Next to me was a man I’d never met before, eating a burrito that smelled like heaven.
There we met the truck’s ownera man we later learned was named Roy Choi.
He was taking his new Kogi BBQ truck on its first weekend tour of Los Angeles.
From left: Gamjatang, a spicy pork stew, at Ham Ji Park; Caroline Cho, the owner of Dan Sung Sa.DYLAN + JENI
Gone now: Le Cercle, my twenties, sharing food with strangers, the Sizzler.
He had it built in a traditional architectural style, with imported blue tiles.
My grandmother, who turned 91 this year, has lived there since I was a kid.
From left: A mural by the Oaxacan art collective Lapiztola at Guelaguetza restaurant; a seating nook at the Yellow House Café.DYLAN + JENI
“Every restaurant is busy,” Lopez said.
“People want to go out and eat, and I don’t blame them.”
“What more can I want, right?
Palm trees line the streets of L.A.’s Koreatown.DYLAN + JENI
It’s not just me.
It was everyone in the whole world.”
“A Korean building serving up regional Mexican food is the essence of L.A.
Works by artist Gala Porras-Kim at Commonwealth & Council.DYLAN + JENI
The wooden counters and walls are seasoned with friendly graffiti and decades of charcoal smoke and spilled soju.
It’s an enormous, eye-catching structure, splashy and modern next to the Byzantine Revival temple.
The promiscuous cultural mix is what gives Koreatown its particular energy.
The Wiltern Theatre, an Art Deco landmark built in 1931, on Wilshire Boulevard.DYLAN + JENI
The music pounds at nightclub volume from about 7 p.m.
It’s a classic dive with a nautical theme, as worn and comfortable as an old favorite sweatshirt.
And while the neighborhood has changed, the Bounty has stayed the same.
From left: Spl. Coffee owners Karen Lee and Jonathan Dizon; iced espresso drinks at the café.DYLAN + JENI
Koreatown is L.A. concentrate.
you might find magic and hardship on any night, on any street.
My friends and I lingered for hours, drinking Gimlets and Manhattans, then hopped over to thePrince.
At that time it was a fried-chicken-and-soju kind of place with a middle-aged Korean crowd.
Now it gets busy even on weeknights and attracts a diverse, youthful clientele.
I got a dirty martini instead.
We closed out the bar, and if we were younger, we might have stayed out even later.
It was a sharp reminder that Los Angeles is in the midst of a housing crisis.
The effects are obvious in Koreatown, where locals blocked the building of a shelter months before COVID.
Koreatown is L.A. concentrate.
you’re able to find magic and hardship on any night, on any street.
Commonwealth & Council was unaffected by the OB Bear fire, but the space had been burned before.
“Right next door is a seamstress with whom we’ve collaborated.
We know our neighbors.”
There’s a genre of coffee shop I’ve only ever seen in Korea and Koreatown.
A long list of desserts includes red-bean shaved ice and a variety of waffles.
It’s a sweet place with a strong, straight-from-the-motherland spirit.
If the Yellow House could have been lifted from Korea,Spl.
Coffee, just five blocks east, feels unmistakably homegrown.
is either made in-house or sourced from nearby vendors.
“It brings people together,” she said.
The world has changed in the past two years, but this community isn’t going anywhere.
