Los Angeles is home to a significant Korean community. Recent statistics indicate that approximately 230,000 individuals of Korean heritage reside in the city.[1]
A first wave of Korean immigrants settled at the foot ofBunker Hill and worked astruck farmers, domestic workers, waiters, and domestic help.[2] The Korean United Presbyterian Church was established on West Jefferson Boulevard in 1905. A Korean community developed around this church.[3]
TheAhn Chang Ho residence, which served as a community center and a guidance, lodging, and community support center for new Korean immigrants, housed grocery stores and the offices of theKorean National Association Los Angeles Branch and the Young Korean Academy.[4] In the 1930s the Korean population shifted to an area between Normandie and Vermont Streets in the Jefferson Boulevard area. This Korean area, which became known as the "Old Koreatown," was in proximity to theUniversity of Southern California. By then the first generation of Korean immigrants had children, who lived around the Old Koreatown.[2]
In the 1950s, Los Angeles received a second wave of Korean immigrants resulting from theKorean War and the children of the first generation of immigrants gave birth to the next generation. After the passage of theHart-Cellar Act in 1965, Korean immigration increased. After theWatts Riots in 1965, many Koreans began moving to suburban communities. In 1970, the Koreans in Los Angeles and Orange Counties made up 63% of the total number of Koreans in the United States. Around this period, the Korean community area moved to Olympic Boulevard, where the modernKoreatown is located.[2]
The Korean community was severely affected by the1992 Los Angeles riots. One Korean Americancivilian, Edward Song Lee, died in the rioting.[5] Over $400 million worth of damages occurred, including the destruction of over 2,000 businesses owned by ethnic Koreans[6] even as store owners and community members tried defending them usingfirearms from building rooftops. Most of the members of the Korean community refer to them in Korean as the 4-2-9 riot (Sa-i-gu p'oktong). This naming follows the integer naming schemes of political events in Korean history.[5] After the event, many Koreans moved to suburbs inOrange County and the twoInland Empire counties:Riverside andSan Bernardino. Since then, investment occurring in Koreatown caused the community to rebuild.[6][7]
In 2014 a delegation of minor Japanese right-wing politicians[8] requested the removal of a memorial statue of the Korean comfort women inWorld War II from an area inGlendale, California, sparking controversy.[9] A federal judge dismissed the lawsuit for the statue's removal and was met with support from theLos Angeles City Council, Korea-Glendale Sister City Association, and the Korean American Forum of California as part of a "large-scale effort to raise international awareness of thecomfort women's plight."[10][11][12][13] TheJapanese American Citizens League and other Japanese-American organizations supported the statue and deplored the Japanese delegation's claim that it had led to racially motivated bullying of Japanese-Americans as propaganda.[8]
As of 2008, about 350,000 ethnic Koreans live inLos Angeles County.[14] As of 2008 the largest Koreanethnic enclave in Los Angeles isKoreatown and the majority of the Koreans have been concentrated around that area.[15]
By 2008 many ethnic Korean communities had appeared in the northwesternSan Fernando Valley, includingChatsworth,Granada Hills,Northridge, andPorter Ranch. That year, the San Fernando Valley Korean Business Directory had a list of almost 1,500 Korean-owned businesses in the San Fernando Valley. Amanda Covarrubias of theLos Angeles Times stated that area Korean community leaders estimated that 50,000 to 60,000 Koreans lived in the San Fernando Valley in 2008.[14]
In addition, by 2008 Korean communities had appeared inCerritos andHacienda Heights in Los Angeles County, andBuena Park andFullerton in Orange County.[14]
Also, a long standing community, known asKoreatown or Little Seoul has been inGarden Grove since the 1970s. This formed the center of the Korean Community ofOrange County which later spread out toBuena Park,Fullerton,Cypress, andIrvine.[16]
As of 2008, 257,975 Korean Americans lived inLos Angeles,Orange County,Ventura,San Bernardino, andRiverside counties, making up 25% of all of the Korean Americans. As of that year, over 46,000 Koreans lived inKoreatown, making up 20.1% of the residents there. Koreatown, in addition to Koreans, houses other ethnic groups.[6]
By 1988, in Los Angeles, many Korean stores had opened in African-American neighborhoods, and by then several boycotts by African-Americans of Korean businesses had occurred.[17] By that time many Korean garment manufacturers acted as middlemen by employing Hispanic workers and selling product to White-owned manufacturers of clothing.[18]
In 2014 the federal government ran a raid against business operations that it accused of being money laundering. By 2015 some Korean business owners stated that they may take their operations out of Los Angeles due to a reduction in Latin American customers, an increasing minimum wage, and stricter governmental enforcement of labor laws, all occurring after the 2014 raid.[19]
TheKorean Bell of Friendship is located inSan Pedro.
According to Park (1998) the violence against Korean Americans in 1992 stimulated a new wave of political activism among Korean Americans, but it also split them into two main camps. The "liberals" sought to unite with other minorities in Los Angeles to fight against racial oppression and scapegoating. The "conservatives," emphasized law and order and generally favored the economic and social policies of the Republican Party. The conservatives tended to emphasize the political differences between Koreans and other minorities, specifically blacks and Hispanics.[20] Abelmann and Lie, (1997) report that the most profound result was the politicization of Korean Americans, all across the U.S. The younger generation especially realized they had been too uninvolved in American politics, and the riot shifted their political attention from South Korea to conditions in the United States.[21]
TheWilshire Private School (formerly Hankook School, Wilshire Elementary School, and Wilshire School), a private day school, located inKoreatown.[22] The Korean Institute of Southern California (KISC, 남가주한국학원/南加州韓國學院) operated this school.[23]
Schools which served the children of the first wave of Korean immigrants includedLos Angeles High School,Manual Arts High School, and theJames A. Foshay Learning Center.[2]
The KISC and the Korean School Association of America (KSAA, 미주한국학교연합회/美洲韓國學校聯合會) operate weekend Korean language schools, with a combined total of 16,059 students. As of 2003 the KISC operated 12 schools, employing 147 teachers and enrolling 5,048 students.[24] In 1992 there were 152 schools in Greater Los Angeles registered with the KSAA.[25] In 2003 the KSAA had 244 schools, employing 1,820 teachers and enrolling 13,659 students.[24] The number of KSAA-registered schools increased to 254 in 2005.[25]
As of 1988 one of the KISC campuses was inVan Nuys.[26]
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