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Koreatown, also known as Wilshire Center (and including neighborhoods formerly known as Harvard Heights and Pico Heights), is a district in the city of Los Angeles, California. It is bounded by Hollywood on the north, Westlake and Pico-Union on the east, West Adams on the south, and Country Club Park and Hancock Park on the west. Major thoroughfares include Beverly, Wilshire, Olympic, and Pico Boulevards, Western, Normandie, and Vermont Avenues, and 3rd Street. The Hollywood Freeway runs very close to the district's northeast corner. Landmarks include the Wiltern Theatre and the historic Bullock's Wilshire department store building (now the Southwestern University School of Law library).
The area became dominated by Koreans during the 1960s, when restrictions on immigration to the United States from East Asia were lifted. By the late 1980s, the Korean community had become quite prosperous, owning many businesses in the district and throughout central Los Angeles. Allegations of discriminatory practices by Korean shopkeepers fostered a considerable degree of resentment toward the neighborhood among the African-American population of South Central Los Angeles; as a result, Koreatown was badly damaged during the 1992 L.A. Riots. In the aftermath, much of the Korean population decamped to the Crescenta and San Gabriel Valleys and Orange County. The vacuum has largely been filled by Mexican and Central American immigrants, particularly in the eastern portions of the neighborhood. Many Koreans also returned beginning in the early 2000s, and the community's presence has notably expanded into Westlake and Country Club Park. The district has also prospered from the presence of the MTA Red Line subway, which has relieved some of its notable traffic congestion.
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