In a weekly series of posts, we will present the Top 5 Most Korean-American cities, selected not only for their numbers, but also for their visibility in mainstream America. Our research was guided by the following criteria: population, famous and/or influential locals, programs, and hotspots.

#1 Los Angeles, CA

We’ve finally reached the end of our countdown, and Los Angeles is our #1 Most Korean-American city! After immigrating and settling in the city with dreams of a new life, many Koreans found themselves suddenly displaced after the 1992 L.A. Riots (Sa-i-Gu) took its toll on businesses and homes in L.A.’s Koreatown. But since then, K-town has progressively grown into a vibrant neighborhood that combines cultural traditions with new and modern attitudes. While this may be one of those Captain Obvious moments, let us prove it to you by sharing the countless reasons why the City of Angels tops our list.

Numbers

• 324,586 – Los Angeles metro area (population data compiled using the 2010 Census)

Visibility

Dr. Sammy Lee (left) and Lt. Susan Ahn Cuddy (right)

• Los Angeles is home to three Korean American pioneers: Dr. Samuel “Sammy” Lee, Susan Ahn Cuddy and K.W. Lee.
  • A doctor and two-time Olympic gold medalist in the past, Dr. Samuel “Sammy” Lee, the first Asian American to represent the US and win an Olympic gold medal in diving, is an inspiration to anyone with an ambitious dream. Last summer, a square in Koreatown was named after the diving hero.
  • Not only is Lt. Susan Ahn Cuddy the daughter of the first Korean married couple to immigrate to the U.S. in 1902, but she is also the first female gunnery officer appointed to the U.S. Navy; making her an important figure in Korean American history.
  • K.W. Lee, known as the “godfather of Asian American journalism,” is the founder of The Korea Times English Edition and still continues to serve on the editorial board of Color Lines Magazine. The award-winning journalist-activist also has a center inspired by his lifetime of service called the K.W. Lee Center for Leadership—a non-profit organization teaching youth how to become future leaders.

  
  Phil Yu (left) and Paul “PK” Kim (right)

• Phil Yu, the blogger behind Angry Asian Man, recently celebrated his 10th anniversary of being one of the most influential voices in our community. Through his posts, Phil has centralized Asian America by facilitating ongoing discussions about racism, activism and mainstream media’s (mis)representations of Asian Americans. This weekend, Phil will be judging Kollaboration SF 2 along with singer-songwriter Clara C.
• Paul “PK” Kim is a multi-talented leader who not only created Kollaboration, the largest Asian American talent show in the world, but co-founded LiNK, a non-profit organization raising awareness to the pressing issues of North Korean refugees. PK is now the co-host and producer of MNET’s BPM: Beats Per Mnet, a daily series covering the latest and greatest in Asian pop culture. You can watch clips from the series here.
• Ever since “coming out” as an undocumented immigrant, 21-year-old UCLA student David Cho is one of the handful of Asian American students putting a “human face” on the DREAM Act issue. Having recently won the Freedom From Fear Award, David founded ASPIRE (Asian Students Promoting Immigration Rights through Education) to unify undocumented Asian American students on and off campus. He’s also the 1st Korean American drum major of the UCLA marching band!

Programs

Kimchi Chronicles’ Marja Vongerichten visited KYCC this past July.

• Established in 1975, the Koreatown Youth & Community Center (KYCC) offers programs and services specifically aimed towards immigrated and economically disadvantaged children, youths, and their families. Some of KYCC’s programs include clinical services, tree planting, and business education.
• Through education, leadership development, and community organizing, the Korean American Coalition Los Angeles (KACLA) seeks to promote the civic and civil rights interests of the Korean American community in L.A. Last month, we covered KACLA’s 3^rd annual KBBQ Cook-Off, which brought out all of the top KBBQ restaurants in K-town for all of the foodies’ delight.

