Koreatown, Los Angeles, CA

Koreatown is the densest part of Los Angeles and stays awake later than almost anywhere else in the city, a few square miles where Korean barbecue, Oaxacan mole and Salvadoran pupusas share the same blocks. Housing in Koreatown is mostly apartments. Condos have grown more common, while single-family houses are rare and mostly on the western edge. Walk a few blocks and you pass Art Deco towers with terra cotta facades, including the Wiltern at Wilshire and Western. Park's BBQ on Vermont is a standard-setter for Korean barbecue, Sun Nong Dan on Western serves spicy galbijjim in massive pots late into the night, and Dan Sung Sa on Sixth Street is a dark tavern known for skewers. Coffee shops cluster on Sixth Street and Wilshire, with Alchemist Coffee Project on Hobart among the neighborhood picks. Green space is limited. Seoul International Park and the Ardmore Recreation Center on San Marino Street provide fields and courts, and Liberty Park on Wilshire is a small lawn in front of an office tower. Robert F. Kennedy Inspiration Park sits at the old Ambassador Hotel site. For hiking, Griffith Park is a short drive north. Daily life works without a car more than almost anywhere in the city. The D Line has stations at Wilshire and Normandie, Vermont and Western, and H Mart, Zion Market and smaller Korean groceries cover the shopping. Late-night errands are routine. The tradeoff is density. Parking is scarce, many buildings have no dedicated spots, and noise from bars and traffic runs late. In Koreatown, dinner at midnight is ordinary, and the barbecue grills are often still full well past then.