Koreatown (Los Angeles)

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Koreatown Sign.jpg

Koreatown or sometimes shorter K-Town is a district of the American city of Los Angeles in the state of California . It is considered the most famous Koreatown and the largest settlement of Koreans outside the Korean Peninsula .

location

Koreatown stretches from Beverly Boulevard in the north to Olympic Boulevard in the south. It is bordered by East Hollywood and Silver Lake to the north and northeast, Westlake to the east, Arlington Heights , Harvard Heights and Pico-Union to the south, and Mid-Wilshire and Windsor Square to the west.

In terms of area, Koreatown exceeds the two older enclaves Chinatown and Little Tokyo combined.

population

Buildings in Koreatown on Olympic Boulevard.

According to the 2000 census , the Koreatown neighborhood had 115,070 people. According to estimates by the Los Angeles Planning Commission, there were 124,281 people in Koreatown in 2008. It is one of the most densely populated neighborhoods in Los Angeles .

Contrary to the name, which suggests an ethnic enclave of Koreans or Korean-Americans , 53.5% of the residents were Latinos and only 32.2% came from Asia. However, at 21.2%, Korea is almost the second most common country of origin, after Mexico (22.4%). Most of the Mexicans come from the state of Oaxaca . 68% of residents were born outside of the United States. Among these immigrants, Koreans are the largest group at 28.6%. In Los Angeles, however, it is not uncommon for the name-bearing ethnic group to be in the minority in designated enclaves. Only about 5% of the residents of Thai Town in East Hollywood are from Thailand and only about 25% of the residents of Historic Fillipinotown in Echo Park are from the Philippines . Although Koreans are not in the majority, Los Angeles' Koreatown is the largest concentration of Koreans outside of mainland Korea.

The population groups in Koreatown coexist side by side, with restaurants and shops primarily geared towards their own ethnic group.

history

Ambassador District

The already closed building of the Ambassador Hotel.

What is now Koreatown was originally known as the Ambassador District , named after the Ambassador Hotel . The hotel, built by Myron Hunt on January 1, 1921 and later designed inside by Paul R. Williams , was then 3 miles outside of Los Angeles, on Wilshire Boulevard , which was then still unpaved . Shortly thereafter, the hotel's Cocoanut Grove nightclub opened . It attracted movie stars like Rudolph Valentino , Charlie Chaplin , Joan Crawford , Errol Flynn , James Stewart , Lucille Ball , Gary Cooper , Cary Grant, and Katharine Hepburn . All US presidents from Herbert Hoover to Richard Nixon stayed at the hotel . The hotel has hosted the Oscars six times . The end of the gradually losing its glamor hotel began in 1968 when Robert F. Kennedy was murdered there. In 1989 it was finally closed. In its place is now the Robert F. Kennedy Community School , subordinate to the United School District of Los Angeles , the most expensive public school building in the United States.

The Ambassador District, like other American inner-city areas, was affected by the migration of wealthy Americans to the suburbs after World War II . The neighborhood came down from the 1960s .

Koreatown development

Immigration from Korea to California was noticeable from the end of the 19th century . In Los Angeles, in the first decade of the 20th century, a small community formed on Bunkerhill in what is now downtown Los Angeles around the home of the political activist Ahn Changho . In the 1930s, the small Korean community relocated to West Adams . Koreans began to immigrate in the post-war period and increasingly from the 1960s onwards . However, these settlements were far less compact than those of the Chinese in Chinatown or those of the Japanese in Little Tokyo .

Around 1970 there were around 10,000 Koreans living in the Los Angeles area, but without their own cultural or geographical center. That changed when the Korean Hi Duk Lee, who immigrated through Germany, opened the Olympic Market on West Avenue in 1971 and stocked his shop with Korean goods. His business was such a great success that he was able to acquire land to build a Korean shopping mall and restaurant. Smaller Korean shops and restaurants began to set up around these companies, and then Korean companies and banks began to invest and set up branches in the area. In 1980, Mayor Tom Bradley recognized Koreatown as a neighborhood. However, the exact scope was not specified here.

Parts of Koreatown burned during the 1992 riots in Los Angeles . The police were reluctant to provide protection because of the low political importance of the Korean community. This led Korean Americans to realize that it was necessary to gain political influence. As a result, they moved from conservative positions to the political center.

The borders of Koreatown were not established until 2010, including the recognition of the Koreatown ethnic enclave, Little Bangladesh on 3rd Street. In a referendum in 2018, the plan to split off Little Bangladesh as an independent district was rejected by a large majority.

Culture

architecture

The Wiltern Theater on Wilshire Boulevard.

