It's hard for me to say that leaving Koreatown for West Hollywood is moving "up" in the world because Koreatown felt like home from the very beginning. I guess part of me really relates to the minorities and working class residents here and leaving feels a little bit like abandonment.
Of course our new apartment will be much nicer, bigger, cleaner, safer, and MUCH closer to work (walking distance, even!). So we have a lot to look forward to in our move but I will really miss our neighbors here. I will miss the nicest property manager I've ever met, Azar, who really helped us get settled in when we first moved. I will miss Sandra, a chatty lady who live across the street and who warned me from the beginning about the dangers of Koreatown. I will miss Jessica and her two dogs, and we will continue to worry about her safety as a single girl in this crazy neighborhood. I will miss our next door neighbor, Claudius, a struggling young actor who hammers nails into his walls at very random intervals, a phenomenon we finally got to the bottom of when he explained that sometimes he just needs another place to hang something so he puts a nail in the wall. I am going to miss Alex and his little sister Alicia more than anything. Alex is a 4 year old little boy that runs up to hug me every time I see him and his baby sister just learned how to say "Oni". I'll miss the little old man that quietly watches the world go by. I'm going to miss Oliver, a student at L.A. highschool on the verge of giving up. I wish there was more I could do to help him stay in school but the last time we spoke he said he probably won't be able to finish since he's about to turn 18 and he still has a lot of credits to make up. Good luck, Oliver, with whatever you do.
Even though our new place will be much more quiet and peaceful I'm going to miss all the life that happens on Oxford avenue below our 4th floor windows. I might even miss being woken up early on the weekends by the guys in their trucks sorting through metal and glass as they prepare to sell it at the recycling centers. I already miss the street vendors and their obnoxious little horns, and the ice cream truck that parks out front with his annoying song repeating over and over. I'll miss the lady who startled me once when she was walking up and down the street shouting "Tamales, Taaamaaaless, agarran los tamales". And oh how we are going to miss the food down here! There are two "roach coaches" that sit on either end of our block with some of the most delicious home made Mexican food. And even though they take up valuable parking spaces, I'm going to miss the fruit trucks that sit on our street.
So Koreatown, it has been a wonderful six months and we will never forget you. Thank you for giving us a place to call home in our new city, we will miss all you had to offer us. Take care of little Alex and Alicia and all the other youngsters who call this place home.
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