Korean American Business Leaders Push For Recognition Of Koreatown In Northwest Dallas
Korean American Business Leaders Push For Recognition Of Koreatown In Northwest Dallas
© Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News/TNS A sign advertising various Asian businesses at Asiana Plaza along King's Lane in Dallas. The Korean Chamber of Commerce is pushing to designate a portion of King's Lane as Dallas' official Koreatown.In northwest Dallas, the intersection at the corner of King's Lane and Harry Hines Blvd is flanked by two buildings labeled "Asian Shopping District". The color of the marking materials has faded. One of the letters is missing. Fertilizers are spread around the small dry grasses surrounding the structures.
The signs were intended to serve as landmarks to welcome people and customers to the area, which decades ago was filled with Asian-American businesses, many owned by people of Korean descent. A 1999 Dallas Morning News article described how this "empty" part of town was lit up with storefronts.
© Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS Rich Kim runs Shin Chong Market, Dallas' oldest Korean grocery store.Stores like Sam Moon's and restaurants like Korea House have become cornerstones of the growth and identity of the neighborhood known informally as "K-Town" or "Kareatown" to many Korean Americans in North Texas.
Now, the Korean-American Chamber of Commerce of Greater Dallas is calling on the city to approve a street beautification of a section of King's Lane to be called Koreatown. The organization hopes that these funds can be an important step in preserving the history of the area.
© Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS Korea House opened in Richardson in 1979, but its flagship location opened in Dallas in 1987."I think we should honor the legacy of the Koreans who built Koreatown," said Korean American Chamber Board Member John Lee.
Lee is leading efforts to get city approval for street beautification on King's Lane from Luna Road to Harry Haynes Boulevard. He has the support of Dallas City Councilman Omar Narvaez, whose district covers a two-mile stretch of freeway.
In a written statement in November, Narvaez confirmed that his office is pushing for the city to be officially named Koreatown.
She expressed her support for Koreatown's official designation at a town hall meeting in May, just days after a gunman shot and wounded three women at a hair salon. Jeremy Terran Smith, 37, who was arrested in connection with the shooting, faces hate crime charges.
The attack shocked this community.
Businesses near the barber shop that was attacked told The News that business has returned to pre-shooting levels, but others, such as restaurants, are still feeling the effects of the coronavirus pandemic. Also, with a significant number of Korean businesses moving outside of Dallas to the suburbs, those who remain in the area say they want a spark for a Korean city revival.
© Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS David Moon, who founded Sam Moon Trading Co., said he was one of the first Korean-Americans to open a business in what would later become an Asian mall in the Dallas neighborhood. Today, the flagship store is located in a Moon-owned shopping center at the intersection of Interstate 35E and 635.Recognition of this business district will go a long way to highlight the contribution of the Korean-American community to the history of Dallas.
© Elías Valverde II/The Dallas Morning News/TNS Cars drive through Royal Korea Town Plaza on Royal Lane in Dallas. The Korean Chamber of Commerce is pushing to designate a portion of King's Lane as Dallas' official Koreatown."Delineation of the Korean Ward is progressing and we expect this delineation to be completed in the first quarter of 2023," Narvaez wrote.
Lee said he has seen the Korean region develop "in leaps and bounds" over the past three decades. The Pew Research Center estimated that about 41,000 Korean Americans lived in the D-FW area in 2019, but the Korean Consulate in Dallas estimates the number to be much higher.
© Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS Signs in Dallas' undocumented Asian shopping district were meant to serve as landmarks to welcome people and customers to the area.About 10 years ago, Lee tried to lobby the city for Koreatown status, but the effort, he said, "has grown." The coronavirus pandemic has also delayed Lee's plans.
The toppers will be a visual representation of what the Korean-American camera wants to achieve. The goal, Lee said, is to revitalize the neighborhood and make sure the city recognizes its importance.
"Whether it's with the private sector or through grants, wherever we can get the money," Lee said. "We want to start the revitalization of Koreatown."
© Lola Gomez/The Dallas Morning News/TNS Rich Kim, owner of Shin Chon Market and Food Court, speaks with a customer on Wednesday, Dec. 7, 2022, in Dallas.humble beginnings
Any Dallas Koreatown success story would be incomplete without Sam Moon Trading Company, which began as a 5,000-square-foot store at the corner of Royal Lane and Harry Hines Boulevard in 1984.
At the time, many Korean businesses operated from Belt Line Road in Irving. David Moon, who founded the wholesale company, said he was one of the first Korean-Americans to open a business in what would later become Dallas' Asian business district.
As the business grew, Moon said, he invested in a 50,000-square-foot property a few blocks away. Today, the flagship store is located in a strip mall owned by the Moon Company at the intersection of Interstate 35E and 635. By the early 2000s, more than 200 Korean businesses had opened around Harry Hines Boulevard and along Royal Lane.
