Westlake / Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA
Westlake is a neighborhood in Los Angeles just to the northwest of downtown. The neighborhood developed quickly in the early 20th century and had a large Jewish population. Suburbanization, white flight and urban renewal changed the demographic mix to Mexican and later to Salvadoan and Guatemalan.
Koreatown is just to the west of Westlake and, like Westlake, after abandonment by whites was colonized by the influx of Koreans following the 1965 relaxation of American immigration law.
I stayed in the neighborhood in April of 2013 while in town for the Association of American Geographers Annual Meeting. I stayed in a Howard Johnson's motel two blocks from the Wilshire/Vermont Red Line station. Having arrived in LA via Amtrak (also on the Red Line), and with the conference hotels just a few blocks from the Metro Center Red Line station, I was, improbably, able to live an entirely car-free, transit-oriented life during my week in the American city most strongly identified with the car.
While the neighborhood is not home to any world-class tourist attractions, it proved to be attractive, comfortable and (for LA at least) livable. I tried to capture some of that in the random collection of photos below.
