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NYC’s koreatown is only a block or two and is vertical. LA’s is several square miles and is horizontal. I’d guess that there are at least 100 times more Korean businesses in LA’s koreatown. This is pretty lopsided.
I picked LA's Koreatown, but I do like NYC's Koreatown strip though because that vertical stacking of shops, bars, and restaurants is a lot of fun. The pandemic has meant a lot of curbside dining which has made it even more bustling. There's the official one block that's the main strip, but it's expanded to the east a bit.
Doesn’t LA also have three koreatowns? One in LA, one in Gardena, and one in Garden Grove. I think that the Korean population in LA is higher both in raw numbers and percentage, so I’d be surprised to find that any combinations of NYC koreatowns has more than LA.
Gardena is around 5% Korean and Garden Grove is 3.2%. Compare that to Fort Lee at 23.5% and Palisades Park at 51%.
But it's not really about residents. Outside of LA Koreatown, the LA area doesn't have the critical mass of Korean establishments that you see in Flushing down toward Murray Hill or in the areas of NJ I mentioned. LA's Korean population tends to be a lot more dispersed throughout the general population in comparison to the heavily Korean retail and residential areas in NYC and Northern NJ.
Overall I'd say LA Koreatown > Manhattan Koreatown, but the other Koreatowns throughout the NYC area are much better than what LA has outside the official K-Town.
Gardena is around 5% Korean and Garden Grove is 3.2%. Compare that to Fort Lee at 23.5% and Palisades Park at 51%.
But it's not really about residents. Outside of LA Koreatown, the LA area doesn't have the critical mass of Korean establishments that you see in Flushing down toward Murray Hill or in the areas of NJ I mentioned. LA's Korean population tends to be a lot more dispersed throughout the general population in comparison to the heavily Korean retail and residential areas in NYC and Northern NJ.
Overall I'd say LA Koreatown > Manhattan Koreatown, but the other Koreatowns throughout the NYC area are much better than what LA has outside the official K-Town.
I agree with this 100%.
New York's Korean neighborhood/district is not as concentrated but it surely has stronger pockets than LA's.
I also will say Philadelphia has some strong Korean pockets too. Nowhere to LA and NYC but they are significant and similar to NYC where Philadelphia's Koreatown is on the northern border of the city line with Cheltenham, PA and another pocket on its western edge with Upper Darby, PA.
Doesn’t LA also have three koreatowns? One in LA, one in Gardena, and one in Garden Grove. I think that the Korean population in LA is higher both in raw numbers and percentage, so I’d be surprised to find that any combinations of NYC koreatowns has more than LA.
Gardena is supposedly more Japanese and Garden Grove a lot more Vietnamese. There's also Diamond Bar / Walnut with the former having a particularly large percentage of Koreans and scattered parts of the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. I think the keys are that it's scattered in terms of where Koreans live, and in addition to that, the way things are built up in LA as opposed to NYC and the Tri-State Area don't as often create dense commercial areas which Koreatown in LA is a notable oddity of sorts as Koreatown in LA is among the most urban, densely populated mixed-use neighborhoods of Southern California in its entirety.
Top ten municipalities in the US as ranked by Korean-American percentage of overall population in 2010
Rank Municipality County State Percentage
1 Palisades Park[20] Bergen County New Jersey 51.5%
2 Leonia Bergen County New Jersey 26.5%
3 Ridgefield Bergen County New Jersey 25.7%
4 Fort Lee Bergen County New Jersey 23.5%
5 Closter Bergen County New Jersey 21.2%
6 Englewood Cliffs Bergen County New Jersey 20.3%
7 Norwood Bergen County New Jersey 20.1%
8 Edgewater Bergen County New Jersey 19.6%
9 Cresskill Bergen County New Jersey 17.8%
10 Demarest Bergen County New Jersey 17.3%
Granted it's percentages and not total population but you get the idea. Bergen County has long been home base for major Korean influence. Samsung and LG both have their North American HQ's here too.
Gardena is supposedly more Japanese and Garden Grove a lot more Vietnamese. There's also Diamond Bar / Walnut with the former having a particularly large percentage of Koreans and scattered parts of the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. I think the keys are that it's scattered in terms of where Koreans live, and in addition to that, the way things are built up in LA as opposed to NYC and the Tri-State Area don't as often create dense commercial areas which Koreatown in LA is a notable oddity of sorts as Koreatown in LA is among the most urban, densely populated mixed-use neighborhoods of Southern California in its entirety.
Gardena is historically Japanese, but it looks much more Korean to me now. One thing that I’ve noticed is that Japanese enclaves in LA tend to also attract Koreans. Little Tokyo is becoming significantly Korean. I think that I read that something like 20% of the Asians in Little Tokyo were Korean in 2010. Likely more now and many of the properties are now Korean owned.
The koreatown in Garden Grove was small but significant enough that it had an official designation when I was last there a decade ago.
Top ten municipalities in the US as ranked by Korean-American percentage of overall population in 2010
Rank Municipality County State Percentage
1 Palisades Park[20] Bergen County New Jersey 51.5%
2 Leonia Bergen County New Jersey 26.5%
3 Ridgefield Bergen County New Jersey 25.7%
4 Fort Lee Bergen County New Jersey 23.5%
5 Closter Bergen County New Jersey 21.2%
6 Englewood Cliffs Bergen County New Jersey 20.3%
7 Norwood Bergen County New Jersey 20.1%
8 Edgewater Bergen County New Jersey 19.6%
9 Cresskill Bergen County New Jersey 17.8%
10 Demarest Bergen County New Jersey 17.3%
Granted it's percentages and not total population but you get the idea. Bergen County has long been home base for major Korean influence. Samsung and LG both have their North American HQ's here too.
Yeah it’s percentages. Overall the LA metro has a larger population and a much larger percentage. Koreatown attracts Koreans (and non-Koreans) from all over the region. I can’t comment on what happens in NJ, but given that it’s less accessible to people across the region likely limits how many it can attract from outside that area on a regular basis.
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