just don t break down my store. making sure our parents, our uncles, our families, these stores, this town, stays alive. anthony: 58 people were killed. only a quarter of korean-owned businesses survived, either destroyed outright during the riots or abandoned afterwards by owners who felt the entire underpinning of their contract with america had shifted. yet today koreatown is bigger and better and forever changed by what happened in 1992. dong il jang, however, is as unwaveringly old school as you get. roy and i sit down with roy kim, whose grandfather opened the place in 1978. like most korean restaurants at the time, you didn t mess with the original, ever. and like most korean father/son relationships, you obeyed dad s wishes, no matter what. roy kim: my father put all this, you know, redwood in, and
was no response. anthony: did cops come at all? roy choi: i was here all three days. i didn t see any cops. anthony: well, where did they set up their front line? roy choi: rodeo drive. anthony: where did the forces of law and order set up their perimeter? not here. koreatown was left to its own devices. the official borders are third street on the north end, olympic boulevard to the south, vermont avenue on the east, and western avenue to the west. that s three square miles left pretty much to burn or fend for itself. this rooftop quickly became the command post for rapidly improvised korean defense forces. they armed themselves, set up crude but effective command and control communication, and patrols. roy choi: we weren t going around just slugging and, and capping people. all that was happening was, just don t break down my store. making sure our parents, our uncles, our families, these stores, this town, stays alive.
anthony: did cops come at all? roy choi: i was here all three days. i didn t see any cops. anthony: well, where did they set up their front line? roy choi: rodeo drive. anthony: where did the forces of law and order set up their perimeter? not here. koreatown was left to its own devices. the official borders are third street on the north end, olympic boulevard to the south, vermont avenue on the east, and western avenue to the west. that s three square miles left pretty much to burn or fend for itself. this rooftop quickly became the command post for rapidly improvised korean defense forces. they armed themselves, set up crude but effective command and control communication, and patrols. roy choi: we weren t going around just slugging and, and capping people. all that was happening was, just don t break down my store. making sure our parents, our uncles, our families, these stores, this town, stays alive.
capping people. all that was happening was, just don t break down my store. making sure our parents, our uncles, our families, these stores, this town, stays alive. anthony: 58 people were killed. only a quarter of korean-owned businesses survived, either destroyed outright during the riots or abandoned afterwards by owners who felt the entire underpinning of their contract with america had shifted. yet today, koreatown is bigger and better and forever changed by what happened in 1992. dong il jang, however, is as unwaveringly old school as you get. roy and i sit down with roy kim, whose grandfather opened the place in 1978. like most korean restaurants at the time, you didn t mess with the original, ever. and like most korean father/son relationships, you obeyed dad s wishes, no matter what. roy kim: my father put all this, you know, redwood in, and
all that was happening was, just don t break down my store. making sure our parents, our uncles, our families, these stores, this town, stays alive. anthony: 58 people were killed. only a quarter of korean-owned businesses survived, either destroyed outright during the riots or abandoned afterwards by owners who felt the entire underpinning of their contract with america had shifted. yet today, koreatown is bigger and better and forever changed by what happened in 1992. dong il jang, however, is as unwaveringly old school as you get. roy and i sit down with roy kim, whose grandfather opened the place in 1978. like most korean restaurants at the time, you didn t mess with the original, ever. and like most korean father/son relationships, you obeyed dad s wishes, no matter what. roy kim: my father put all