Just went on a 3 video binge of your channel. No idea how I found you, but I am glad the UA-cam algorithm brought me here! Here are a couple of feedback items: 1.) Wilshire Blvd is pronounced Will-Shur 2.) Litter, homeless tents, and dilapidated store fronts are common throughout much of urban LA. But it tends to be especially pronounced in Koreatown. It is one of the densest and poorest neighborhoods in Southern California (a combination that often results in unkept looking sidewalks). The situation is made worse by the fact that Koreatown has been gerrymandered severely by political interests, so it's hard for residents to easily coordinate on municipal services and demand clear accountability from city council. The fact that Koreatown lacks a full sized green space/park is case in point of how little their elected leaders care. 3.) Cities like LA, NYC, SF, have seen commercial corridors severely lag in their COVID rebounds. Lots of empty storefronts in various parts of Manhattan NY too. 4.) Yes there is lots of new residential development happening. But that's more a function of that fact that NIMBYISM is weaker in Koreatown compared with other neighborhoods. We will take new housing wherever we can get it, as this entire region is in severe housing shortage. Anyways. Thanks for the content. Liked and subscribed.
The Purple Line subway is being extended all the way down Wilshire to the VA hospital. That, and it already going downtown, with other connections, is probably one of the main reasons for all the apartment construction nearby. Hopefully the new residents will use the subway and other public transportation as much as possible.
Yup! And Im super excited for the development. I am curious though what is the number of people that travel east to west across LA for work. For example, I mainly travel north to south for work, so the purple libe extension wouldnt be useful for me. That being said, still super excited about it.
That's what I'm planning on doing when I (hopefully) move there later this year or next year. Keep a car for longer commutes but use the rail whenever possible
Regarding 8th Street, all those businesses are open! You just go through the back. It's mostly for safety, and Ktown businesses have a long history of closing their front doors but keeping their back entrances open. A great example is Hanbat Sulun Tang; they added a sign to their back entrance as they grew in popularity over the years.
0:58 Olympic Blvd is treacherous. They need to slow it down to 25 mph. They need to replace a car lane with a bike lane and add a bus lane by removing street parking. They have way too much street parking in KTown. There is the Purple Line, decent bus service, and it's walkable.
I think a dedicated bus lane would be smart. A bike lane on olympic seems a bit scary for now. They should first town down traffic a bit. I think the adjacent local street lanes however would benefit from bike lanes
Koreatown is cool, but I had to move out a few years back when someone got a full clip emptied into them from a 45 caliber handgun right in front of my street level apartment window. There are lots of cool, older low-density apartment buildings with nice vintage interiors etc. It's a very convenient place to live with lots of charm...but also lots of bullets. :)
I'd love to see some green space in Koreatown as well as protected bike lanes or separated bike paths. I see so many people ride their bikes on sidewalks because the main roads like Wilshire and Western, among others, are too dangerous to ride on. I ride my bike on the sidewalk on big streets like those as well, and it seems pointless when we have such an opportunity to ease traffic and make Koreatown easier and less expensive to get around in with protected bike lanes.
hey, I’m from Brazil and i really liked ur video! My hometown, São Paulo, is a really massive city and very car friendly really similar to LA, but here the changes are a bit slower. Nice to nice how LA is handling things. Success!!
A lot has changed. I used to walk at 8th street going to Olympic blv. for Boba. The intersection at Wilshire I used to work in one of the bldg. there. So many memories.
Koreatown may be a jumbled mess architecturally but I enjoy the fact that it looks like Epcot Center on shuffle. I'm less fond of the stroad vibe of Olympic Blvd, gives me Queens Blvd vibes... As a side note, I called that Bora 3170 property for my job earlier today!
My kinda channel! Instant sub! @01:45 It's so nice to see these pop up! We hear a lot about how difficult it is to have them built, but rarely successful attempts like these! These look like what you can find in dense Parisian suburbs. I also notice how visible electric cables are. @02:13 Paris Baguette? Somehow I feel like there's a lie somewhere. @03:13 Versailles? Is this a joke? 😂 @06:36 Wow, four! You can't even use them on both sides! You could quadruple the parking space by tilting them by 90 degrees! Thanks for this exploration of a neighbourhood I never heard about!
