LA Koreatown: Celebration of Continuity and Change

Introduction

This year marks the centennial anniversary of Korean immigration to the United States. Many events both within and beyond the Korean American communities have been organized to commemorate this historic occasion. The Korean American Museum wishes to honor and contribute to the centennial anniversary with an exhibition that charts the history and development of Los Angeles Koreatown. What are its roots and how and why has it developed into one of the most vital areas of Los Angeles? This exhibition traces the remarkable blossoming of the Korean community in Los Angeles in the past century from their tentative beginnings in the ethnic enclaves of Bunker Hill to the large expanse of multi-ethnic businesses and residences that has earned a name on the city maps and freeways as “Koreatown!”

Overview

At the end of the 19th century, two new imperial powers emerged in the Pacific Ocean. By defeating the old empires of Spain and China, the United States had won control over Hawaii and the Philippines, and Japan had made Taiwan its first colony and was steadily extending its grip over the Korean peninsula.

Pushed by the increasingly oppressive Japanese presence in their homeland, and pulled by the promise of jobs in Hawaii and the mainland, Koreans began to make their way across the Pacific to America. Early in 1903, 102 Korean immigrants aboard the S.S. Gaelic arrived in Hawaii to work on the sugar plantations. Over the next two years, close to 7,400 Koreans were drawn to Hawaii as plantation workers to help address the labor shortages. Wages and job selections on the mainland were somewhat better than in Hawaii, so it was not long before some made their way to California and beyond. When the first Korean came to Los Angeles, as early as 1904, he found a town of about 120,000 people. Streets and houses extended only to where Hoover Street is now, to the west, and to the University of Southern California, to the south. Beyond were mainly vineyards, orchards, ranches, and oil fields. The new American presence in the Pacific, however, and the imminent construction of the Panama Canal, was presenting Los Angeles with the prospect of becoming the key west coast center for trade. In 1905, the city annexed a corridor of land stretching 20 miles to the south in order to reinvent itself as a seaport, and began construction of the L.A. Aqueduct, to support a population in the millions. The same complex of forces that had begun to bring Koreans to Southern California was working to transform Los Angeles itself into a world-class metropolis.

Independence Movement Generations: 1904–1929 / Bunker Hill Era

© Courtesy of University of Southern California, East Asian Library
To have been a Korean in America in the first fifty years was to have been involved deeply in the struggle for independence. Opinions differed on the best approaches to take and on the best leaders to support, but all agreed on the common goal itself. In Los Angeles, the Red Cars of the Pacific Electric Line had, already by 1910, tied dozens of new neighborhoods together in the best local transportation system in the country. Koreans began to move into Southern California towns such as Riverside, Upland, Claremont, Pasadena, and Los Angeles as farm laborers and railroad workers. Los Angeles emerged as the focal point of Korean community activities. By 1920, 89 recorded Korean residents in the steadily expanding city were concentrated in the area of Bunker Hill, one of the few parts of the city open to ethnic minorities. It was here that political organizations, such as the Hungsadan and Kungminhoe, and the Korean Presbyterian mission were first centered.

Independence Movement Generations: 1930-1950 / Jefferson Era

The coming of age of a new generation of Korean Americans, born in America but raised around the goal of winning liberation for their country from foreign rule, came increasingly to regard Los Angeles as its center. By the end of the 1930s, the center of the Korean population (now grown to about 650) had shifted to the Jefferson area. Political organizations, including the Tongjihoe, established their offices in this area. The Los Angeles United Methodist Church had already had its beginning in this part of town back in 1904/1905. By the time war broke out between the United States and Japan, it had also become a national center for Koreans across America.

