foot (12,000 m²) shopping complex, which opened in October, 2001. Koreatown's presence has also notably expanded into Westlake and Country Club Park.
Recently, Koreatown has been infused with college students due to inexpensive housing, rapid transit to UCLA and USC, and a vibrant nightlife.
Koreatown is well known for its nightlife atmosphere, which includes exclusive clubs and numerous bars. It's not unusual to see an alcohol establishment on every block, and club-goers roaming around the streets at night. With the large number of already existing liquor licenses, new licenses are hard to get.
Some of the infamous Korean nightclubs include Karnak, Velvet Room, Le Prive, and Express. Every club has an age group, ranging from the early 20's to late 50's.
Koreatown is also known for their "all you can get Korean B.B.Q." for only $15. All ethnic groups have found Koreatown an exceptional place for delicious food and lively nightlife.
Koreatown has also prospered from the presence of the Metro Red Line subway's Wilshire Boulevard and Vermont Avenue branches, which have relieved some of its traffic congestion and increased the mobility options of its residents. Four subway stations are located in the district; on the Wilshire branch of the Red Line, Wilshire/Western station sits across from the famous Wiltern Theatre at the western edge of Koreatown, while Wilshire/Normandie station is situated among a number of high-rise and historical buildings in the center of the district. On the Hollywood branch under Vermont Avenue lies Vermont/Beverly station, serving northern Koreatown. The two branches meet at Wilshire/Vermont transfer station, situated under a massive construction site in eastern Koreatown. The Red Line's Wilshire branch was originally to be extended either further along Wilshire Boulevard or along Crenshaw Avenue and Pico Boulevard towards Mid-City, but financial problems coupled with community opposition halted these efforts. A westerly extension of the subway has been more recently publicly supported by many civic officials in Los Angeles, Beverly Hills, and Santa Monica, the three cities through which the extension may run.
In addition to these two subway lines, LA Metro also runs numerous Rapid and Local buses through the district. Four Rapid lines cut across Koreatown, including Line 714 (Beverly), Line 720 (Wilshire), Line 754 (Vermont), and Line 757 (Western).
Recently, Hanguk Taxi's or "Korean Taxi's," have sprouted up in Los Angeles' Koreatown. These are unlicensed, privately operated taxi's driven by recent Korean immigrants. Their primary forms of marketing/advertising is by supplying free lighters with their phone number on it in local bars and clubs.
Los Angeles Fire Department Station 13 is in the area.
The area is served by the Los Angeles Unified School District.
Area schools include:
- Kim Elementary School
- Berendo Middle School
- Belmont High School
Los Angeles Public Library operates the Pio Pico-Koreatown Branch.
- Ambassador Hotel
- Cleveland Chiropractic College
- KVEA
- Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children
- Southwestern University School of Law
- West Coast University
- Wiltern Theatre
- Brown Derby Plaza
- Chapman Plaza
- Pico Union, Los Angeles, California
- Ordinances discriminating against Korean-owned businesses.
- Asian American Business Group v. City of Pomona, 716 F. Supp. 1328 (C.D. Cal. 1989).
- US Census 2000 Statistics for Los Angeles
