[CH69]

Hi there!

I have been offered an opportunity with ESPN in Bristol CT and was hoping someone on this forum could offer me some insight on the Asian presence in Hartford County.

I am not sure what areas to live in but was told that Simsbury, Glastonbury, Avon, Southington, Cheshire, West Hartford, Farmington and Colchester are good districts. My wife and I have two very young daughters and looking to settle down in an area that is very accepting of racial diversity and open minded to different cultures. We currently live in a middle to upper class income neighborhood, 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia with a great school system and with much diversity in regards to Korean restaurants, Asian supermarts, 4 very large shopping malls (i.e. King of Prussia Mall), golf courses etc.

One of my main concerns is relocating to an area in Hartford Count where there is very limited Korean/Asian presence in a neighorhood or town where my family would feel different and not accepted. I know this may be a silly question since NYC is only two hours away and there you have one of the strongest Asian/Korean concentrations on the East Coast but strangely when I did an initial drive thru of Hartford County as well as tried googling information on Korean restaurant, asian food stores, salons etc.. I found very little. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

CH69

[Angel75]

I am a diverse female and would have to say that in the several years I have been here (relocated from D.C.)..the greater hartford area is very WASPY, IMO.

I hope your family has a better experience. In regards to location, I think West Hartford may be the best but is very pricey in regards to Tax.

[Rich Lee]

You might want to check out http://www.cerc.com/townprofiles.html to research this by town and/or by county. New Haven County (Wolcott, Cheshire) is only miles away from ESPN. Cheshire has a large Asian population (1,115 out of 29,467 or 3.78%) pretty much in line with the state average (125,880 out of 3,549,606 or 3.55%).

[Angel75]

Thank you Rich! This information is very helfpul.

[CH69]

Yes.. thank you Rich. I was worried that I would recieve no replies at first. I appreciate Angel's open response but was hoping to get something positive so your suggestion on Wolcott and Cheshire is greatly appreciated.

[WILWRadio]

I seem to recall there is an Asian food market and possibly a Vietnamese restaurant on New Britain Ave. in a West Hartford shopping plaza at the Hartford border. There is a Radio Shack right next door. Forgot the name of the plaza now because I have not been there in five years.

[wanderintonc]

It's Shield St Plaza. On the corner of New Britain Ave and Shield St. It's the A Dong Market. There are also a couple restaurants, a jewelry store and a video store in there. I have a Korean friend in Meriden who shops there. Also, a few of the window clerks at the nearby post office speak Korean.

[koheo]

Welcome to Connecticut. I also recently moved from a big city and reside in Glastonbury. At first, I was very disappointed with this country life style. But now I think positively it is a good place to raise kids.

Many people say that living in the city Glastonbury is expensive. But tell me the truth, the housing cost is much less than the place where I used to live. But the living cost is as same (I feel more expensive because the quality is poor) as the one in the city where I used to live.

There is a good Korean Restaurant in Hartford. Its name is Ichiban. Tel: 860-236-5599
A Korean market is also in East Hartford (Lotte Market). Tel:860-895-8779
There are some Korean churches where Korean people usually meet.

Good luck!

[CH69]

Thank you all! The insight and and information you have all provided is very helpful.

[JViello]

Originally Posted by Angel75

I am a diverse female and would have to say that in the several years I have been here (relocated from D.C.)..the greater hartford area is very WASPY, IMO.

I hope your family has a better experience. In regards to location, I think West Hartford may be the best but is very pricey in regards to Tax.

OH NO! Not those WASPS again! I though we snuffed them out in the name of diversity long ago!

Seriously though - how would it sound if someone came on here and said "I find Bloomfield a bit to "black" or Hartford a bit to "Latino" for my tastes. If I said that, you'd all light me up as a racist close minded person.

Do I now get to call you a racist close minded person towards white folks?

Considering the city of Hartford itself is 40% spanish, 30ish% black and about 30ish% white I would call that "diverse"...wouldn't you? I would actually call it unbalanced based on national demographics.

In fact I'd go so far as to say as a whole the Hartford region relfects "non-whites" about in line with the national averages.

13.5% "black"
13% "spanish"
3.5% "Asian"

Hartford County QuickFacts from the US Census Bureau

So what do you say to those "facts"?

Originally Posted by CH69

Hi there!

I have been offered an opportunity with ESPN in Bristol CT and was hoping someone on this forum could offer me some insight on the Asian presence in Hartford County.

I am not sure what areas to live in but was told that Simsbury, Glastonbury, Avon, Southington, Cheshire, West Hartford, Farmington and Colchester are good districts. My wife and I have two very young daughters and looking to settle down in an area that is very accepting of racial diversity and open minded to different cultures. We currently live in a middle to upper class income neighborhood, 30 minutes outside of Philadelphia with a great school system and with much diversity in regards to Korean restaurants, Asian supermarts, 4 very large shopping malls (i.e. King of Prussia Mall), golf courses etc.

One of my main concerns is relocating to an area in Hartford Count where there is very limited Korean/Asian presence in a neighorhood or town where my family would feel different and not accepted. I know this may be a silly question since NYC is only two hours away and there you have one of the strongest Asian/Korean concentrations on the East Coast but strangely when I did an initial drive thru of Hartford County as well as tried googling information on Korean restaurant, asian food stores, salons etc.. I found very little. Any thoughts, comments, suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you in advance!

CH69

CH69, keep in mind Philly is a much larger city than Hartford. Philly ranks 5th in the nation while Hartford is 45th regarding size.

We are a midsized city and based on that, I think very diverse regarding race over other cities it's size like say Oklahoma City or Nashville. If you are worried about your kids being "picked on" because they are Asian...don't sweat it IMO. I'd worry more about the other influences taking hold on a national level.

We have all the shopping malls, boutiques, golf courses etc like most metro's - no worries there.

And please don't take this the wrong way, but also remember you are in the United States and not Korea...we are a melting pot and should learn to live and accept new ways of living with and enjoying each other rather than stick to "this neighborhood" or "that section" of town. I'm first generation Italian here and consider myself an American first, no hyphens. For me, I have friends of every walk of life - spanish, black, "white", asian, polish, whatever...it doesn't matter to me so long as they are decent people.