Thanks for sub :). Ironically, Paris Baguette is popular Korean chain in the United States. They're common both in LA and NYC. Versailles, has to be a joke. Although, I do see a common trend in LA of naming things after things Americans associate with wealth and grandeur. In regards to bike racks, this is something the US does incredibly poorly. Just seeing this is sort of a surprise.
@@funkycrackhead4561 Haha, it's definitely not an accurate depiction of Parisian baked goods. That being said, they usually do have baguettes on early mornings in the corner of the shop :)
I'm optimistic when traffic gets worse. People have different breaking points and start looking into alternative options like public transit or biking. Once these alternative gain more optics, it'll push for more development in this areas. So I say let traffic get worse. This was one reason why I started taking public transit to work. It was only 10-15 minutes more than driving and but It's 100X more pleasant when I can just chill instead of dealing with traffic.
K-town’s boundaries vary depending on who you ask but I generally consider it to go all the way up to Beverly. The section between 3rd and Beverly has a lot of bungalows, two-story apartment buildings, and even a decently sized single-family home area. Normandie Ave, between 7th and 8th, has a lot of old historic brick apartment buildings giving the street a NY vibe. I’ve heard some people even refer to that street as Little NY due to the similar style apartment buildings.
I’m from russia, not from omsk, although I’ve been there a few times, … anyway never heard anyone calling wilshire as wil-shire during my couple years I’ve spent in LA😬
In terms of transit running north-south, the K line will have an extension running through from the E line, future D line station (Wilshire/Fairfax likley) and the B line. While it won't run directly at Koreatown (it's gonna run through Mid-City and Fairfax area), residents will have more transit flexibility soon albeit with a required transfer.
i’ve been in ktown since 2010 and right now ktown is split into 3 categories, dangerous homeless people lurking the streets, fun walks throughout the main streets, and overpriced condos and apartments.. that’s all there is here. most the newer condos and apartments complexes you showed are half vacant to this day. They usually start at $2500 for a single(no bedroom just a large single room) and go up to $3900+ monthly.. nobody can afford hose spots. i found ktown to be an excellent area to take long walks and find random people to talk to, i’ve found that a lot of randoms here are friendly
there was pacific electric trolley line on venice blvd till the 1960's. Bus and bike lanes could reduce traffic a lot. A full-fledged metre system like nyc could as well, an underground car tunnel like in seattle waterfront or boston, all this is very expensive
Used to hang out at K-town back in the days. Even back then I dont know any Korean friends who lived in that area. They all drive to K-town from OC to Valley area to party. Only K-people who lived there are mostly not so well off or FOBs. There was no homeless problem like do today.
agreed with comment below, but culver city has the same issue, they built new apartment complexes, separated the stroads into car lanes, dedicated bus lane and bike lane, BUT a couple years after that fcking car drivers pushes to the local government that these bus and bike lanes makes it hard to drive (oh, poor babies), so first of all the US must fight against the car-depended-mindset as they did against smoking some times back, then build light-train lines in the middle of the stroads, dedicated bus lanes, bike lanes etc…
I would love to see street cars across all major blvd's in Los Angeles. It's strange to me that LA has adopted the mindset that the only form of public transit is light rail and busses. I've also never thought about comparing car dependency to smoking. I wonder if the country needs as hardcore of an ad campaign to get the idea to sink in.
@@timwalks Why was a council-member appointed to city council by other council members instead of calling for a special election? You'd have to ask disgraced former council-member Nury Martinez from CD6. The council president who appointed Heather Hutt to CD10.
@@timwalks and it doesn't help because Heather Hutt is the only person blocking La Brea bus lanes extension, hasn't moved forward with any proposed projects that improve pedestrian infrastructure, and honestly her office has NEVER answered any of my inquiries through any method of communication.
