KOREATOWN SPEAKS UP

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This is a special rebroadcast episode for the first ever panel-discussion by K-Town Is Oaxacan Korean.

On Thursday, November 2, 2023, K-Town Is Oaxacan Korean, also known as K-Town Is OK, brought together long-time and former residents of Koreatown into conversation. The panel, free and open to the public, was held just over a year after the public release of a private discussion between L.A. City Council Members Nury Martinez, Gil Cedillo and Kevin De Leon, and Federation of Labor leader Ron Herrera, in which they dismissed Korean-American residents of the area and ridiculed Oaxacan or Mexican-American members of the community as “short, dark people” and “feos (ugly).” The panel discussion was held online and featured a line-up of guest speakers, culminating a year-long effort by my colleague Helen H. Kim and I documenting Oaxacan-American, Korean-American and other voices in Koreatown through our website and podcast, K-Town Is OK.

Please consider making a tax-deductible donation to Quien Es Tu Vecindario to support this panel and help create more such dialogue for our communities.

J.T.

MACARTHUR PARK IS THE PEOPLE’S PARK IN L.A.

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Allegra Padilla is the Executive Director of the Levitt Pavilion, which has hosted concerts at MacArthur Park in the Westlake area for sixteen years. During our chat, we talk about Allegra’s journey from South Pasadena to organizing on the streets of Los Angeles, including for Mumia Abu-Jamal and the South Central Farm; we also discuss how her Levitt Pavilion Summer Concert series isn’t just for fun, but a matter of equity for tens of thousands of park-goers and community members in one of the densest neighborhoods of L.A. County. Allegra also tells us about the Levitt Pavilion’s nonprofit status and how the organization seeks to include long-time business owners and other small vendors in its events. In this vein, we both give a special shout out to the Central-American communities uplifting Central Los Angeles daily, including Sweet L.A. by Cuscatleca, the bakery line through which we first connected!

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, please check out my PATREON.

J.T.

BOO’S: PHILLY CHEESESTEAKS IN K-TOWN

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Andrew Ahn, the owner of Boo’s Philly Cheesesteaks in EastHollywood/Silver Lake and K-Town, joins us for this special bonus edition of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast. We discuss the making of Boo’s after his Korean-American parents couldn’t find a cheesesteak sandwich in L.A., how the city’s homelessness and rising gas prices have affected business, and how to define success for one’s self instead of just “playing the part” that’s been popularized.

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, please see my new page at PATREON.

J.T.

worried mad sitting on a concrete stairs

LARGEST EVER EVICTION IN L.A. SINCE “CHAVEZ RAVINE”

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Mike Bonin of What’s Next, Los Angeles joins us to talk about the impending eviction of at least 500 renters at the Barrington Plaza in West Los Angeles this September, which if approved would be one of the largest mass evictions in Los Angeles since the forcible displacement of residents in the La Loma, Bishop and Palo Verde communities–more commonly known as “Chavez Ravine”–between 1953 – 1959 in order to supplant Dodgers stadium on top. We also discuss the expiration of affordable housing at the Hillside Villa in Chinatown and its implications for L.A.’s affordable housing supply overall, and how the city attorney’s office can do more to defend L.A.’s renters from billionaire landlords.

To make a one-time donation to my fundraiser for the 9th anniversary of JIMBO TIMES, please do so through jmbtms.com. To support the production of J.T. the L.A. Storyteller Podcast, do so through my new page at PATREON.

J.T.