• Founded in the wake of California’s Proposition 8, Koreans United for Equality (KUE) unites straight and LGBTIQ Koreans in order facilitate a larger acceptance within the Korean community.
• The Southern California Korean College Student Association (scKcSA) is the oldest and largest non-partisan, non-profit Korean American student organization in the US, connecting college students from eleven campuses in Southern California. scKcSA promotes a sense of Korean American heritage among students by serving the community and building a strong social network.
• The KHEIR Center was initially founded in 1985 to provide quality healthcare for low-income, non-English speaking Korean immigrants. KHEIR now operates the only full-time community clinic in the country with Korean, Spanish, and English language capabilities and services 30,000 patient visits per year.

Hotspots

• Roy Choi’s Kogi Truck was the food truck that started it all, and while many try to compete with it, nothing beats the original. Initially parking alongside curbs all over L.A., Kogi Truck now has expanded, making trips to cities in the Valley and in Orange County.
• Cafe Mak is a great café to study for exams, finish up some work from the office, or catch up with your friends. The venue is spacious yet intimate with a peaceful ambience and offers free parking (gasp!) after 8pm.
• Always the spot for running into people you know, Chapman Plaza boasts several sooljibs (Korean bars) and restaurants, a hookah lounge, and NRB. In the plaza, Gaam is one of the more popular sooljibs in K-town with its contemporary décor and vaulted ceilings.

• Belasco is the new “it” club among today’s young Korean Americans in L.A. on Saturday nights. Hosted by Korean promo companies, Belasco’s events are notorious for keeping the party alive and well into the night. Make sure to get there early because lines have gone around the corner before. Other notable club spots are Le Circle and VR.
• As a 21+ NRB, Bobos Karaoke is always a fun place to sing and drink the night away. Bobos offers rooms of many different sizes to accommodate groups of any size. With flat screens in the front and back of each room, you’ll feel a rock star performing for your friends while they sing along as your groupies.
• With all of the KBBQ choices in L.A., we couldn’t narrow it down! Check out our list of L.A.’s Top 5 All-You-Can-Eat KBBQ spots to get your meat fix.

Locals

• L.A. is home to Hollywood so we have to acknowledge the many Korean American actors and actresses who are eliminating stereotypes within the entertainment industry. Comedian Amy Anderson’s daughter Aubrey Anderson-Emmons will soon play the adopted Lily on ABC’s Modern Family while Jenna Ushkowitz sings her heart out on Glee. John Cho is coming out with the new Harold and Kumar movie this winter, and Sung Kang will star in Sylvester Stallone’s new action flick Bullet to the Head. Also be on the lookout for the Ktown Cowboys who are set to start filming their movie version of the wildly popular webisode series.
• On the flip side, KAs are also making a name for themselves behind the camera. UCLA grad Grace Lee wrote and directed The Grace Lee Project, a documentary that tries to breaks down the “Grace Lee” stereotype (i.e. “reserved, dutiful, piano-playing overachiever”). Her new film on Detroit activist Grace Lee Boggs, American Revolutionary: The Evolution of Grace Lee Boggs, is currently in post-production. Previously based in L.A., Michael Kang has directed the Korean American feature West 32nd, which starred John Cho, Grace Park and Jeong Jun Ho. His new film, Knots, is scheduled to release sometime this year. Other filmmakers include Chil Kong and Dennis Lee.

Dumbfoundead and Priscilla Ahn

• As for musicians: Priscilla Ahn‘s musical career blossomed after she touched base in L.A. to follow her music career dream. Her latest album, When You Grow Up, encompasses her growth and journey as an artist in every song. K-town’s new pride, Dumbfoundead (Jonathan Park), recently caught the attention of the L.A. Times with his track “Are We There Yet.” Singer-songwriter and YouTube extraordinaire David Choi, Linkin Park’s Joe Hahn, and Korea’s “National Fairy,” Lena Park, also call L.A home.
• Known for his “dirty style,” David Choe is a K-town originated artist whose work can be distinguished by its raw, graphic and abd layered qualities. Dirty Hands: The Art and Crimes of David Choe, an art documentary based on David’s work, was recently released on DVD.
• Other locals include: Quest Crew‘s Victor Kim and Lydia Paek, Angry Little Girls‘ Lela Lee, AMN Radio‘s Sung Lee, Christina Lee and Eddie Kim, and Los Angeles Fire Department (LAFD)’s amazing Chief Deputy, Emile Mack.

