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| Photo courtesy of Dann3X, Flickr |
Located in the heart of the Greater Los Angeles Combined Statistical Area, Koreatown is home to the largest Korean population in the United States of America. According to Wikipedia, over 108,000 people of Korean descent reside within this region. Although it isn't considered as the safest of communities in Los Angeles, I am definitely proud to call Koreatown my hometown. My name is Albert "Young-Gun" Ko and I have lived in Koreatown for more than fifteen years. As some of you might have already guessed by now, I am of Korean descent with both my parents having immigrated to the States from Seoul, South Korea right after they married in 1990.
Until I graduated from high school, I had no idea what life in South Korea was actually like. I only knew what I learned from Saturday Korean schools, Korean drama shows, and my parents' ancient recollections. But little did I know, I was essentially living in the Seoul of America. In the summer of 2011, I had the privilege of visiting Seoul, South Korea with my family (younger brother, mother, & father). I was surprised to find that Koreatown and Korea were nearly identical, with the same high-rise apartment buildings, cheap taxis, drinking culture, unlimited Korean BBQ, and endless karaoke nights. The one major difference that I discovered was that Korea lacked in multicultural diversity, which Koreatown had an abundance of.
In my future posts to come, I will attempt to paint a picture of what life in Koreatown is like and how it has directly shaped my past, present, and future.
Your Seoul Survivor,
Albert Ko
