DECONSTRUCTING THE ETHNIC ENCLAVE: SELECTIVE CULTURAL COMMODIFICATION AND GENTRIFICATION IN KOREATOWN LOS ANGELES

While existing scholarship has identied cultural commodication and gentrication in urban ethnic enclaves as indicative of an “ethnic growth machine,” the literature has yet to explore the ethnic growth machine framework within globalized and socially stratied urban ethnic enclaves. Through examination of Koreatown Los Angeles, an ethnic enclave that has long deviated from traditional enclave conceptions through its socially-stratied, multiracial population, and its deep-rooted ties to global markets, this thesis sheds light on this theoretical gap. This research poses two questions 1) What specic patterns of residential and commercial development since 2008 have characterized Koreatown’s ongoing gentrication? and 2) How have longtime residents of Koreatown experienced or perceived this distinct model of gentrication? Through analysis of Koreatown Google Street View (GSV) imagery from 2008 to 2022, and qualitative coding of 8 interviews with longtime residents, this study nds that Koreatown’s gentrication is dened by a rapidly expanding commercial sector dependent on Korean cultural commodication, and a densifying, upscaled residential sector. Notably, processes of Korean cultural commodication within the neighborhood’s new commercial developments align with global markets of Korean pop culture, and present a stark dissonance with the neighborhood's primarily Latino population and the “authentic” character of the neighborhood. Furthermore, upscaled and densifying residential development has largely transformed the historic residential character of the neighborhood and occurred alongside decreasing aordability in the neighborhood. As a result, longtime residents have expressed disillusionment with Koreatown’s distinct model of gentrication and its reshaping of the neighborhood as a site for Korean cultural consumption. These ndings provide multiple theoretical insertions into existing literature. While gentrication and ethnic enclave scholarship has largely focused on the manufacturing of “authentic” neighborhood cultural appeal, Koreatown’s selective cultural commodication consistent with global trends in Korean cultural capital, seemingly capitalizes o a more “cosmopolitan” neighborhood appeal. This distinct model of gentrication additionally appears specic to globalizing and socially stratied urban ethnic enclaves — an increasingly signicant neighborhood context that until now, has remained relatively unexplored by existing gentrication and ethnic enclave scholarship.