Koreatown, Philadelphia

Last updated
Koreatown
CheltTwp 09.JPG
Professional offices along Cheltenham Avenue in Cheltenham, one of several areas in the Delaware Valley encompassing Greater Philadelphia that has a significant Korean population. In the background is the northern terminus of Broad Street.
Street map of Philadelphia and surrounding area.png
Red pog.svg
Koreatown
Coordinates: Coordinates: 40°02′02″N75°07′16″W / 40.034°N 75.121°W / 40.034; -75.121
Country United States
State Pennsylvania
County Philadelphia County
City Philadelphia
Area code(s) Area code 215
Upper Darby Township is another area where there are significant pockets of Korean people and commerce, at Fairfield Avenue and Garrett Road. From-upper-darby-koreatown.jpg
Upper Darby Township is another area where there are significant pockets of Korean people and commerce, at Fairfield Avenue and Garrett Road.

The first Philadelphia Koreatown (Hangul : 필라델피아 한국 도시) was located in the Olney section of the city of Philadelphia, United States. Since the late 1980s, the Korean community has expanded northward, and it now straddles the border between North Philadelphia in Philadelphia proper and the northern suburb of Cheltenham, although many Korean-American businesses and organizations and some residents remain in Olney and adjoining neighborhoods. Upper Darby Township, bordering West Philadelphia, also has a large Korean-American population; [1] meanwhile, a rapidly growing Korean population and commercial presence has emerged in nearby suburban Cherry Hill, New Jersey since 2010, centered along Marlton Pike, attracted to the Cherry Hill Public Schools. [2] [3] [4] Signage in Hangul (한글) is ubiquitous in some neighborhoods in these areas.

Hangul Native alphabet of the Korean language

The Korean alphabet, known as Hangul, has been used to write the Korean language since its creation in the 15th century by King Sejong the Great. It may also be written as Hangeul following the standard Romanization.

Olney, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Olney is a neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States. It is roughly bounded by Roosevelt Boulevard to the south, Tacony Creek to the east, Godfrey Avenue to the north, and the railroad right-of-way west of Seventh Street to the west.

Philadelphia Largest city in Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia, sometimes known colloquially as Philly, is the largest city in the U.S. state and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, and the sixth-most populous U.S. city, with a 2017 census-estimated population of 1,580,863. Since 1854, the city has been coterminous with Philadelphia County, the most populous county in Pennsylvania and the urban core of the eighth-largest U.S. metropolitan statistical area, with over 6 million residents as of 2017. Philadelphia is also the economic and cultural anchor of the greater Delaware Valley, located along the lower Delaware and Schuylkill Rivers, within the Northeast megalopolis. The Delaware Valley's population of 7.2 million ranks it as the eighth-largest combined statistical area in the United States.

Contents

History

According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Koreatown had "moved" from the Logan neighborhood into the Olney section in the early 1980s, attributing the migration from Logan to "too much crime" and the "schools weren't so good" at the time in Logan. [5] In Olney, tensions were high between Koreans and the German community, [5] as well as the black community, who did not want the section of the town to be officially declared "Koreatown", causing much violence and crime to be committed not only against Koreans, but Asians in general. [6] The original Koreatown existed on North 5th Street in Olney since 1984, with Korean language signs put up to help official recognition of the area; those signs were vandalized in the late 1980s. [1] Today, that section of town has transitioned into the Puerto Rican neighborhood call El Centro de Oro.

See also

Koreatown neighbourhood in some cities with higher ethnic Korean population

A Koreatown, also known as a Little Korea or Little Seoul, is a Korean-dominated ethnic enclave within a city or metropolitan area outside the Korean Peninsula.

Chinatown, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Philadelphia Chinatown is a predominantly Asian American neighborhood in Center City, Philadelphia. The Philadelphia Chinatown Development Corporation supports the area. The neighborhood stretches from Vine Street on the north to Arch Street on the south, and from North Franklin Street and North 7th Street on the east to North Broad Street on the west. Unlike some other traditional Chinatowns, the Philadelphia Chinatown continues to grow in size and ethnic Chinese population.

Little Saigon, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

One of the largest Vietnamese neighborhoods in Philadelphia is located in Passyunk Square, a neighborhood in South Philadelphia.

69th Street Transportation Center train station in Upper Darby, Pennsylvania

The 69th Street Transportation Center, also known as the 69th Street Terminal or 69th Street Station, is a SEPTA terminal in the Terminal Square section of Upper Darby, Pennsylvania, just outside the Philadelphia border. It is the other ground-level station on the Market Frankford Line besides Millbourne.