However, Moon noted that the number of Korean-owned enterprises in the region has been declining since peaking in the 1990s and early 2000s.
They slowly closed down because business was bad,” he said. "We still have about 50 to 60 Korean companies in this industry."
The COVID pandemic has also halted business growth, Moon said.
Korean businesses in the area have found ways to succeed, Moon said, citing Royal Lane banks including Hanmi and American First National, which serve many Korean-Americans.
Moon's family business, the Sam Moon Group, has expanded into real estate and luxury hospitality.
Daniel Moon, 49, vice president of the Sam Moon Group, said stores like the one his parents opened in the mid-1980s pioneered Koreatown's growth.
"Especially in the 1980s, a lot of the wholesalers were Korean, so you started seeing more Korean restaurants, and then you had grocery stores serving restaurants," Daniel Moon said. "Then you saw lawyers, accountants, barbers who opened shops. It grew organically from all Korean wholesalers in the area. »
But Moon believes Koreatown needs official recognition from the city to continue growing.
More support from the city could create new enthusiasm and confidence for more Korean businesses setting up shop in their original Korean city.
"I think it would be great if everyone worked together to be more attractive in this area," Daniel Moon said.
Caroline Kim saw her family-owned and operated restaurant, Korea House, as a strong anchor in Dallas' Koreatown. Newspaper clippings of photos of Kim's mother, restaurant matriarch Song Kim, in traditional Korean hanbok, welcoming Korean presidents and celebrities in one of the restaurant's corridors.
Korea House opened in Richardson in 1979, but its flagship location opened in Dallas in 1987.
Caroline Kim said she attributes the success of her mother's restaurant to her ability to adapt and manage the business.
"My mom is a good businesswoman and she's seen it all," Kim said. "He's seen recessions, economic downturns and neighborhood changes, and he's survived them all."
Koreatown in Dallas is a tight-knit community with humble beginnings, Kim said.
Over the past few decades, Korean Americans have shaped the neighborhood's identity, he said.
"There were many Korean chambers, civic associations and businesses that often volunteered to try to develop this area so that it was not only profitable but also welcoming."
Old or original?
Today, some locals refer to the area as Korea's "old" or "original" city. According to Rich Kim, who runs Shin Chong Market, the oldest Korean grocery store in Dallas, even though it's a mainstay of the large Korean-American community in Texas, business isn't what it used to be.
Small grocery stores like his have had to adapt to the changes, especially in Koreatown.
The store is located a few blocks from where Lee and the camera hope to create Koreatown, among the wholesale and retail businesses that have become a landmark of the business district.
Rich Kim left South Korea and moved to the United States in February 2003 with his wife and son to experience life outside the small country, he said.
His stepfather ran a grocery store, and Kim worked as a manager. About four years ago, when he learned his father-in-law was considering closing his business, Kim said he offered to take over. Kim renovated the grocery store, added a dining room, and reopened in 2020.
Kim said he wants to keep the store open because he knows there are regular customers who have shopped there since his wife's mother and father opened the business in 1987. .
When a larger Korean grocery store, Komart, opened in the area in the late 1990s, Kim said Shin Jeong Market lost business but is still alive because of the community's growth. .
Later, when H-Mart opened its own Koreatown in Carrollton, the number of Korean customers dwindled even further.
Rich Kim said the declining number of Korean-American customers has been supplemented by people of other backgrounds and cultures.
"We are no longer just a Korean company, we serve people from other communities, and I think we should gradually expand our business by serving non-Korean customers," he said.
Kim would like to invest more in Koreatown in Dallas. But he said he doesn't believe the Korea-only city designation will lead to an economic revival.
“If it's just about calling the area Koreatown, I don't think anything will happen; it will only be on the surface," Kim said. "What's more important is discussing with stakeholders what we can do to improve and renew the area."
"More Than a Sign"
However, Stephanie Drenko, co-founder of the Asian American Historical Society of Dallas, believes it is important for the city of Dallas to invest in Koreatown for the long term.
Other important cultural enclaves created by the city's diverse Asian-American population have been overlooked and their stories lost, Drenka said.
This made it difficult for organizations like the historical society to preserve the city's Asian American history.
“That's what's really unique about Koreatown; it has evolved and evolved and remained intact as a presence in Dallas,” he said.
Koreatown's identity should focus not only on business and commerce, but also on its contribution to the city's history and culture, Drenka said.
"The city needs to invest in infrastructure and the community around it so that Koreatown is more than just a sign that no one sees," Drenko said.
© 2022 The Dallas Morning News. Visit dallasnews.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
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