Koreatown is about to get loud, crowded and delicious. The 53rd Los Angeles Korean Festival returns to Seoul International Park from Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 4, with free admission every day from 10 a.m. to 10 p.m., packing in Korean food, music, cultural performances, shopping and interactive exhibits across four days.
The festival is one of the largest cultural gatherings in the country tied to a single ethnic community, and according to the Advisory Council on Historic Preservation, it and its accompanying parade typically draw more than 350,000 residents and visitors to Koreatown each year. As Secret Los Angeles reports, this year's lineup includes Evan Pak, Uzuhan and Dumbfoundead, with Jinusean set to perform Friday from 9:15 to 10 p.m. Shannon Bae, Gsoul, Kang Yuchan, From20 and Big Ocean take the stage Saturday from 8 to 10 p.m., and Tiger JK and Yoon Mirae close out the weekend Sunday from 8 to 10 p.m., per the same outlet's report.
The festival is organized by the Los Angeles Korean Festival Foundation, a nonprofit established in 1974 by early Korean American community leaders to preserve cultural heritage and promote cross-cultural understanding in Southern California, according to a post from the Levitt Family Foundation. The organization has run the event annually in Koreatown for more than 50 years. This year's edition carries the official theme “LA Arirang,” which the Los Angeles City Council formally recognized at City Hall on September 4, with council members Heather Hutt and John Lee introducing the resolution, according to a Radio Korea post.
Beyond the Music: Food, Vendors and a Corn Dog Showdown
Alongside the concerts, festivalgoers can browse Korean products and artisan goods, and organizers have arranged a designated beer garden where alcohol sales are restricted, per the report from Secret Los Angeles. The festival also hosts a corn dog eating contest at 1:30 p.m. on October 3, presented by Smile Hot Dog, with $500 for first place, $200 for second and $100 for third — though spots for contestants are limited.
The festival's Agro-Fishery Expo brings the event's international scale into focus, featuring more than 180 vendor companies representing eight South Korean provinces that travel across the Pacific to sell regional agricultural products, specialty foods and artisan goods directly to Angelenos, according to a post from Visit Seoul. It's a commercial and cultural exchange that turns Seoul International Park into a temporary trade fair connecting South Korean provincial producers directly with Southern California shoppers.
Getting There: Parking, Shuttles and Transit
Seoul International Park sits near Normandie and Olympic Boulevard, and festival organizers have arranged parking lots with shuttle service running roughly every 20 minutes from 8:30 a.m. to 11 p.m. throughout the festival, per Secret Los Angeles. Daily parking rates run $19 at several locations, and a festival shuttle operates near Wilshire Boulevard for those who park farther out.
Organizers also recommend the Wilshire/Normandie Metro D Line station, which sits about four blocks north of the park and offers heavy-rail transit access connecting Central LA and Downtown, according to Secret Los Angeles. For a neighborhood known for traffic congestion, that transit option could matter: Contested Spaces describes Koreatown as facing a shortage of green space. The four-day festival takes place at Seoul International Park.
A Multicultural Neighborhood Behind the Korean Name
Koreatown itself is far from monolithic. Latino residents make up more than half of the neighborhood's population and Asian residents about 30 percent, according to data cited on Wikipedia and drawn from the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey.
Festival organizers have leaned into that cross-cultural reality before. In June, the Los Angeles Korean Festival Foundation partnered with the City of Los Angeles to host a World Cup watch party at Seoul International Park for the South Korea vs. Mexico soccer match, drawing thousands of Korean and Latino fans, as reported by the Los Angeles Times. The foundation's president, Alex Cha, is a personal injury attorney and Desert Storm U.S. Army veteran who previously served as president of the Wilshire Center Koreatown Neighborhood Council and as an LA City commissioner, according to the Anderson Munger Family YMCA, which awarded Cha a Community Leadership Award this year.
The festival marked its 50th anniversary in 2023. This year, it returns as its 53rd edition, free and open to the public across all four days at Seoul International Park.