I grew up here. I would always pass by the Versailles apartments while on my way to the Ralphs on Wilshire and Western. Some of the apartments in that area use fake grass near the sidewalk and all these people that walk their dogs have their dogs piss on that fake grass, resulting in that entire place smalling like dog piss and poop. I'm also shocked to see how many stores have closed down on 8th street. There used to be an art shop where the video shows at 5:27. So sad to see how filthy its gotten. These ugly modern boxy apartments are also SO EXPENSIVE, no wonder the entire neighborhood shops are closing down. The rent is climbing sky high, people are unable to afford rent and they get bought out by the developers. Koreatown is starting to lose a lot of what made it unique. Also, I have had my bicycle stolen in Koreatown 3 times. It's almost guaranteed that you bicycle WILL get stolen. Lastly, LA can build outwards with public transit all it wants... the issue is the crime! More people are opting to use a car everywhere they go because of the massive increase of crime on the public transit. It's almost everyday that you hear on the news of some major violent assault on the metro train or bus lines. How are you supposed to encourage people to ride the metro when you fear for your life every time you enter the train or bus? Living in Koreatown all my life, I never had much problem of fearing for my life while riding the bus or metro, even when I was in my early teens in the 2010s like riding the 30/330 or the 720 lines, (except two minor sexual harassment instances while drunk). It's virtually unavoidable if you ride the public LA transportation. However, I have noticed that it's gotten noticeably worse as time progressed.. I'm seeing more graffiti, more homeless people, more street tents, more deranged street lunatics, and more garbage where there was none 3, 5, 10, years ago. I am also seeing less mom-n-pop shops and less beautiful vintage single-family unit homes. The entire place is becoming an ugly urban hellscape and not the Koreatown I knew when growing up there. I don't understand who would want to live there now.
I have to disagree about crime on transit. The majority of crime on public transit is media overblown hysteria. This is not to say crime doesnt happen or that crime is not a problem in LA, it is. But the transit system is way way way safer than driving on the highway. I had many friends suffer injuries driving in LA during my time there. Not once did I hear or see anyone have a violent issue on the metro. The difference is the headline "Man attacked on LA subway" is a much sexier headline than "10th car accident occured on the 405 today alone".
I'm all for more developments, but yeah the style is weird. They seem to try to mix the "millennial" style building you might see in Brooklyn or Boston with the 70's-80's era Brutalist architecture of Los Angeles. Overall seems weird. I also think they are still grappling with the idea that apartments are supposed to be dense. These individual apartments are still massive compared to apartments in most other cities.
All of those buildings are hideous 🤢 What a tasteless, aesthetically challenged place. I blame the developers and the planning department for approving these hastily designed money grab “luxury” apartments
![Huge KOREAN FOOD Tour!! 🌶️ SPICY SEAFOOD + Kimchi Noodles in Koreatown, LA!! [Part 1]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/eATsI9WVVck/mqdefault.jpg)
Just went on a 3 video binge of your channel. No idea how I found you, but I am glad the UA-cam algorithm brought me here! Here are a couple of feedback items:
1.) Wilshire Blvd is pronounced Will-Shur
2.) Litter, homeless tents, and dilapidated store fronts are common throughout much of urban LA. But it tends to be especially pronounced in Koreatown. It is one of the densest and poorest neighborhoods in Southern California (a combination that often results in unkept looking sidewalks). The situation is made worse by the fact that Koreatown has been gerrymandered severely by political interests, so it's hard for residents to easily coordinate on municipal services and demand clear accountability from city council. The fact that Koreatown lacks a full sized green space/park is case in point of how little their elected leaders care.
3.) Cities like LA, NYC, SF, have seen commercial corridors severely lag in their COVID rebounds. Lots of empty storefronts in various parts of Manhattan NY too.
4.) Yes there is lots of new residential development happening. But that's more a function of that fact that NIMBYISM is weaker in Koreatown compared with other neighborhoods. We will take new housing wherever we can get it, as this entire region is in severe housing shortage.
Anyways. Thanks for the content. Liked and subscribed.
Great points
“Los Angeles-Korea Town the old almanac a lot of GREAT times living here 🥲😁 some day soon I’ll come back!!!⏰👍
The Purple Line subway is being extended all the way down Wilshire to the VA hospital. That, and it already going downtown, with other connections, is probably one of the main reasons for all the apartment construction nearby. Hopefully the new residents will use the subway and other public transportation as much as possible.
Yup! And Im super excited for the development. I am curious though what is the number of people that travel east to west across LA for work. For example, I mainly travel north to south for work, so the purple libe extension wouldnt be useful for me. That being said, still super excited about it.
