Found a very interesting article about Koreatown, located in Los Angeles, California.
Source: Los Angeles Times
K. Connie Kang, Times Staff Writer



An Ethnic Center's New Pull
Koreatown was once the place one left. Now, focused on a shiny strip of Wilshire, it's a mecca for suburbanites and wealthy immigrants.

Set between the Byzantine Revival dome of the Wilshire Boulevard Temple and the dancing neon lights of the Art Deco Wiltern Theatre, a new landmark is taking root along the storied avenue.

With its futuristic glass facade and two-story television screen flashing Korean ads, the Aroma Spa and Sports Center is a stark visual contrast to the neighborhood's faded gems like the Ambassador Hotel and Bullocks Wilshire department store. But it is a sign that luxury is returning to Wilshire, and that Koreatown itself is on the move.

Aroma, a five-story shopping center, spa and athletic club, is a replica of a similar facility in Seoul, where pampering affluent customers is a fine art.

Up its marble-floored courtyard, Aroma offers massages, baths, saunas and steam rooms, including some with jade floors and mud walls of red clay imported from South Korea's Cholla province. With the push of a button, golfers can summon a waitress to bring freshly squeezed orange juice while they practice at the indoor driving range.

It caters to a new generation of affluent Koreans who are changing the city center.

Some are immigrants from South Korea, concerned about economic instability in their country, who invest in California businesses and real estate. Such moves entitle them to an investment visa, known as an E-2, which enables them to stay in the United States.

Others helped form the community in the 1970s and '80s, but then left it for bigger homes and better schools in the suburbs. With their children now in college or working, they are coming back.

"In the old days, it was a status symbol to live away from Koreatown," said Sun-Kil Pak, who moved to Koreatown a year ago from the Westside, where she had lived since the late 1980s. "These days, you're almost embarrassed to live far away. When you go to meetings at night, people tease you, 'Why do you live so far away? Why are you driving home so late?' "

The influx is helping shift Koreatown's geography. The community was formed in the late 1960s and early '70s along a dilapidated stretch of Olympic Boulevard near Western Avenue. But now, Wilshire is emerging as the main drag, especially for the newcomers.

Developers are converting several high-rise office buildings along Wilshire Boulevard into luxury apartments. A few blocks away, the shuttered I. Magnin department store, for generations a hangout for white-gloved ladies who lunched, has become Wilshire Galleria, an upscale Korean arcade featuring high-end jewelry and apparel, beauty treatment boutiques and an art gallery.

The eight California-chartered Korean banks in Koreatown are all within several blocks of Wilshire, sometimes called the "Korean Wall Street." They now have combined assets of about $9 billion.

The 2000 Census found 92,000 Koreans in Los Angeles — about half of them within the traditional Koreatown boundaries of Hoover Street on the east, Norton Avenue on the west, Pico Boulevard on the south and Beverly Boulevard on the north.

But real estate brokers, bankers and community leaders estimate that several thousand more have arrived in the last few years — from South Korea and the suburbs. The local banks also report an increase in investment from South Korea, a sign that immigrants are purchasing property and businesses.

Koreatown has been known for its hip and exotic night spots, but the district has also seen a boom in businesses geared toward the older generation. In addition to the steam rooms at Aroma, patrons now crowd into a variety of "song rooms" in Koreatown, where they can belt out nostalgic 1950s and '60s-era songs from their youth.

"There are two cultures in Koreatown," said Charles J. Kim, a child of Koreatown who is national president of the Korean American Coalition. "Sauna culture and cafe culture."


Originally posted on 9th July 2005 - 03:25 PM in the Resource forum.
Koreatown, KTown
Los Angeles, California