While on vacation in Los Angeles, we tag along my brother who had to visit the Philippine Consulate located at Nara Bank Building along Wilshire Blvd. Since we didn’t want to wait inside the Consulate, my son and I took the time to take a leisurely walk.
In downtown L.A. is the Koreatown. Along Wilshire Blvd, there are business establishments owned by Koreans. My son got excited seeing all the Korean sign boards. When we passed by a Korean restaurant on the corner of Wilshire and Manhattan Place, he asked if we could have kimbap. It was pretty expensive at 6.00 USD per serving. At least, they didn’t add anymore tax. The lady manning the restaurant was nice and she spoke to my son in Korean. Beside that Korean restaurant is a branch of “Bbang Gum Teo”, a Korean bakeshop brand.
When my brother was done with his “business” at the Philippine Consulate, we went to Universal Studios. On the way, we saw a “Kyochon” car and I suddenly missed Korean chicken. My husband and I would always order the garlic chicken from “Kyochon”. It’s one of our favorites.
If I were alone, I would have explored Koreatown more. I would have gone to Irolo St., where my aunt used to live. I thought the Koreatown in L.A. is pretty big. There are Korean banks, schools and restaurants. The next time I visit Los Angeles, I’d definitely go visit Koreatown and explore it more.
Koreans have the huge Korea Town in Los Angeles.
LA Korea Town is 25 times bigger than LA China Town.
Korean businessmen own about 80 high-rise buildings in southern California, some of which are the landmark buildings in California.
Korean are the biggest commercial building landlords in s. California. They also owns about 20 golf courses in s. California.
They occupy 65% garments and fashion industry in LA, which is influencing the whole U.S. Korean-owned world-renowned fashionbrand “Forever 21” starts from LA Korea Town. Forever 21 now has about 450 branches in the US and the world.
Hi Pollo! Thanks for the info. I didn’t know that, but when we were there my son was so proud of what he was seeing. I believe the Nara Bank Building, where the Philippine Consulate is also owned by Koreans. “Nara” means country in Korean. Beside it is Saehan Bank Building.
The Philippine Consulate is located in mid-Wilshire Blvd., which is the second busiest street in terms of car traffics in the U.S.
More than 95% of all the buildings in the mid Wilshire Blvd are owned by Koreans. Now mid-Wilshire Blvd is becoming the center of huge LA Korea Town, the boundary of which you can not figure out without guidance of somebody familiar with LA Korea Town because it is huge and sprawling into every directions.
The first busiest street in terms of car traffics is the mid-Manhattan street in New York. Surprisingly enough, New York’s Korea Town is located in the mid-Manhattan street. So the first and second busiest streets in the U.S. are occupied by 2 Korea Towns.
daming info ni pollo.
parang ung china town s pinas. hehe.
mejjo mahal nga yung kimbap.dito sa pinas e less than P200 (cguro) yang ganyan kdami.
Sabi nga nila, ang mga Korean sa US marami sa kanila ay businessmen. Mura lang ang kimbap sa Korea, 1,500 won pinakamura nakita ko. Mga 60 pesos.