That's what I'm planning on doing when I (hopefully) move there later this year or next year. Keep a car for longer commutes but use the rail whenever possible
Regarding 8th Street, all those businesses are open! You just go through the back. It's mostly for safety, and Ktown businesses have a long history of closing their front doors but keeping their back entrances open. A great example is Hanbat Sulun Tang; they added a sign to their back entrance as they grew in popularity over the years.
I just moved to LA from London England so Im loving these educational videos
0:58 Olympic Blvd is treacherous. They need to slow it down to 25 mph. They need to replace a car lane with a bike lane and add a bus lane by removing street parking. They have way too much street parking in KTown. There is the Purple Line, decent bus service, and it's walkable.
I think having a center running bus lane go down Olympic would be very useful.
I think a dedicated bus lane would be smart. A bike lane on olympic seems a bit scary for now. They should first town down traffic a bit. I think the adjacent local street lanes however would benefit from bike lanes
Koreatown is cool, but I had to move out a few years back when someone got a full clip emptied into them from a 45 caliber handgun right in front of my street level apartment window. There are lots of cool, older low-density apartment buildings with nice vintage interiors etc. It's a very convenient place to live with lots of charm...but also lots of bullets. :)
Yeah 18 st and MS claim that area. I think they started there.
@@nategz9875 Yep, MS13 is the home team in KTown! :)
Which part of K-Town was this?
@@theycallmenini4330 On the same block as The Prince restaurant.
I'd love to see some green space in Koreatown as well as protected bike lanes or separated bike paths. I see so many people ride their bikes on sidewalks because the main roads like Wilshire and Western, among others, are too dangerous to ride on. I ride my bike on the sidewalk on big streets like those as well, and it seems pointless when we have such an opportunity to ease traffic and make Koreatown easier and less expensive to get around in with protected bike lanes.
hey, I’m from Brazil and i really liked ur video! My hometown, São Paulo, is a really massive city and very car friendly really similar to LA, but here the changes are a bit slower. Nice to nice how LA is handling things. Success!!
Thanks! I appreciate the words of encouragement :)
A lot has changed. I used to walk at 8th street going to Olympic blv. for Boba. The intersection at Wilshire I used to work in one of the bldg. there. So many memories.
Koreatown may be a jumbled mess architecturally but I enjoy the fact that it looks like Epcot Center on shuffle. I'm less fond of the stroad vibe of Olympic Blvd, gives me Queens Blvd vibes... As a side note, I called that Bora 3170 property for my job earlier today!
Oh man, I love Queens, but Queens Blvd is a whole different nightmare
Haven't been to K-town since before the pandemic. Please enjoy all the good eats for me!!
My kinda channel! Instant sub!
@01:45 It's so nice to see these pop up! We hear a lot about how difficult it is to have them built, but rarely successful attempts like these! These look like what you can find in dense Parisian suburbs.
I also notice how visible electric cables are.
@02:13 Paris Baguette? Somehow I feel like there's a lie somewhere.
@03:13 Versailles? Is this a joke? 😂
@06:36 Wow, four! You can't even use them on both sides! You could quadruple the parking space by tilting them by 90 degrees!
Thanks for this exploration of a neighbourhood I never heard about!
Thanks for sub :).
Ironically, Paris Baguette is popular Korean chain in the United States. They're common both in LA and NYC. Versailles, has to be a joke. Although, I do see a common trend in LA of naming things after things Americans associate with wealth and grandeur. In regards to bike racks, this is something the US does incredibly poorly. Just seeing this is sort of a surprise.
Born and raised in Paris, currently living in Koreatown. Trust me, you won't find any baguettes in Paris Baguette.
@@funkycrackhead4561 Haha, it's definitely not an accurate depiction of Parisian baked goods. That being said, they usually do have baguettes on early mornings in the corner of the shop :)
I'm optimistic when traffic gets worse. People have different breaking points and start looking into alternative options like public transit or biking. Once these alternative gain more optics, it'll push for more development in this areas. So I say let traffic get worse. This was one reason why I started taking public transit to work. It was only 10-15 minutes more than driving and but It's 100X more pleasant when I can just chill instead of dealing with traffic.