Korean War and Aftermath: 1951–1964

Liberation from Japanese rule and the formation of divided rule in the Korean peninsula removed the central unifying force for Korean Americans. A new stage of struggle began, as Korea became the site of the first real hot war of the Cold War era. In Los Angeles, the rail system began to be supplanted by a network of bus lines and freeways, which increased mobility but, at the same time, undercut the integrity of many of the city’s neighborhoods. Koreans began to move away from the Jefferson area to outlying areas. During this period, some 14,000 new Korean immigrants came to the United States. Many of these, however, were wives of U.S. servicemen and war orphans, both of which groups were dispersed across the country and not generally integrated into Korean communities. There was also an influx of students and professionals, which contributed to a shift of the employment profile of the community away from physical labor and provided a new level of leadership to the community during this period. What remained of the Korean sense of community was held together mainly by the continued presence and influence of the churches, as well as the existence of a few restaurants and grocery stores. By the end of this period, there were about 5,000 Koreans in Los Angeles.

Olympic Blvd Era: 1965–1992

1965 marked a watershed, both for immigration to the United States and Korean immigration, and for Los Angeles’ perception of its own identity. The passage of a critical amendment to the Immigration and Nationality Act that year transformed the quota system to one that gradually opened the doors much wider to Asian immigrants. Also in 1965, the Watts rebellion deeply shocked the complacent confidence most of the city had held towards racial and community relations. As with many other sections of the inner city, the neighborhood to the west of downtown, north of the Santa Monica Freeway, south of Wilshire, and between Hoover and Crenshaw, had already experienced several years of decay. In the face of urban unrest, its prospects declined even further. It was into this neighborhood, with a vacuum among small businesses that offered opportunities for entry into the local economy, that the new tide of Korean immigrants flowed, revitalizing the area and stamping it with their own cultural identity. By 1970, the Korean population in Los Angeles had reached 8,811. Between 1965 and 1980, 299,000 Koreans were reported to have immigrated to the U.S. The Korean population has increased exponentially since. Many of the new immigrants came directly to Southern California and, as well, many Korean Americans who had lived in other parts of the country were drawn to Los Angeles. Olympic Blvd became the center of Korean commercial activity, with expansion as well to 8th Street, Western Avenue, Vermont Avenue, and other major streets. Within a short time, most of the businesses in this area, including strip malls and new shopping centers, became Korean-owned. Neon signs in hangul proclaimed this to be “Koreatown,” even before it was officially recognized as such. At the same time, several satellite Korean communities sprouted in other parts of Southern California. The expansive growth of Korean media—newspapers, magazines, radio and television—served a vital role in creating a new sense of community cohesion and identity. This period also witnessed the foundation of numerous Korean American community organizations and branch offices of many Korean trade organizations, which opened Koreatown up to direct Korean investment.

Wilshire Era and Beyond: 1992–Present

Following a quarter century of large-scale immigration from Asia and Latin America, Los Angeles had become the center of the most diverse metropolitan area on the planet. By the end of the century, the Korean population in Southern California had grown to about 260,000 (1.1 million, nationwide). The outbreak, in 1992, of the unrest known in the Korean community as Saigu showed clearly that the end of the Cold War was not the “end of history,” and that much work had to be done in building a sense of community among the city’s rich multicultural and multi-ethnic society. As of the year 2000, a full 20% of the population of Koreatown was Korean, the rest consisting of Hispanics, whites, other Asians, and African Americans. The mix of acculturation has been made more complex by the differing thinking, attitudes, and tastes of those who were educated in Korea before emigrating, those born in the United States, and those who fall somewhere in-between (the “1.5 Generation”). The Korean ethnic churches, as well as a complex of Korean community organizations, have assumed the role of building bridges to the other ethnic members of their community. The commercial center of Koreatown has shifted, with more of the financial and high-end business offices located on Wilshire Blvd between Vermont and Western. At the same time, additional centers of Korean population have continued to develop across Southern California. And, to an increasing extent, Koreans can now be found in all segments of American society--business and professions, the arts, education, politics, sports--reflecting, perhaps, new stages of assimilation.

Coordinators
Changmi Bae Ph.D.

 

The reinstallation of LA KOREATOWN was made possible through generous funding from the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and Young-Nak Presbyterian Church.

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