
Thirty years after it burned, Koreatown has transformed. But scars remain
When the city started to burn, James An’s mother was driving her new BMW in South L.A.
An was 12 years old, but he knew the luxury car — and her Korean face — could make her a target. He called her car phone and urged her to “get the hell out.”
On the radio, he heard business owners pleading for police protection as their livelihoods vanished in front of their eyes.
On television, he saw much of Koreatown on fire, including an electronics store he loved, half a mile from his family’s Korean-C