I think you are correct, but I generally hate this reactionary style to urban planning.
K-town’s boundaries vary depending on who you ask but I generally consider it to go all the way up to Beverly. The section between 3rd and Beverly has a lot of bungalows, two-story apartment buildings, and even a decently sized single-family home area. Normandie Ave, between 7th and 8th, has a lot of old historic brick apartment buildings giving the street a NY vibe. I’ve heard some people even refer to that street as Little NY due to the similar style apartment buildings.
Ive noticed this as well. Some of the apartments even advertise themselves as "New York Style"
“Wil-Shire”? Did you just move to LA, or are you writing this from Omsk Russia?
How do you pronounce it? I don't think, Ive hear it pronounced any other way haha
I’m from russia, not from omsk, although I’ve been there a few times, … anyway never heard anyone calling wilshire as wil-shire during my couple years I’ve spent in LA😬
@@timwalks Wil-sure
@@ibrahimhussain9214 well-sure
Bro just finished watching Lord of the Rings
In terms of transit running north-south, the K line will have an extension running through from the E line, future D line station (Wilshire/Fairfax likley) and the B line. While it won't run directly at Koreatown (it's gonna run through Mid-City and Fairfax area), residents will have more transit flexibility soon albeit with a required transfer.
i’ve been in ktown since 2010 and right now ktown is split into 3 categories, dangerous homeless people lurking the streets, fun walks throughout the main streets, and overpriced condos and apartments.. that’s all there is here. most the newer condos and apartments complexes you showed are half vacant to this day. They usually start at $2500 for a single(no bedroom just a large single room) and go up to $3900+ monthly.. nobody can afford hose spots.
i found ktown to be an excellent area to take long walks and find random people to talk to, i’ve found that a lot of randoms here are friendly
Where would be a good area to live? Trying to be walkable to bars and grocery stores.
Great video!
My only issue is how he says Willshire. Its Will-sure not WIll-Shire. 😁
I agree. He obviously is not from L.A.
there was pacific electric trolley line on venice blvd till the 1960's. Bus and bike lanes could reduce traffic a lot. A full-fledged metre system like nyc could as well, an underground car tunnel like in seattle waterfront or boston, all this is very expensive
Great video
ita funny that ktown is inspired by korean culture but didnt get any of that korean urban upgrades 🙃
Yeah, Ive thought about this quite a bit. I do wonder how the more senior Korean locals feel about that.
What do you mean by urban upgrades?
Wil- sheer not Wil-shire
Ver-sigh not Ver-sales
The developers are Wall Street investors. They don't care about anything but themselves
Wil-shur
but yeah, you can spot a transplant by how they pronounce the streets
@@GetUnwoke his head must explode when he sees Cahuenga and La Cienega.
Used to hang out at K-town back in the days. Even back then I dont know any Korean friends who lived in that area. They all drive to K-town from OC to Valley area to party. Only K-people who lived there are mostly not so well off or FOBs. There was no homeless problem like do today.
Is South Mariposa is South Mariposa apart of Koreatown
Ha! I saw my building
How much for rent 🤔? 1bed room?
when I lived there it was 1600. I don't think you'll find that anymore though.
Can you do a video please on Chinatown Los Angeles ?
All the new apartments are crazy expensive! You can't live alone.
that's anywhere in LA
the desirable areas anyway..... and then there's the san fernando valley lol
My city.
agreed with comment below, but culver city has the same issue, they built new apartment complexes, separated the stroads into car lanes, dedicated bus lane and bike lane, BUT a couple years after that fcking car drivers pushes to the local government that these bus and bike lanes makes it hard to drive (oh, poor babies), so first of all the US must fight against the car-depended-mindset as they did against smoking some times back, then build light-train lines in the middle of the stroads, dedicated bus lanes, bike lanes etc…
I would love to see street cars across all major blvd's in Los Angeles. It's strange to me that LA has adopted the mindset that the only form of public transit is light rail and busses.
I've also never thought about comparing car dependency to smoking. I wonder if the country needs as hardcore of an ad campaign to get the idea to sink in.
It doesn’t help that City District 10 hasn’t been able to elect a councilmember and instead one was appointed by the city council
Why is that?
