man, even african immigrants are now starting to black-flight out of chicago.

that stat does not bode well for the city's future.

Yeah, it’s a concerning trend that’s only accelerating. African immigrants are culturally distinct from black Americans, but for a city with as much black history as Chicago, it’s disappointing to see our black community declining so rapidly. I wouldn’t think our legacy of racism would have any impact on immigrants from Africa moving here, but it seems like it might.

Yeah, I can totally see this being true. A lot of Ktown and the neighborhoods that surround it look more like slummy parts of Mexican cities than anything in Korea. Add in the tent cities crowding up the sidewalks in the middle of residential neighborhoods and it's clear why your friend thought this. These neighborhoods look bad compared to other American cities (and other parts of LA), much less Asian ones- many of which look futuristic compared to what we have here.

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0581...7i16384!8i8192

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0553...7i13312!8i6656

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0669...7i16384!8i8192

yeah, it's a damn shame.

other older urban cities experiencing (african american) black flight like NYC, philly, boston, etc. at least have a decent amount of african immigrant in-migration to help offset some of the the black flight losses.

but no such luck in chicago, just a double whammy.

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Westlake is far from my favorite part of LA, but to post this like eveything looks like that is false.
Alvarado is considered pretty ratty even for Westlake. Koreatown doesn't have any street like Alvarado. Then you found one resdiential street with some tents like that's on every corner. Come on dude. Seriously. I could easily find countless snap shots in these areas they look nothing like this.

This is like taking snapshots of crappy Bronx streets and saying thats representative of NYC.

Is central LA dumpy compared to Korean cities? Probably, but that's true for Chicago, NYC, Philly etc too.

Have you been to Korea? You could cherry pick the best looking part of Ktown, or DTLA for that matter, and it'd look nothing as nice or as modern as Seoul.

Did I say any different? I can say the same thing for most of NYC and Chicago too. I just find it funny that certain posters "showcase" these two neighborhoods and they pick the same exact blocks , every single time. Alvarado is the crappiest looking street outside of skid row. It's alive and urban, but it's crappy. But it's not a represenative area, at all.

Since we are on the subject of Korea, I thought it'd re-organize the data for Korean growth from 2013-2018 by metro area:

Dallas/Fort Worth: 11,556
New York City: 9,695
San Jose: 5,747
Washington DC: 3,046
Houston: 2,510
Portland: 1,952
Detroit: 1,947
San Francisco: 1,553
Austin: 1,471
Atlanta: 1,384
Phoenix: 850
Riverside: 795
Sacramento: 550
Minneapolis/St. Paul: 275
Charlotte: 234

Seattle/Tacoma: -308
Las Vegas: -1,106
Boston: -1,897
Denver: -2,683
Philadelphia: -7,038
Chicago: -9,094
Los Angeles: -15,834

Gotcha. Well I think the point was that a Korean visitor from Korea would probably find LA Ktown to be dumpy, which as you say, is probably true of all Ktowns in America.

Yea, I mean "futuristic Asian enclave" is not what comes to mind for Jackson Hts either. They just don't exist in this country. Chicago's Koreatown is Albany Park, which isn't clean or modern. I lived there for a year.

American cities are always going to pale in comparison to Asian cities, in general.

I love Los Angeles but Albany Park is pretty clean compared to Koreatown in LA. Chicago in general, even the most hood parts is pretty clean compared to LA. And most Koreans in Albany Park left for the suburbs already.

Albany Park isn not a clean neighborhood. Lawrence and Kedzie are pretty gritty.
Again, I'm just saying Chicago or NYC's asian enclaves aren't futuristic/modern/clean areas. It's the same thing.

Gritty and clean are two separate things, but Albany Park is definitely not dirty.

albany park may be a touch gritty here and there in that charming immigrant neighborhood kinda way, but i wouldn't call it dirty or dumpy.

it's home to some of the best cheap ethnic BYO places in the city. i'm blessed to live so close.



typical commercial side street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9684...7i16384!8i8192


typical residential street:

https://www.google.com/maps/@41.9650...7i16384!8i8192



that said, the neighborhood doesn't feel as korean as it might have a generation or two ago.

it's more mexican & middle eastern these days (with a fair bit of generic white people too).

Anyone have any ideas what is fueling the decline of Koreans in LA, Chicago, and Philly? I wonder how it is related with the surprising growth in DFW? Is that where LA Koreans are moving? If they are moving to areas with lower COL, you'd expect the SJ and SF Korean population to be declining as well.

It's a small sample size but two separate Korean friends of mine from Chicago had their parents moving back to Korea to retire.

But there's nothing modern or futuristic about it either. Its not a knock on Albany Park, because I don't see any futuristic asian enclave in this country.
the "dumpiness" of Koreatown in LA is being overstated, as usual. Most of the residential streets are pretty ordinary, just dense blocks.

My old neighborhood there
in 9th/oxford area:

https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0558...7i16384!8i8192
http://https://www.google.com/maps/@34.0558902,-118.3065806,3a,75y,268.11h,90t/data=!3m6!1e1!3m4!1stoYki0dD2kJZLavnYVj_Dg!2e0!7i16384!8i8192

Edit NVM this is by metro.

No idea

of course not, it's a 100+ year old chicago neighborhood.

i was simply pushing back against your characterization of AP as dirty and dumpy.



it's also important to remember that AP is 8 miles outside of downtown chicago.

there are LOTS of places 8 miles outside of seoul's CBD that don't look modern and futuristic either.

welcome to "the future", i guess: https://www.google.com/maps/@37.5338...7i13312!8i6656

Koreatown and Westlake are old too, so I don't get why someone would ding those places as not modern or futuristic. That's what I was commenting on.
And of course, the same few blocks of Alvarado are brought up for some reason, like everyone in Koreatown and Westlake shops/hangs around there.

Anyway, as I said, U.S. cities in general are not as modern as Asian cities, so its; all kind of moot.