L.A.'s Koreatown, in Transition
New York may be the city of street festivals, but L.A. doesn't do so bad itself. You've got the Italian event that Maria wrote about below, and also today, L.A. will throw a parade in Koreatown marking the 100th anniversary of Korean immigration into the United States.
The L.A. Times takes the opportunity to write about L.A.'s continually rapidly growing Koreatown, which the paper notes has yet to create a real central identity, much as Little Tokyo and Chinatown have in downtown L.A.
Can't argue with that. Those two neighborhoods -- although Little Tokyo seems to continue to shrink -- have a true cohesive feel to them. But again, part of that is because they're located downtown, and both communities represent a much earlier, turn-of-the-century immigration. The much more recent Koreatown represents the suburban-like sprawl found in the rest of L.A.
But where the Times goes wrong is when it also chides Koreatown for not being more inviting to English-speaking visitors. People quoted in the story who say it's too difficult to find restaurants or shopping in the area, but I've never found that to be the case. Plenty of locations cater to both Korean and non-Korean crowds, like the 24-hour BCD Tofu House on Wilshire (yum!), all of the Boba Tea joints that have popped up, most of the karaoke places (where English-speaking songs outnumber Korean songs), the Aroma shopping center (the one with the big flashing video screen promoting its wares on Wilshire) and even, yes, Starbucks.
And of course, don't forget all of the Korean BBQs. My favorite? Probably still Soot Bull Jeep on 8th. Now I'm hungry.
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