For this week, I commented on a post by a fellow classmate Tony. Here is the url to his blog
http://afigueroageography151.blogspot.com/2012/10/social-difference-in-l.html
Enjoy!
"Great article Tony about Koreatown, I am a big fan of going there too and love eating the food like you did when there.
My response focuses on the collectiveness of the businesses in the area, as I am seeing others in the class are discussing as well. What intrigues me about the collection of businesses is the motive, as I wonder what lead to the grouping, especially in regards to the New York Times article on insurance red lining in LA neighborhoods. You discuss that the companies band together to form a united community, but what about the purely economic side of it?
As Koreatown saw some of its largest growth in the late 80s and 90s, the main stop for many immigrants was that area as your friend speaks about. They were looking for a safe neighborhood to start in and get their feet on the ground. So with the Rodney King riots of the early 90s, a lot of this came at risk possibly for shop owners so close to the fray. A united community that works together to guarantee insurance for themselves, seems like a logical thing for them to continue to do. I'm not sure what the answer is, or if this why they continued to partner together, but something interesting I think to consider.
At the end of the day, people do want a sense of community, but more importantly they want to be economically viable. A small mom and pop shop in Ktown might see the benefit of working with other shops to keep low rent, insurance, and customers together. Clearly something is going right as they are doing well, curious to know if its because of keeping the insurance in high risk areas though.
Thanks for the post, very interesting to read!
-Nick Rojas"
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