History of Koreatown Told Through Photographs

July 25, 2011 - PRLog -- The newest addition to Arcadia Publishing’s popular Images of America series is Los Angeles’s Koreatown from local author Katherine Yungmee Kim. The book boasts more than 200 vintage images and memories of days gone by.

Koreatown, located in the Mid-Wilshire district of Los Angeles, is the heart and nexus for Koreans in America. In the early 20th century, a small Korean community—many of whom were active leaders and supporters of the Korean independence movement—initially settled around Bunker Hill.

The community migrated in the 1930s toward Jefferson Boulevard, near the University of Southern California, to an area known as Old Koreatown. By the late 1960s, following the freeway construction boom and the Hart-Cellar Act of 1965, Korean markets, restaurants, and businesses began to blossom along Olympic Boulevard.

Today, Koreatown is a thriving urban center where Koreans, Hispanics, and Bangladeshis coreside in one of the most densely populated and diverse sections of Los Angeles. Its boundaries were officially designated by the Los Angeles City Council on August 20, 2010.

Highlights of Los Angeles’s Koreatown:
•   The first wave
•   Old Koreatown
•   Work War II, the Korean War, and the second wave
•   The Los Angeles riots
•   Rebuilding and the future

Available at area bookstores, independent retailers, and online retailers, or through Arcadia Publishing at www.arcadiapublishing.com or
(888)-313-2665.

# # #

With more than 6,000 local history titles published to date, Arcadia Publishing is the leading publisher of local and regional history in the United States. Widely recognized sepia books feature hundreds of vintage historical images.