1953 wasn't too shabby of a year queen elizabeth was crowned queen that year
and to this day she's still the queen mount everest was summited for the first time
and oh joseph stalin died but what's really irrelevant to this video is that in 1953
the korean war ended like most wars refugees immigrated out of their war-torn countries
a few korean immigrants started coming to the united states but it wasn't until over a
decade later when the u.s said to the non-european immigrants hey a lot of you can come over now so a
lot did the ones that came to new york city found work in the businesses around midtown manhattan
in particular the garment district eventually someone said hey let's have a korean bookstore
then others were like well if there's a korean bookstore why not korean restaurants so the korean
community started putting up businesses right around this area which made sense since it's
near the garment district and other businesses where korean immigrants worked this area continued
to cultivate korean establishments and today we call this area koreatown
hi and welcome to urban caffeine my name is thea and you're watching a channel that talks about
urban culture transit and history as usual hit that like button to show your support
and to those that continue to engage with this channel again and again thank you so much you know
who you are so today let's talk about koreatown or as the cool kids would say k-town but i wouldn't
actually call koreatown koreatown it's more like korea street or as this sign would say korea way
korea town is in between 6th and madison avenues and roughly runs from 30th street to around 34th
street the boundaries of nyc neighborhoods can get fuzzy sometimes but this is roughly where
koreatown is however the bulk of korean businesses are on 32nd street which is also known as korea
way along koreaway you will see a lot of hustle and bustle illuminated by neon lights and signs
that are in surprise surprise korean and for reference in the area is also greeley square
the empire state building herald square and macy's flagship store but koreatown manhattan is mostly
commercial than it is residential most of the korean community live in queens in particular
flushing so don't think that koreatown is the only place in new york city where you'll find
korean culture you'll find plenty in the eastern lands of queens koreatown is a great place to get
a cheap lunch during the day and it's a late night venue for party goers because a lot of places here
don't close till the wee hours of the morning so when midnight rolls around and you're running
out of options for a late night bite to eat then head to koreatown although koreatown is
mostly for late night food and karaoke rather than dancing clubbing or speakeasies if you're
looking for dancing in speakeasies i would say head for the east village or lower east side as
soon as you step into koreaway you know this area is distinct from other neighborhoods of manhattan
here you can find sweet shops korean spas and hey there's even an h-mart but i have three
recommended things to do that are distinct and on brand for koreatown manhattan on top of the list
is korean barbecue if someone sends an invite to korean barbecue you can be 99.9 sure it's going to
be in koreatown but what is korean barbecue korean barbecue is a feast and the main star is meat so
warn your vegan friend if they plan to go with you to korean barbecue basically korean barbecue is
when you order a set assortment of meats and sides which are cooked at a grill built into your table
i've been to several korean bbq establishments on 32nd street that's also known as korea way and i
have yet to have a bad experience so if the place that you want to go to has a long wait which is
pretty typical for koreatown it might not be a bad idea to check other restaurants along that
street but if all of them have a long way well it's probably friday or saturday night and it's
nice out and here are some things to know when going to korean barbecue first off there's going
to be a lot of meat it's not vegan or vegetarian friendly so like i said warn your vegetable or
friend if they plan to join you because they might have to order a separate dish for themselves
secondly not only is it meaty but it's a lot of food make sure you bring somebody with you korean
barbecue is family style so there's gonna be a lot of passing around bowls and dishes of food
and in this day and age make sure you go with someone you're comfortable sharing a dish with
and lastly the wait staff will cook the food for you so don't worry about cooking it or even
trying to attempt to cook it yourself they know what they're doing just let them cook the food
when someone says karaoke in new york city it's koreatown manhattan that comes to mind and if you
want your loss in translation moment and you can't go to japan you can settle for koreatown manhattan
what's great about karaoke in koreatown is that you rent out a room for yourself or your group
so you can have a concert in the privacy of your own group a lot of people don't like singing in a
bar in front of strangers and you don't have to in koreatown and another great thing about some
of the karaoke bars here is that some of them are byob meaning you can bring your own food snacks
and some drinks the third thing that i recommend that k-town is popular for is the koryo bookstore
on this channel i've mentioned many times that new york is great for language learning because
it's diverse and it has a lot of language resources if you are someone trying to learn
korean then koryo bookstore is a must on your list of resources not only does it have just
specific language books but it also has a lot of popular titles translated in korean
and this place is also recommended for k-pop fans and if you like korean beauty products like face
mask they have an entire section of just korean beauty products in fact they have an entire fridge
full of different korean face masks aside from the things they sell koryo bookstore is mostly famous
because it's been around for almost forever more like 40ish years sources on the internet said it
opened in the late 70s korea bookstore was one of the first korean shops in new york city and
it helped pave the way in establishing today's koreatown manhattan you can find other korean
bookstores in new york city koryo bookstore isn't the only one but majority of them are going to be
in queens but in manhattan your go-to korean novelty bookstore is going to be koryo bookstore
like i said earlier there are a lot of korean establishments that you'll find in k-town
from korean spas soju bars dessert shops and asian grocery stores like the h-mart i mentioned
and by the way someone recommended this book to me called crying in h-mart i haven't read
it yet but if you have comment down below and let me know if you recommend it as well
but with these other establishments koreatown isn't the only place where
you can get spa treatment boba drinks and asian desserts but with the three things i
mentioned earlier which are the korean bbq karaoke and koryo bookstore these are the
quintessential koreatown things to do so next time you're in koreatown consider some bulgogi
for dinner thank you so much for watching this video if you have any koreatown recommendations
comment down below as always subscribe and hit that notification bell so you
won't miss future videos until next time thank you so much for watching and happy new yorking