Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 4

For this week's post, I've commented on one of the classmate, Cori Gunderson.
Please refer to his website for more information!
http://fieldnotesla.blogspot.com/search?updated-max=2012-10-19T23:08:00-07:00&max-results=7


Here below is the comment I've made on Cori's blog:



Hello, Cori!

 I am your classmate, Joo! It is nice to see your post about LACMA because I've been there a few days ago! However, I did not know LACMA is a part of the Miracle Mile you've explained in the post. The Miracle Mile is truly an area where people visit as tourists or other local people because it is located in a convent area where you can reach with your own automobile or by taking public transportations.

 You are well addressing the history of Miracle Mile to give a board understanding of how this place was developed as a part of Los Angeles metropolis. For instance, you describe how "Miracle Mile is characterized by museums, commercial buildings, and wide streets… [which are] three lanes wide on either side and packed with cars" and how it was developed by the emergence of "increased use of automobiles".    

Throughout the post, you are explaining how this place was a success due to the increased automobility that allowed connection between people and the buildings along Miracle Mile. However, I think it could be a good idea if you'd collaborated the concept we've talked about in class, which is the post-metropolis and the fourth urban revolution.
 
Even though you have not included that concept, but you are actually talking about the fourth revolution. It is interesting to see how you say "Miracle Mile still reflects the hustle and bustle of its heyday, although instead of shoppers, it is largely occupied by commuters and tourists.." and "Miracle Mile, once embracing and now at mercy of the automobile" because it well explains the logic of automobility that raised the concept of decentralization during the 4th urban revolution. 4th urban revolution's major feature is decentralization that follows by more rapid movement and mobility; meaning that due to the ability to move freely, people can get around easily, so there's no meaning of having a "center" to keep everyone in the same place. It brings up a diversity in a city as well as you described in the post saying: "…this creates a fairly broad range of diversity..".

Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 3

For this week's post, I have chosen to comment on Antonio Figueroa, one of my classmates' post about his visit to Koreatown (http://afigueroageography151.blogspot.com/?view=sidebar).  
As I mentioned in my previous blog post about Koreatown, Koreatown is a large community where you can feel the Korean culture and tradition. My classmate also says in his post that "outside of Korea, Los Angeles has the world's largest population of Koreans". This well describes how Koreatown became the major area where there are so many stores and restaurants that may make you homesick.

 My classmate then describes Koreatown by photos, observations (of buildings, stores, signs, etc. by walking and driving), experiences (eating at a Korean restaurant, visiting local stores, etc.), and few stories about Koreatown. Interestingly, he talks about his Korean friend, who visited Koreatown to feel more comfort and connection when he first came to America. I think it is a great story to illustrate how Koreatown is a unique place for Koreans to get together and make their society to grow. 

In his post, Antonio, raises a question of "why is it that in Korean, all of the businesses seem so united?". He answers this question by relating it to Durkheim's "Division Of Labor in Society", idea on primitive society. He explains that Koreatown is like the primitive society where people gather together to share and help each other to unite a community while preserving the social order. Primitive society is focused on mechanical solidarity, which means that the society does not reply on others and has similar features. It is about simple division of labour that are divided due to age and sex differences.   

However, I think Koreatown does have some features of the primitive society, though it has more features of organic solidarity. I think it fits better than the primitive society because Koreatown is a very advanced town. It has lots of individuals that have different specialities and are differentiated from one another. However, these differentiated groups are all integrated together and rely on one another to fulfill their needs. It is a modern society which is less stable. However, they can sustain the life because they rely on each other. Therefore, Koreatown has different stores and businesses, get together, and help one another. 
    

Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 2

View Blogging Social Difference in LA: Week 2 in a larger map

[Please zoom out first in order to see the whole walking areas and photos!]

 

For this week's exploration, I've chosen to take a walking trip around Koreatown. Koreatown is located in Los Angeles, in the Mid-Wilshire district. It is a home for Korean Americans and Koreans who come from Korea or other countries. Since it is not a small neighborhood to walk, I chose to walk where I feel more comfortable but have not paid attention to geographical differences and social differences.

I made a Google mash map to show the walking trip around the selected parts of Koreatown. As it is shown in the map, I have started the trip from Wilshire and Vermont Station and walked through Wilshire to Wilshire and Western station. Later I’ve continued from Western to Olympic Blvd. and then to Vermont St, to go back to Wilshire and Vermont station. This trip was about 3.3 miles, and it took me about one hour and 30 minutes to walk.