Related Research Articles

Upper Darby Township, Delaware County, Pennsylvania Place in Pennsylvania, United States

Upper Darby Township is a home rule township bordering Philadelphia in Delaware County, Pennsylvania, United States. Upper Darby is home to the Tower Theater, a historic music venue on 69th Street built in the 1920s. Upper Darby's population is diverse, representing over 100 ethnic cultures. The township hosts a range of housing types including densely populated rowhouse sections similar to houses in neighboring West Philadelphia, tree-lined neighborhoods of turn-of-the-century single-family houses and mid-century developments. It is Pennsylvania's sixth most populous municipality.

Koreatown, Manhattan Neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City

Koreatown, or K-Town, is an ethnic Korean enclave in Midtown Manhattan, New York City, centered on West 32nd Street between Madison Avenue and the intersection of Sixth Avenue and Broadway, which is known as Greeley Square. The neighborhood in Midtown South features over 150 businesses of various types and sizes, ranging from small restaurants and beauty salons to large branches of Korean banking conglomerates. Koreatown, Manhattan has become described as the "Korean Times Square" and has emerged as the international economic outpost for the Korean chaebol.

Delaware Valley Metropolitan area in the United States

The Delaware Valley is the valley through which the Delaware River flows. By extension, this toponym is commonly used to refer to Greater Philadelphia or Philadelphia metropolitan area, which straddles the Lower Delaware River just north of its estuary. The Delaware Valley Metropolitan Area is located at the southern part of the Northeast megalopolis and as such, the Delaware Valley can be described as either a metropolitan statistical area (MSA), or as a broader combined statistical area (CSA). The Delaware Valley Metropolitan Area is composed of several counties in southeastern Pennsylvania and southwestern New Jersey, one county in northern Delaware, and one county in northeastern Maryland. The MSA has a population of over 6 million, while the CSA has a population of over 7.1 million. Philadelphia, being the region's major commercial, cultural, and industrial center, wields a rather large sphere of influence that affects the counties that immediately surround it.

Cheltenham, Pennsylvania Place in Pennsylvania, United States

Cheltenham is an unincorporated community in Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States, with a ZIP code of 19012. It located directly over the city line of Philadelphia. It also borders Northeast Philadelphia over the Fox Chase Line on the east and over Cottman Avenue on the north side.

Fern Rock, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Fern Rock is a neighborhood in the upper North Philadelphia section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania bounded by Olney to the east, Ogontz to the west, Logan to the south, and East Oak Lane to the north. It is approximately situated between Broad Street, Tabor Road, 7th Street, Godfrey Avenue and Fisher Park. Fern Rock borders Ogontz at Broad Street, Logan at Olney Avenue, East Oak Lane at Godfrey Avenue, and Olney at the train tracks.

North Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

North Philadelphia, nicknamed North Philly, is a section of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. It is immediately north of Center City. Though the full extent of the region is somewhat vague, "North Philadelphia" is regarded as everything north of either Vine Street or Spring Garden Street, between Northwest Philadelphia and Northeast Philadelphia. It is bordered to the north by Cheltenham Township along Cheltenham Avenue, Spring Garden Street to the south, 35th Street to the west, and Adams Avenue to the east. The Philadelphia Police Department patrols five districts located within North Philadelphia: the 22nd, 25th, 26th, 35th, and 39th districts. There are seven ZIP codes for North Philadelphia: 19132, 19133, 19121, 19122, 19130, 19123 and 19120

Frankford Creek stream in Philadelphia County, United States of America

Frankford Creek is a minor tributary of the Delaware River in southeast Pennsylvania. It derived its name from the nearby town of Frankford, Philadelphia County. The stream originates as Tookany Creek at Hill Crest in Cheltenham Township and meanders eastward, then southeastward, throughout Cheltenham Township, until a sharp bend near the Philadelphia border at Lawncrest, where the place names Toxony and Tookany were used in historic times; the stream is still known as Tookany Creek in this region, where it flows southwest. Turning south into Philadelphia at the crotch of Philadelphia's Y-shaped border, the creek is called Tacony Creek; from here southward, it is considered the informal boundary separating Northeast Philadelphia from the rest of the city. The Philadelphia neighborhoods of Olney and Feltonville lie on the western side of the stream in this area while Northwood, Lawncrest, Summerdale, and Frankford lie on the eastern side. It continues to be called the Tacony at least until the smaller Wingohocking Creek merges with it in Juniata Park, within the city-owned golf course. Beyond Castor Avenue it is known as Frankford Creek until the stream's confluence with the Delaware River in the Bridesburg neighborhood of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. The section of stream known as Frankford Creek is 3.1 miles (5.0 km) long, and the upstream section known as Tacony Creek, from Hill Crest, is 11.1 miles (17.9 km) long.

