Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 5

Koreatown

This week, I went Koreatown for my project. Koreatown is an officially recognized district in the city of Los Angeles, which contains the heaviest concentration of Korean when compared with other parts of L.A. The place also connects to the adjacent neighborhoods of Wilshire Center and Pico Heights. Finding about the fact that why L.A. has a great proportion of Korean arouses my interest to explore the place. Regarding to this, I do some research in the Internet. L.A. is the city with the second largest Korean population in the world. But why this the case? History, like wars is definitely an crucial factor for the high immigration of Korean to the states; however, Koreans only moved into the area after the changes in the US Immigration laws. With the advanced and rapid transition, investment of banks and corporations, its population spreads tremendously. Nowadays, Koreatown becomes one of the famous places in L.A, gathering up to a large population of 324,586 in the metro area. (2010, Census) By using simplymap.com, it indeed gives us a clear picture how people from different race diverse and its pattern in this metropolitan area. For instance, Asian communities are more likely to be concentrated in the East Los Angeles, and this is true because this area consists of Koreatown, Japan town and Chinatown, which allows people with the same ethnicity to agglomerate together. Besides looking at the Asian population, it is also interesting to see the patterns between the blacks and the whites. While the former is concentrated more likely in the west L.A or even in the coast, the blacks are more likely concentrate in the south central part of Los Angeles, for example areas like Inglewood.

To arrive my destination, I start my trip from UCLA, driving through the Wilshire Blvd to K-town. Everything changes once I enter into the area, including the types of building, roads and language in the billboards and the types of people in the street. The place also seems less glamorous unlike other parts of L.A since the buildings and obviously older especially when comparing with those in Beveley Hills or The Grove I have visited in last few weeks. As I go further to the east, it's noticeable that there are many Korean restaurants and grocery markets nearby. People I see in the street also varies, ranging from Korean to the Latino. I have a chance to enjoy a korean barbecue lunch with my friends and it's just SO DELICIOUS!!! :9 While I am having my lunch, I also discover how division of labor is interestingly practiced. Even though the restaurant owner is a Korean woman, the whole restaurant isn't only just operated by Korean, rather several groups of people like Mexican and Latino also work for the restaurant. Yet, unlike being as the waiters, cashiers and servers like the Korean do, they all work in the behind, mostly in the kitchen to wash dishes and preparing food for the chef. Nevertheless, the same case does not happen in the Mexican restaurants nearby. In this case, it seems this particular phenomenon and relationship between the ethnic composition helps distinguishing Koreatown with other parts of L.A.

After having my lunch, I also take a walk in around. Often times, I heard people saying that K-town is dangerous as crime do always happen in there. (especially in the night time?) While walking in the street, I notice many old and damaged buildings, but what actually makes me feel unsafe perhaps is the group of homeless people in the streets beside and outside the grocery stores. Regarding to this safety issue, I also uses simplymap.com to discover more interesting facts about the K-town. One that really stands out to me is the rape index collected in Census 2011. In the map, the darker areas represent a higher rate while the lighter means less. And it is clear that the trend is going toward the K-town, reflecting a signal of danger and risk in there. Based on my experience in Koreatown and the evidence from simplymap. I now become more convinced and understand why there's such notion for the place.

In conclusion, Koreatown isn't just a place that agglomerate the Korean people together to embrace its culture. By observing this small town, it helps me to learn more about the relationship between its special ethnic composition and culture, and more importantly, understanding how it's different from other L.A. areas. (P.S. Below is a video that gives a very nice introduction to Koreatown. Enjoy!)
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IN1rbiaorV8