It was an interesting walking trip! Actually I’ve found out how Wilshire Blvd., Western Blvd., Olympic Blvd., and Vermont Blvd. seem to have similar features, but are slightly different and have unique features. Another interesting feature I’ve noticed is how the concept of division of labor is literally can be seen here in Koreatown.
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First of all, I walked towards Wilshire Blvd. Wilshire Blvd, is one of the most urbanized street in Koreatown. The buildings look very modern and there are lots of companies along the street; there are lots of high and sophisticated buildings. You can see that the street is relatively broad and have clean/treated trees along the sidewalks. Most cars that were passing by were mostly cars of middle-class to high-class people. 
When I got to Wilshire and Western station, I've noticed that the continuing Wilshire street is definately different; it has lower building structures and more restaurants. Also, there were more white and Latino who were around because of there were lots of public transportation that continue to downtown or Hollywood. 

A walking trip from Western to Olympic was quite different. There were not many high buildings (companies), but rather there were many stores and restaurants (signs with mostyle korean language and English as "translation"), which were mostly Korean restaurants and stores like saunas, big malls, video shops, cosmetic, book stores, tour store, and more. Less people walked on that street, and lots of buses and cars were passing by. Also, there were less trees and planted vegetation. 
Olympic Blvd. was almost same as the Western Blvd., though there were less treated (trees, roads, street condition). There also were lots of Korean restaurants and malls. This street particularly looked very old with old infrastructures and signs that are from the 1980-90s.

The last street, which was the Vermont Blvd., was the most complicated looking street, which was relatively narrow. Lots of buildings, stores, and restaurants were in this street. Interestingly, I could see more non-Korean people on that street including non-Korean stores and restaurants in constast the other 3 streets. 
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Walking on the streets instead of riding a bus or a car was definitely different. I could see how Koreans built a “second home” here in the middle of Los Angeles. I intentionally went to one of the most popular coffee shop, Tom N Toms. I realized that 99% of the customers are Koreans unlike the Coffee Bean, which is the café right across the street where there was a balanced percentage of Koreans and non-Korean people. Also, I visited Ralphs to see what kind of people are there, and also saw lots of mixed population. However, when I visited Hannam supermarket, I realized 98% of the people were Korean, and the workers were Korean. (Please refer to the map above to see its locations and photos).

This interesting factor led me to the thinking of division of labor. As I learned in my class about “The Causes [of the Division of Labor]” by Emile Durkheim, division of labor is the core of modern society. We are involved in division of labor all the time. It involves things that control specialization. For instance, in Koreatown you can see how there are many specializations like designers, servers at restaurants, sellers at different stores, hair designers, chefs, managers, and much more. It is also true in Koreatown how division of labor arises due to our desire to be tied in social groups. Since Koreans are not native to America, they need some source that ties them together to feel comfort and feel like home; interact with people who share the same problems and worries. Therefore, they like to gather together, go to a grocery store where you can communicated with their own languages, buy food that they like, and meet with people that they can share what they are getting through. Also, they work and launch different professional businesses that can help one another’s business.

This includes cultures, symbols, stories, and rituals that allow them to emerge them all together. For instance, it is all about Korean people that continue their culture by conserving their traditions.  (Please refer to this website, http://visitkoreatown.org/2012-korean-festival-parade-in-la/, and you can see how there was a Korean Festival a few days ago, which is a way of keeping the Korean tradition).

Looking at a particular group was very interesting, especially because I am originally from Korea. It made me to think how I am living, what surrounding, and cultural aspects I’m involved in.

Blogging Social Difference in L.A.: Week 1

Los Angeles is a diverse city. People from different places come together to this city to live, work, and interact with each other. According to Robert E. Park, “the city is a mosaic of little worlds which touch but do not interpenetrate”. This can be interpreted that these “little worlds” are unique by themselves and have distinguishing values including different social values, thoughts, race, ethnicity, religion, class, and else. I understand social difference as different gender, age, race, and ethnicity, which are shown physically. On the other hands, there are social difference facts that are classified as ranking such as education, economic status, and one’s role in the society.

I am interested in geography 151 class because I am interested in what factors make the difference in our society and what difference are there in our society. Since I was born in Korea, was raised in Israel, and now living in America, I have encountered various ethnicity, race, religion, and differences in general. Therefore, I am very curious to find out how social difference has an influence in one’s nation and may affect other people as well.  In geography 151 class I am happy to learn much more about social difference and study why there is difference in society and inequality in cities.Furthermore, I want to learn what are the future steps towards city and social differences.

This blog will be contributed to the exploration of Los Angeles. For the next 10 weeks, I will be exploring different places and locations around the city to discover the “social differences”. I will be taking pictures and videos to reflect my ideas and thoughts.

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Hope you guys will enjoy my blog!

Joo