Was in Koreatown north of Wilshire Boulevard tonight and noticed that the bakeshop Caketown Garden has closed.
So many stores and shops have closed in Koreatown this past year especially along Western Avenue and Wilshire Boulevard. I could probably shift to uploading photos of For Lease signs…
If you’re interested in this space located in the strip mall on the corner of Western Avenue and 6th street, call United Realty at (323) 663-3232.
When they said ‘festival’ I imagined something big. This is the smallest festival I’ve ever seen — fewer than half a dozen companies from South Korea…. maybe five. I was disappointed by the paltriness so I didn’t bother being thorough. It’s a sales event with a few samples of dried myeolchi (멸치 = anchovies).
Yet I’ve got to hand it to those folks staffing the tables. They were proud of their products and were really hustling in a positive way.
The most dominant item was seaweed. Stacks of giant packs from South Cholla province — Wando Island in that jurisdiction is famous for kim (김 = dried sheets of “laver”). The other kind of seaweed they had was wakame, the brown seaweed that you rehydrate to use in miyeok-guk.
Two seaweed companies: one was Jaewon GlobalNet, the other was Oyang, which was touting its unique patents for making seasoned kim — invention numbers 0455993 and 0455994. Not willing to decipher the technical details from the handout, but the first patent seems to involve a three-part process that does NOT require adding MSG, while the second patent is some sort of two-part process. Will update this later. Meanwhile, visit their website taejo.org. No, they did not give me samples, but the ajumma were very enthusiastic so I’m devoting space to them.
Onggolchan (옹골찬) was selling different seafood banchan (반찬 = side dishes). I was glad to see their very substantial tri-lingual brochure with pretty pictures and quite presentable copy in English, Korean and Japanese. Their website: onggolchan.kr
마이징어
The unique marketing angle was provided by Myzingo. Are you familiar with ojingeo (오징어), the dried squid that everyone loves gnawing on? Well, this is Myzingo, which happens to be flavored with peanut butter. Momzzang (몸짱) is the squid’s body (mom in Korean) and Darizzang (다리짱) refers to the legs (dari in Korean). Really clever branding. Website: www.myzingo.co.kr
So this “festival” runs until October 25 (Sunday) in one tiny corner of the the parking lot of Hannam Chain SuperMarket. Address: 2740 W. Olympic Boulevard, Los Angeles, California 90006.
I did see a lot of Korean ajosshi and ajumma (married men and women in their forties) eagerly snapping up the gigantic packs that were on sale. And I bet Korean-American teens might get a kick out of the peanut-butter-flavored squid. If you’re in the area, might as well drop by. The LAPD is also holding their Halloween carnival about a block east with carnival rides, games, food and a haunted house until Sunday 10 pm.
The Agriculture Ministry of South Korea is sponsoring a three-day Korean seafood marketing and sales event in Los Angeles, from Friday to Sunday (October 23 – 25), as part of the government’s drive to boost the country’s exports.
The goal is to sell $100,000 throughout the three-day event taking place at the Hannam SuperMarket in the heart of Koreatown. Foods available include kim (sheets of dried seaweed) , ojingo (dried squid) and myeolchi (anchovies). At least four trading companies from South Korea are on site.
By establishing a distribution network in Los Angeles, the government aims to attract orders not only from the Korean-American community, but also from the local consumer market.
If you drop by, you can taste samples of Korean food. More details with photos after I’ve dropped by this weekend.
UPDATE: Was just there. It’s a very, very small affair. No free kimbap or tuna, but there’s lots of dried seaweed (brown wakame too). There’s something unique called peanut-butter-flavored dried squid or something to that effect. It’s a selling event, so you’re expected to buy seafood products in bulk. I’ll post the pictures later.
Also, nearby, you won’t be able to drive a personal vehicle south of Olympic Boulevard on Vermont Avenue. It’s been closed off for the LAPD festival. Lots of rides and carnival food and games for the kids! Also until Sunday (10 pm).
Snapped this picture while walking along Olympic Boulevard last Saturday.
You must know Sherri Shepherd as one of the hosts of the ABC daytime talkshow, The View. She has a show premiering on Lifetime titled… Sherri.