This concludes our countdown of the Top 5 Most Korean-American Cities!

Melissah Yang and Eunice Roh contributed to this post.

The man behind the long running and very popular website, “Angry Asian Man,” sat down with us for a quick chat about his lack of anger and Sunday morning memories. C’mon, do you really think anybody who lives in southern California can be angry at anything?

KB: How long has Angry Asian Man existed?

AAM: About a little over 8 years. It’s kind of ancient in Internet time. I feel old when I think about it.

KB: Is this your full-time job?

AMM: No it’s not. I feel like I put in full-time hours and I have a day job doing Internet stuff. My employer knows about it and it was actually on my resume and they seemed pretty cool with it. I think it helped me get the job.

KB: What do you most enjoy most about Angry Asian Man?

AAM: It’s a lot of different things. I like expressing myself and having this avenue of reacting to things I see. Just being able to write without any restrictions and reaching an audience and communicating ideas and spurring actions and entertaining people and dispensing information. People read the site for different reasons and having people read and respond to it is pretty cool.

KB: Who are your readers? Are they mostly Asian-American?

AAM: It’s not exclusively Asian but it’s mostly Asian-Americans in the United States. It’s mostly younger but it goes all over. It’s probably Asian-Americans coming from the same experience of being Asian-American.

KB: Any funny stories from the readers or cyberspace that you can share with us?

AAM: I do receive a fair share of hate mail. People are going to respond to opinions and the name “Angry Asian Man” is provocative. The way I see it, getting hate mail means I’m doing something right. People are going to send hate mail and it varies from the stupid to racial slurs.  Things like “learn to speak English” and other ignorant comments.  Some people come at it with nuanced racism. The funny thing, after a while, it all blends together. You see it’s all the same thing.

KB: Has there been any controversies as a result of something you wrote on Angry Asian Man?

AAM: I like to think that if I stir up controversy then it’s something that is already controversial. That it’s already there and I wrote about it. I like to think that I’m helping people become aware of an issue and respond to it.

KB: We know that you’re really not angry but what would surprise your readers that would defy their perception of you based on reading Angry Asian Man?

AAM: I’m pretty laid back. It’s funny because I’m not that angry. My personality is pretty chill. When people meet me, they say you don’t seem that angry and there’s a hint of disappointment. People who know me know that I’m pretty laid back and I’m very much with going with the flow and a west coast kid at heart. I don’t get bothered by a lot of things that easily and that surprises people a bit. Based on what you read on the site, you would think I’m an old weary mad guy, but I’m a young laid back guy with interests and hobbies with interactions like everyone else. The reason why I have the idea of the Angry Asian Man is that there are things worth getting mad about that our community doesn’t get mad about.

KB: What do you do for fun?

AAM: I’m kind of a geek. I like to read. I watch a lot of movies and consume a lot of media. I watch a lot of TV and films. I geek out about comic books. I’ve never been into video games so it doesn’t complete my geekness – never been a gamer.

KB: What’s your favorite Korean food?

AAM: I gotta say it’s very simple: Duk-guk. It’s comfort food. Everyone is going to say their mom makes the best but I’m going to say my mom makes the best and when I eat duk-guk, it reminds me of home and Sunday breakfast. The food is good itself but the circumstances in which we consume the food is awesome.

KB: What do you watch on TV?

AAM: My favorite show is Lost – easily. Not just because of it’s diverse cast and not because of the two prominent Koreans on television. It’s an intriguing and shocking television show and gets away with things. And I watch some reality shows and comedies – I watch what everybody else watches.

KB: East coast or West coast?

AAM: Obviously I’m partial to the west coast and because it’s where i grew up. But every time I’m out on the east coast, I enjoy it immensely. I’m not going to throw down to hard that I’m a west coast person but let’s just say it’s home.

That’s a wrap. Thanks Angry Asian Man.