Koreatown is the most densely populated neighborhood in Los Angeles and one of the largest Korean communities outside of Korea. Koreatown began developing in the 1960s when Korean immigration accelerated following the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965, which ended racially discriminatory immigration quotas. By the 1980s, Wilshire Boulevard and Western Avenue had become the commercial and cultural center of a community of more than 300,000 Korean Americans in the greater Los Angeles area.
On April 29, 1992, when a jury acquitted four Los Angeles police officers in the beating of Rodney King, six days of uprising erupted across the city. Korean-owned businesses in Koreatown and South LA were disproportionately targeted in the destruction: more than 2,200 Korean-owned businesses were destroyed, representing roughly half the total property damage of more than one billion dollars. Many owners had received no warning and no police protection.
The rebuilding of Koreatown after 1992 was largely funded by the community itself, without significant government aid. Today the neighborhood is home to Korean restaurants, karaoke rooms, and businesses alongside a predominantly Latino residential population. The density and energy of this neighborhood are unlike anywhere else in the city.