“Sherri is a single mother, a full-time paralegal, a part-time comedian/actress and a recent divorcée from her cheating husband. With support from her sister and her friends, Sherri gets back into the dating scene while managing her busy life.”
Other members of the cast: Tammy Townsend as Celia, Malcolm Jamal Warner as Sherri’s husband, and James Avery as Sherri’s father.
Watch new episodes each night beginning Monday, October 5 at 7 pm et/pt.
The Snowberry sign at the stripmall on the corner Western Avenue and Sixth Street has finally been replaced.
Actually Snowberry was long ago replaced by Berry Nutty, but the Snowberry sign remained.
By the way!!! Berry Nutty itself has been replaced by an establishment called Yogo Zone. I took pictures last week before they were officially open. Today as I was quickly passing by, I noticed balloons strung up around the entrance, so they must be celebrating their grand opening now.
Elord is a Korean apparel company whose first stateside store was opened at this strip mall right next to Snowberry/Berry Nutty/Yogo Zone in December 2006.
Korean Name: 엘로드 (Eh-lord)
547 S Western Avenue, Los Angeles, California 90020
Phone number: (213) 382-1240
I’ll post more about the Yogo Zone store after a visit and some research.
Fourth and final day of the Korean Festival in Los Angeles… Managed to make it this afternoon and catch several dance and martial-arts performances on stage. A few were lamely presented (it’s almost always a matter of packaging, ppl…) but it wasn’t a total waste of time to be in the audience.
These girls were so good. They came on several times performing different traditional Korean dances — with fans, these drums they carry that you see in the picture, and later on with stationary drums. I do have video clips and I’ll be processing them in the coming days.
Also visited more of the booths and had time to chat more, compared to my just passing through last Friday. McDonald’s finally showed up, but I didn’t bother lining up for their giveaways. I headed across to Maeil and picked up samples of the new Enyo yogurt drinks, which I’ll review in another post. Didn’t spot the Maeil mascots today, though they still had the wheel and were giving away posters of Korean stars.
Of all the South Korean provinces showcasing their wares at the festival, I was most impressed with KyeongSangNam Do (경상남도). All their representatives were friendly and helpful; one lady in particular did an awesome job explaining to me what their raison d’etre was. I definitely will devote a full blog post to their local products.
For a few minutes, I was hooked watching men (and a girl) take on the Marine Corps challenge. I’ll post the video clips soon… Lots to process… which is good. I love material, I mean content.
Maeil was one of the more active companies proselytizing their brand during the 2009 Korean Festival in Los Angeles. It’s in stark contrast to McDonald’s who had the budget to plaster their signs all over the place but did not have a single representative present to staff a table or hand out samples.
It wasn’t just one table with young women proactively handing out cupfuls of Maeil yogurt drinks… they had several mascots roaming the grounds… and they had a really foxy Korean lady handling a game where you could turn a wheel to win a prize. Lots of people were lining up.
The mascots! I am very familiar with their Caffe Late line, but not with Enyo (엔요), a new product. Didn’t have time yesterday to pick up a sample or ask about it but it seems to be an organic yogurt drink for very young children. I’ll investigate today and post details later.
Ah, two items close to my heart. No smoking and being photographed…
장터내 모든곳에서는 금연입니다.
본인의 동의 없이… 사진이 촬영 게재…
By attending the Korean Festival, you consent to being photographed, filmed and recorded as members of the Korean Festival audience and consent to the use of any such film, image or recording at the discretion of the Korean Festival.
Someone should have told the lady selling the chaltteok gwaja. I had posted about CW’s chaltteok cookie, and this woman was at the festival selling something similar, so I was really interested. I started taking photos with my iPhone and was about to pick up a sample so I’d have something new to report on this blog. Well, I don’t know what her problem was… she started complaining about my taking pictures and wouldn’t offer me a sample, which she had been handing out to attendees. Other companies who pay thousands of dollars to have a table at these fairs rush to give out samples because that’s part of marketing their business. She must be in violation of some trademark or patent… CW did patent their technology…
And of course, I am so glad that “Smoking is prohibited in the entire Festival Area. Prohibido fumar en esta area.”
Don’t forget to check out the schedule for the remaining days of the 2009 Korean Festival in Los Angeles.
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