The Los Angeles Times has an interesting story on San Fernando Valley, an area which has recently emerged as a significant population center for Korean Americans in Southern California: Koreatown in the suburbs. While the nation's largest community of Koreans, of 350,000, is concentrated in Los Angeles County and centered in Koreatown, the Valley is now home to at least 50,000 Koreans spread around Northridge, Granada Hills, Porter Ranch and Chatsworth. The sure sign that the Korean community is booming in your town? When they build a Korean supermarket.
In other Southern Calfornia Asian enclave news... here's another Los Angeles Times story, this one on the large Chinese community of Monterey Park: Monterey Park tries to find itself. It seems that the city is currently undergoing an economic identity crisis, with measures being considered to address a declining tax base. It seems that Monterey Park's many small businesses geared toward the immigrant Chinese community have left the city starved for tax revenue, which has city leaders looking to attract national retailers to the area. This can't be good for the Chinese mom and pop shops...
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