Philadelphia Koreatown

{{Short description|Neighborhood of Pennsylvania, United States}} {{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}} {{Use American English|date=January 2025}} {{Infobox settlement | background_color=    |image_skyline=CheltTwp 09.JPG |imagesize=300px |image_caption=Professional offices along [[Cheltenham Avenue]] in [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania|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 (Philadelphia)|Broad Street]]. |image_flag= |name=Koreatown |settlement_type = [[List of Philadelphia neighborhoods|Neighborhood of Philadelphia]]  | mapsize = 300px | map_caption = | pushpin_map = Philadelphia | pushpin_label_position = | pushpin_map_caption = | pushpin_mapsize = | coordinates = {{Coord|40.034|-75.121|format=dms|display=title}}  |subdivision_type = Country |subdivision_name = [[United States]] |subdivision_type1 = State |subdivision_name1 = [[Pennsylvania]] |subdivision_type2 = County |subdivision_name2 = [[Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania|Philadelphia]] |subdivision_type3 = City |subdivision_name3 = [[Philadelphia]]   |postal_code_type= |postal_code= |area_codes=[[Area codes 215, 267, and 445|215, 267 and 445]] }} [[File:From-upper-darby-koreatown.jpg|right|300px|thumb|[[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania|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''' ({{Korean|hangul=필라델피아 코리아타운}}) is located around the [[Olney, Philadelphia|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 Township, Pennsylvania|Cheltenham]], although many Korean-American businesses and organizations and some residents remain in Olney and adjoining neighborhoods. [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania|Upper Darby Township]], bordering [[West Philadelphia]], also has a large Korean-American population;<ref name=three>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QQKq4mtdWv8C&q=koreatown+upper+darby&pg=PA56|title=Dynamics of Ethnic Identity: Three Asian American Communities in Philadelphia|author=Jae-Hyup Lee|year=1998|isbn=9780815331186}}</ref> meanwhile, a rapidly growing Korean population and commercial presence has emerged in suburban [[Cherry Hill, New Jersey|Cherry Hill]], [[New Jersey]] since 2010, centered along [[Marlton Pike]], attracted to the [[Cherry Hill Public Schools]].<ref name=KoreatownCherryHill>{{cite web|url=https://njmonthly.com/articles/eat-drink/a-sandwich-with-a-little-bit-of-seoul/|title=A sandwich With a Little Bit of Seoul - The Koagie comes to Cherry Hill|author=Catherine Laughlin|publisher=New Jersey Monthly|date=April 10, 2012|access-date=January 16, 2023}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/13_5YR/DP05/0600000US3400712280|title=ACS DEMOGRAPHIC AND HOUSING ESTIMATES - 2009-2013 American Community Survey 5-Year Estimates - Cherry Hill township, Camden County, New Jersey|publisher=[[United States Census Bureau]]|access-date=April 26, 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20150427015821/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/ACS/13_5YR/DP05/0600000US3400712280|archive-date=April 27, 2015|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0600000US3400712280|title=Profile of General Population and Housing Characteristics - Cherry Hill township, Camden County, New Jersey - 2010 Demographic Profile Data|publisher=United States Census Bureau|access-date=April 26, 2015|archive-url=https://archive.today/20200212102255/http://factfinder.census.gov/bkmk/table/1.0/en/DEC/10_DP/DPDP1/0600000US3400712280|archive-date=February 12, 2020|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://traveltips.usatoday.com/korean-restaurant-cherry-hill-new-jersey-102541.html|title=Korean Restaurants in Cherry Hill, New Jersey|author=Richard Manfredi, Demand Media|newspaper=USA TODAY|access-date=April 26, 2015|archive-date=March 4, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304114257/http://traveltips.usatoday.com/korean-restaurant-cherry-hill-new-jersey-102541.html|url-status=dead}}</ref> Signage in [[Hangul]] is ubiquitous in some neighborhoods in these areas.

==History== According to ''[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]'', the Koreatown had "moved" from the Logan neighborhood into the [[Olney, Philadelphia|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.<ref name=LoganToOlney>{{cite web|url=http://articles.philly.com/1986-07-13/news/26099038_1_korean-community-street-signs-koreatown|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120612025628/http://articles.philly.com/1986-07-13/news/26099038_1_korean-community-street-signs-koreatown|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 12, 2012|title='Koreatown': From Logan Into Olney|author=Marc Kaufman|newspaper=[[The Philadelphia Inquirer]]|date=July 13, 1986|access-date=April 26, 2015}}</ref> In Olney, tensions were high between Koreans and the German community,<ref name=LoganToOlney/> 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 East Asians in general.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=h4Rt7sWNqUEC&q=koreatown+philadelphia&pg=PA172|title=The Residential Patterns of Immigrants in Greater Philadelphia: A ...|author=William J. Swiatek|year=2008|isbn=9780549387824}}</ref> 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<ref name=three /> but eventually resurrected. In 2024, [[U.S. House of Representatives|U.S. Representative]] [[Andy Kim (politician)|Andy Kim]] from [[Marlton, New Jersey]], another [[South Jersey]] suburb of Philadelphia with a significant and growing Korean population, became the first elected uniracial Korean American [[U.S. Senate]] candidate.

==Religion== There is a large Korean Catholic church, Holy Angels.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://archphila.org/parish/holy-angels-philadelphia/|title=Holy Angels (Korean)|publisher=[[Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Philadelphia]]|access-date=2020-04-22}}</ref>

==See also== {{Portal|Pennsylvania|Philadelphia|South Korea|United States}} * [[Koreatown]] * [[Korean American]] * [[Chinatown, Philadelphia]] * [[Little Saigon, Philadelphia]] * [[Little Cambodia#Philadelphia, Pennsylvania|Cambodia Town, Philadelphia]] * [[Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania]] * [[Millbourne, Pennsylvania]] * [[Cheltenham Township, Pennsylvania]] * [[Cherry Hill, New Jersey]] * [[Koreatown, Palisades Park|Koreatown, Palisades Park (벼랑 공원 코리아타운)]] * [[Koreatown, Fort Lee|Koreatown, Fort Lee (포트 리 코리아타운)]] * [[List of U.S. cities with significant Korean-American populations]]

==Gallery== <Gallery> File:From-upper-darby-koreatown-2.jpg|View towards Market Street PA route 3, across from [[H-Mart]], at Terminal Square. The [[69th Street Transportation Center]] is also nearby. File:HMartUpperDarby.jpg|[[H-Mart]] in Upper Darby Township, Pennsylvania File:CheltTwp 03.JPG|[[H-Mart]] and other Korean-American businesses in Cheltenham File:CheltTwp 04.JPG|More Korean businesses in Cheltenham </Gallery>

==References== {{reflist}}

==External links== * [http://koreancenter.org/5th-street-project/ N. 5th Street Project official website]

[[Category:Neighborhoods in Philadelphia]] [[Category:Asian-American culture in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Koreatowns in the United States]] [[Category:Korean-American culture in Pennsylvania]] [[Category:Olney-Oak Lane, Philadelphia]]