@@timwalks Why was a council-member appointed to city council by other council members instead of calling for a special election?
You'd have to ask disgraced former council-member Nury Martinez from CD6. The council president who appointed Heather Hutt to CD10.
@@timwalks and it doesn't help because Heather Hutt is the only person blocking La Brea bus lanes extension, hasn't moved forward with any proposed projects that improve pedestrian infrastructure, and honestly her office has NEVER answered any of my inquiries through any method of communication.
@@AlexanderKorotkov42 respect for trying
Low-rise Spanish & Euro style apartments are near 100 y.o. ... 1 br w/ living, dining & garage 3000ish
SO VISIT NEXT TIME POPPY WESTERN AND 9TH
I grew up here. I would always pass by the Versailles apartments while on my way to the Ralphs on Wilshire and Western. Some of the apartments in that area use fake grass near the sidewalk and all these people that walk their dogs have their dogs piss on that fake grass, resulting in that entire place smalling like dog piss and poop. I'm also shocked to see how many stores have closed down on 8th street. There used to be an art shop where the video shows at 5:27. So sad to see how filthy its gotten. These ugly modern boxy apartments are also SO EXPENSIVE, no wonder the entire neighborhood shops are closing down. The rent is climbing sky high, people are unable to afford rent and they get bought out by the developers. Koreatown is starting to lose a lot of what made it unique. Also, I have had my bicycle stolen in Koreatown 3 times. It's almost guaranteed that you bicycle WILL get stolen.
Lastly, LA can build outwards with public transit all it wants... the issue is the crime! More people are opting to use a car everywhere they go because of the massive increase of crime on the public transit. It's almost everyday that you hear on the news of some major violent assault on the metro train or bus lines. How are you supposed to encourage people to ride the metro when you fear for your life every time you enter the train or bus? Living in Koreatown all my life, I never had much problem of fearing for my life while riding the bus or metro, even when I was in my early teens in the 2010s like riding the 30/330 or the 720 lines, (except two minor sexual harassment instances while drunk). It's virtually unavoidable if you ride the public LA transportation. However, I have noticed that it's gotten noticeably worse as time progressed.. I'm seeing more graffiti, more homeless people, more street tents, more deranged street lunatics, and more garbage where there was none 3, 5, 10, years ago. I am also seeing less mom-n-pop shops and less beautiful vintage single-family unit homes. The entire place is becoming an ugly urban hellscape and not the Koreatown I knew when growing up there. I don't understand who would want to live there now.
I have to disagree about crime on transit. The majority of crime on public transit is media overblown hysteria. This is not to say crime doesnt happen or that crime is not a problem in LA, it is. But the transit system is way way way safer than driving on the highway. I had many friends suffer injuries driving in LA during my time there. Not once did I hear or see anyone have a violent issue on the metro. The difference is the headline "Man attacked on LA subway" is a much sexier headline than "10th car accident occured on the 405 today alone".
I’m moving out of la
that's a fair decision
alright so you must have just moved to LA by the way you pronounce Wilshire and you're already complaining about the city/neighborhood
Overall, seems like a crappy place to live or move to. More tent cities in LA, unaffordable housing and traffic problems.
I hate the blocky modern style and I hate how big and bulky the developments are. There is no diversity in ownership and use
I'm all for more developments, but yeah the style is weird. They seem to try to mix the "millennial" style building you might see in Brooklyn or Boston with the 70's-80's era Brutalist architecture of Los Angeles. Overall seems weird. I also think they are still grappling with the idea that apartments are supposed to be dense. These individual apartments are still massive compared to apartments in most other cities.
Pronounce it Wil-SURE not Will-SHIRE please!!
Haha got it
KTown will give your ass a ticket quick LMAO
You should RESEARCH the History of Los Angeles. It's obvious you're not from L.A.
🤙
All of those buildings are hideous 🤢
What a tasteless, aesthetically challenged place. I blame the developers and the planning department for approving these hastily designed money grab “luxury” apartments
Too scary place .i never visit again
Dude, please!!!! Please!!! Don't pronounce Wilshire like that again please!!!
Pronounced "Wil-sure"
Good info throughout. A nit: Wilshire is “Will-sure,” not “Will-shy-er”