Wilshire Boulevard , which runs east to west through Koreatown, is home to some of the most famous architectural works in the district. Some were created during the wedding of the Ambassador Hotel . On this street, at the Wilshire / Western intersection, you will find the Art Deco- style green Witern Theater, which opened in 1931 . The Willard H. George Building , a department store, opened in 1931, was also built in the Art Deco style. The building, constructed in 1939 and now called Wilshire Galeria , is another example of architecture from the Ambassador Hotel era. Chapman Park Market, built in 1928 and completely renovated in 1990, is located on 6th Street . It will be the first drive-in store in the United States.

The Wilshire Boulevard Temple .

The Catholic Church of St. Basil, the Immanuel Presbyterian Church and the Wilshire Boulevard Temple synagogue on Wilshire Boulevard are noteworthy religious architecture . St. Basil is a brutalist church building completed in 1969 . It replaced the older St. Basil Church built in 1920. The construction was controversial because of the considerable cost. The Immanuel Presbyterian Church , built in 1928, is built in the historicist neo -Gothic style. The 1929 built synagogue Wilshire Boulevard Temple of B'nai B'rith was built to meet the growing community to provide space. The synagogue, inspired by Byzantine architecture , was considered an influential reform synagogue and the "synagogue of the stars" because of the members of the Hollywood elite who were parishioners.

The programmatic architecture in the heart of Koreatown is Cafe Jack , which was inspired by the film Titanic and optically based on the RMS Titanic in the film.

There are plans to build a museum for Korean Americans at the intersection of Vermont and 6th Street. The building of this Korean American National Museum is designed to incorporate elements of traditional Korean and modern architecture.

Libraries

Pio Pico Koreatown Library Branch.

The public library of the City of Los Angeles maintains the Koreatown branch library named after Pio Pico , the last Mexican governor of California, Pio Pico - Koreatown Branch Library . The collection includes media in Korean and Spanish , among others . This branch is also home to a collection of zines .

Web links

Commons : Koreatown  - collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c Koreatown in the Los Angeles Times Mapping LA project .
  2. ↑ a b c Yu Eui-Young, "KOREATOWN" LOS ANGELES: EMERGENCE OF A NEW INNER-CITY ETHNIC COMMUNITY , Bulletin of the Population and Development Studies Center, Volume 14 (1985), pp. 29-44. ( JSTOR )
  3. ^ A b Colin Marshall, A Los Angeles Primer: Koreatown , KCET, March 26, 2013.
  4. ↑ Elson Trinidad, LA's Historic Filipinotown Turns Ten: What's Changed? , KCET dated August 2, 2012.
  5. ↑ a b Julia Herbst, Where Exactly Is Koreatown? , Los Angeles Magazine October 19, 2015.
  6. ^ A b Colin Marshall, Los Angeles in Buildings: The Ambassador Hotel , KCET, March 10, 2017.
  7. ^ A b Hadley Meares, 'The best Koreatown outside of Korea' , LA curbed May 6, 2019.
  8. ↑ Hi Duk Lee, visionary who founded Los Angeles' Koreatown, dies at 79 , Los Angeles Times, March 21, 2019.
  9. ↑ Charles Lam, Hi Duk Lee, Los Angeles Koreatown pioneer, dead at 79 , NBC March 21, 2019.
  10. ↑ a b c Christopher Hawethorne, Koreatown's cool old buildings point to LA's future , Los Angeles Times, November 29, 2014.
  11. ^ The LA riots were a rude awakening for Korean-Americans , CNN, April 29, 2017.
  12. ↑ VOTERS ELECT AGAINST DIVIDING KOREATOWN TO INCLUDE BANGLADESH TOWN , ABC 7 from June 20, 2018.
  13. ↑ LA's K-Town: Exploring Wilshire Boulevard , Los Angeles Conservancy.
  14. ^ The Wiltern and Pellissier Building , Los Angeles Conservancy.
  15. ^ Martin Turnbull, The Willard H. George Co. Furriers store, 3330 Wilshire Blvd, in 1931
  16. ↑ St. Basil Catholic Church , Los Angeles Conservancy.
  17. ^ Immanuel Presbyterian Church , Los Angeles Conservancy.
  18. ^ Wilshire Boulevard Temple , Los Angeles Conservancy.
  19. ↑ Rosemary Lord, Los Angeles Then and Now , Pavillion Books, London 2018, ISBN 978-1-911216-99-5 , pp. 66 f.
  20. ↑ Michael Darling, The Best Nautical-Themed Architecture In Los Angeles ( August 21, 2019 memento on the Internet Archive ), LA is May 11, 2017.
  21. ^ Josie Huang, Koreatown Is Getting A Museum Celebrating Korean Americans. Here's A First Look ( August 8, 2019 memento in the Internet Archive ), LA is August 8, 2019.
  22. ^ Homepage of the Pio Pico - Koreatown Branch Library
  23. ↑ Zines Collection on the Los Angeles City Public Library home page.