Koreatown is a central Los Angeles, California neighborhood centered near Eighth Street and Irolo Street. Koreans began immigrating in larger numbers in the 1960s and found housing in the Mid-Wilshire area. Many opened businesses as they found to rent and tolerance toward the growing Korean population. Many of the historic Art deco buildings with terra cotta façades have been preserved because the buildings remained economically viable for the new businesses. Despite the name evoking a traditional ethnic enclave, the community is complex and has an impact on areas outside the traditional boundaries. While the neighborhood culture was historically oriented to the Korean immigrant population, Korean business owners are creating stronger ties to the Latino community in Koreatown. The community is ethnically diverse, with half the residents being Latino and a third Asian. Two-thirds of the residents were born outside of the United States, a high figure compared to the rest of the city. Bed Bug Exterminator LA King
Founding of Koreatown
In the early 1900s, Koreans clustered around the downtown Los Angeles Bunker Hill area. This housing segregation was due to racial covenant laws restricting them to mixed-race, low-income districts. By the 1930s, Koreans began to move to Jefferson Boulevard between Western and Vermont Avenue. The next major shift began in the 1960s. As the African American population increased in southern Los Angeles, California, middle-class White Americans began to move out of the mid-Wilshire district. The area north of Olympic Boulevard transitioned from a predominantly white suburb to a home for Asian residents. The area has become the mainstay of the Korean American community, although varying sources have established dif ferent boundaries for Koreatown. In 1980, the neighborhood of Koreatown was officially designated by Los Angeles.
Los Angeles, CA has set the official boundaries for Koreatown: Vermont Avenue on the east, Western Avenue on the west, Third Street on the north, and Olympic Boulevard on the south. A business corridor about 3/4 of a mile along Western Avenue to Rosewood Avenue is also included as part of Koreatown. In 2010, the City of Los Angeles considered expanding Koreatown further west to include Wilshire Park and Park Mile. The request was rejected, and the committee reiterated that the western boundary for Koreatown was at Western Avenue. The Koreatown Regional Commercial Center runs along Olympic Boulevard and is “generally bounded by Eighth Street on the north, Twelfth Street on the south, Western Avenue on the west, and continues east towards Vermont Avenue,” according to the Wilshire Community Plan of the City of Los Angeles.
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