UNDERSTANDING THE RIOTS PART 5 : THE PATH TO RECOVERY : ETHNIC COALITIONS : Reinvent Koreatown From the Center to the Sidewalks

Recovery and rebuilding has sadly had to become part of the Korean character. To survive, we have had to recover from the Mongol invasions of a century ago, from brutal colonization by the Japanese 75 years ago and from the Korean War 40 years ago. Rebuilding Koreatown is in the Korean character.

Koreans have been immigrating to Los Angeles in large numbers for the last 25 years and had largely redeveloped the somewhat tawdry portion of Olympic Boulevard into an active community for their burgeoning population.

The real-estate boom years of the 1970s and ‘80s, in which Korean-Americans participated, saw a proliferation along Olympic Boulevard of some of the most profane examples of strip commercial and mini-mall development in the city. The resulting streets are dominated by pedestrian-hostile environments of storefront parking lots and sidewalks punctuated with “curbcuts,” or driveways.

This design hostility is a real irony because even in the very modern city of Seoul, where most Korean-Americans have come from, walking is still the predominant means of getting around. In that city of 10,500,000 people, in the most popular gathering places such as Myong-dong (a booming neighborhood of shops, clubs, offices and residents), pedestrians reign, spilling out onto the streets.

The unfriendly architecture that was embraced in Koreatown occurred because zoning allowed it and because it was a “formula driven,” easily financed development scheme. It fulfilled a need for incubator retail space for the many immigrant shopkeepers. The Olympic area became one of the largest concentrations of real-estate developments financed by individuals and operated by individual family entrepreneurs. Much of that was charred by flames.

Koreans will overcome the charred ruins of Olympic Boulevard, Western Avenue and Vermont Boulevard, just as we have overcome historical destruction. There is now an opportunity for us to look forward and see how Koreatown might be improved. There is a spirit among the Koreans that we compare to the tempering of steel: Through heat, it is strengthened. This was clear the day after the rioting stopped, when tens of thousands of Koreans marched in the streets demonstrating their resolve.

Physical rebuilding is extremely complex and arduous. The very thought of threading one’s way through the regulatory maze of government land-use regulations is challenging. Attracting conventional financing for a real-estate project was difficult even before the rioting and fires because of the chaos within the lending industry. This backdrop of chaos makes financing Koreatown rebuilding a monumental task.

That, however, is not the greatest challenge. The larger challenge is creating a Koreatown that truly functions for Koreans in their adopted new home. The strength of a new Koreatown must be found by tapping into that great well of historic strength of the Korean. It must also be built with the clear recognition that Koreatown exists within a larger context. It must be built with the understanding of the immediate community, which is ethnically different and should be welcomed. It must also have an openness that invites non-Koreans to explore and experience that which is Korean. This has not always been the case.

Koreans started investing in the area in the 1970s and began referring to the area as Koreatown, much to the chagrin of some Japanese-Americans who had grown up in the area, known to many as “Uptown,” and to the largely Latino residents. As more and more Korean investments almost totally changed the character of Olympic, Vermont, Western and other major boulevards, the identification of Koreatown as a landmark area became more widespread. The predominant residential population, however, has remained non-Korean.

Koreans from around the region, and around the world, are drawn to Koreatown. It’s not that there aren’t Korean markets, restaurants and churches throughout Southern California. It is simply that the largest concentration of the best, biggest, newest and oldest for the community exist in Koreatown. It is the place where Koreans go for special shopping, wedding, funeral or birthday banquets, or to entertain business clients and out-of-town guests. Newly arrived Koreans seek apartments in the area, and public schools provide instruction in Korean as well as Spanish and English. Korean-language television and radio stations and the three daily newspapers are all headquartered here.

Although non-Koreans are aware of Koreatown, their sense of the place is a little more amorphous. To them, Koreatown is a series of large mini-shopping centers cluttered with hangul (Korean) writing. Non-Koreans “in the know” can direct others to a favorite restaurant, Woo Lae Oak on Western, or the best place to buy kim chee, Plaza Market, but generally, there is no sense of where the center of Koreatown really is.

Koreans have a similar problem. Although a Korean will not encounter language, cultural or orientation problems, there is no recognizable town center that they can identify. There is no historic, cultural or otherwise symbolic center. There is no civic center, no town square, no landmark.

There is now a significant opportunity to create a better Koreatown, one that may actually fill in some of the previous shortfalls, including a town center.

The idea is not new. Italian cities, with their piazzas, and ancient walled Chinese models have symbolic centers where people gathered for civic affairs or other rites. Even in Los Angeles, with little urbane maturity, there is a history of a “centers” model. More than 25 years ago, then-Los Angeles Planning Director Calvin Hamilton proposed a vision of the city based on a series of city centers punctuating the map.

After more than two decades of unrelenting campaigning, Mayor Tom Bradley is finally realizing his dream of a rapid-transit system for Los Angeles. Koreatown is to be directly served by three stations on the next segment of Red Line construction. The opportunity of making a true civic, cultural Koreatown center connected to the region is real. The majority of the immigrant Koreans in Los Angeles is comfortable with mass transit and population densities typical of most world cities other than Los Angeles. Koreans are the ideal population to create a center model for Los Angeles and to take advantage of the Metrorail.

A center has certain physical functions as well as important symbolic and social functions. Physically, the center should be an employment, residential and cultural arts place. It should be a place of landmark proportion. It should be distinct and yet bridge back to the existing environment and neighborhoods, of which it is a part.

Imagine five or six acres of land with 500 or even 1,000 new apartments, a community center with day care and senior and youth recreational facilities. Imagine, if you will, a 20-story office tower offering employment for the rapidly emerging professional class. Add to this restaurants and retail stores, all within a pedestrian framework and linked to the region by a billion-dollar public transit system.

The community has learned how to build mini-malls. Now it is time to move on to better things.

Symbolically, it would provide a focal point for the community. A place where Koreans can feel empowered by being in their own environment. A visit to any Japanese-American celebration at the Isamu Noguchi Plaza in Little Tokyo or Cinco de Mayo at Plaza de la Raza demonstrates the importance of a symbolic place.

Equally important, a center would provide entry to non-Koreans. It would provide a way to begin to understand the Korean community. It also would provide a way for the Korean to start to reach out to non-Koreans, inviting them to participate in the Korean-American community.

Koreans are like any other individuals, however, and at this time of individual crisis they can be expected to follow their instincts, which could lead to duplication of the proven mini-malls, unrelated to each other and unfriendly to community and visitor alike. The will and the character of the community can and should support the more desirable. And the expertise exists to realize the dream. It will not happen, however, without the guiding hand of a master plan. It is critical for community leaders to come up with a a vision and find the political, financial and development tools to make it happen.

Interestingly, most everything mentioned here about the rebuilding of a Koreatown with an identifiable center could as easily apply to South Los Angeles. Are you listening, Mr. Ueberroth?