Logan, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania, United States

Logan is a neighborhood in the upper North Philadelphia section of the city of Philadelphia, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Majority of the neighborhood falls within the 19141 zip code, but some of it falls within 19140. The neighborhood is sometimes confused with the Olney neighborhood of Philadelphia. Olney Avenue extends from both the Olney and Logan neighborhoods of the city. The Olney Transportation Center is located in Logan.

Bristol Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania Former Township in Pennsylvania, United States

Bristol Township is a defunct township that was located in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania. The township ceased to exist and was incorporated into the City of Philadelphia following the passage of the Act of Consolidation, 1854. It is the modern day Olney-Oak Lane Planning Analysis Section, though with a slight difference in the southern border. It is in present-day North Philadelphia, although Olney-Oak Lane is sometimes considered to be separate from North Philadelphia entirely because of their unique architecture, culture and differing patterns of development.

Cherry Hill, New Jersey Township in New Jersey

Cherry Hill is a township in Camden County, New Jersey, United States. As of the 2010 United States Census, the township had a population of 71,045, reflecting an increase of 1,080 (+1.5%) from the 69,965 counted in the 2000 Census, which had in turn increased by 617 (+0.9%) from the 69,348 counted in the 1990 Census. As of 2010, the township was the state's 15th most populous municipality and the second-largest in Camden County, after having been the state's 13th most populous municipality in the 2000 Census. An edge city of Philadelphia, Cherry Hill is situated on the Delaware Valley coastal plain, approximately 8 miles (13 km) southeast of Center City, Philadelphia.

Koreatown, Fort Lee Koreatown in New Jersey, United States of America

Koreatown, Fort Lee, or Fort Lee Koreatown, in the borough of Fort Lee, Bergen County, New Jersey, United States, in the New York City Metropolitan Area, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Korean enclaves outside of Korea.

Koreatown, Long Island Neighborhoods of Queens in *Queens County and Borough *Nassau County, New York, United States

Koreatown, Long Island, or the Long Island Koreatown, on Long Island in the U.S. state of New York, is one of the largest and fastest growing ethnic Korean enclaves outside Korea.

Olney-Oak Lane, Philadelphia Neighborhood of Philadelphia in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

Olney-Oak Lane, Philadelphia, is a section of Philadelphia that is immediately north of Upper North Philadelphia and south of Cheltenham. It is an area that consists of the now defunct township that was called "Bristol Township, Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania". The section is often included as part of North Philadelphia by city government agencies, though locally it is often referred to as "Uptown," along with the Germantown section.

Philadelphia has the second largest Puerto Rican community outside of Puerto Rico. As of the 2010 U.S. Census, an estimated 121,643 Puerto Ricans were living in Philadelphia, up from 91,527 in 2000. Recent 2017 estimates by the U.S. Census Bureau put the number of Puerto Ricans living in Philadelphia at 134,934. Many Puerto Ricans in the Philadelphia area have engaged in circular migration in which they spend periods of time living in Philadelphia and periods of time living in Puerto Rico.

Cheltenham Township, Montgomery County, Pennsylvania Place in Pennsylvania, United States

Cheltenham Township is a home rule township bordering North Philadelphia in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania, United States. Cheltenham's population density ranges from over 10,000 per square mile in rowhouses and high-rise apartments along Cheltenham Avenue to historic neighborhoods in Wyncote and Elkins Park. It is the most densely populated township in Montgomery County. The population was 36,793 at the 2010 U.S. Census, making it the third most populous township in Montgomery County and the 27th most populous municipality in Pennsylvania. It was originally part of Philadelphia County, and it became part of Montgomery County upon that county's creation in 1784.

References

  1. 1 2 Jae-Hyup Lee. Dynamics of Ethnic Identity: Three Asian American Communities in Philadelphia.
  2. "ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES - 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates - Cherry Hill township, Camden County, New Jersey". United States Census Bureau . Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  3. "Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - Cherry Hill township, Camden County, New Jersey - 2010 Demographic Profile Data". United States Census Bureau. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  4. Richard Manfredi, Demand Media. "Korean Restaurants in Cherry Hill, New Jersey". USA TODAY. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  5. 1 2 Marc Kaufman (July 13, 1986). "'Koreatown': From Logan Into Olney". Philadelphia Inquirer. Retrieved April 26, 2015.
  6. William J. Swiatek. The Residential Patterns of Immigrants in Greater Philadelphia: A ...