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World Cup Soccer Fever Hits LA Koreatown

As I was taking pictures in front of Chapman Plaza and the Equitable Building, I noticed something in K-town that I haven’t seen this big since the LA Riots. UNITY. Except this time, instead of thousands of Koreans with the look of outrage and concern, it was thousands of Koreans with smiles on their faces and my peeps raising da flag in da air! The cool thing was, there was NO DRAMA. For some reason, whenever big groups of Koreans get together in LA, somebody gotta trip. I guess some things haven’t changed since I was much younger and banging in Ktown. As I saw more and more of my little homiez from all the different hoods, I started to think, "I hope these guys don’t ruin this positive vibe by getting down or dumping on anyone tonight."

When the game started it was all good though. There was at least 10,000 people watching and cheering from the Equitable lot to Bo’s, Intercrew, Bliss, Blue, to 4As (1 block area). As the game got closer to the end, the stress in Ktown started to build. By the time the game went into the Penalty Kick situation, I thought I was having an ulcer, but when Lee Woon Jae, (goaltender) blocked the 4th penalty kick EVERYONE in Ktown was jumping up and down screaming BUT, Korea had to score on one more penalty kick to seal it so there was a brief moment where the hype paused, and then Korea’s captain, Hong Myung Bo, stepped up and FINISHED DAT SHIT, kicking in the winning goal assertively turning the Republic of Korea, K-town LA, and I’m sure every other K-town in the world into a big ass celebration.

I ran out into 6th street with my girlfriend clutched in one arm and my "Tae Guk Ki" waving in the other and the crowd was out there going CRAZY! Hundreds of psycho Korea fans were waving their flags, banging their Korean drums, cymbals, anything and everything that made noise. (I saw a guy hitting a bucket with his shoe) After at least an hour of celebration on 6th Street, the LAPD with the help of the HaeByungs (Korean Marines) finally dispersed the crowd peacefully, without brutalizing anyone, with not one single arrest. Big props to LAPD Officer Edwin Lee for handling the crowd professionally and also to Kevin Lee of the LA HaeByungs for doing the same.

After the 6th Street mob was broken up, we all hit da streets of Ktown honking and yelling like a bunch of "michinoms" (crazy people) and EVERYONE was CRUIZING on Western, 8th Street, Wilshire, etc. When I passed one car on 5th Street, a thug looking homie yelled, "Hey! Wanna see something?" He pulled up his shirt and he was tatted down, "KOREA" in big bold Old English black ink. If you had a Korean car flag on your car window or if you were holding a big ass Korean flag, people gave you love. One SUV on Wilshire had a girl who was sitting outside the sunroof, looked at me and yelled, "HEY!" then she flashed me her tig ol’ bitties. (yes, she was Korean) That kinda tells you how down we are here in K-town for our mother country. It didn’t matter if you were 1.5, 2nd generation, whether you could speak Korean or not. This World Cup Tournament is bringing our community together. Never mind that this is the farthest Korea has ever gone (South Korea has never won a single game in World Cup history). Never mind that this is the best ANY Asian team has ever done in the tournament, KOREANS ARE TIGHT AS EVER. Whether we lose tomorrow in the Semis against Germany or pull off a miracle and beat the Brazilians in the finals, I’m sure many of us will never forget this defining moment in the history of our people "DAAAAE HAN MIN GUK!!!"