Tasting Gyeongsang-do in Los Angeles | Young Hee Shon | Legacy Project Los Angeles

Young Hee Shon was born in 1953 in North Gyeongsang Province, South Korea, to parents who ran a successful business in the hospitality industry. At the time, workers who missed the last intercity bus out of the city would have nowhere to spend the night, so her parents operated a motel where late-night workers could spend the night. They also ran a restaurant directly next to their hotel called “Seong Buk Dong Gukbap,” which still exists today. Mrs. Shon immigrated to the United States with her husband and children when they were presented with the opportunity to obtain a green card. Upon hearing from her sister that L.A.’s Koreatown was a good place to find a job, the family chose to move to Los Angeles, where Mrs. Shon’s first job was in making banchan at the Korean market. From there, she switched jobs to work in the kitchen of the Palace Hotel, but after experiencing certain emotional hardships, found a job at the Rotex Hotel instead. After working there for a while, she began experiencing physical discomfort in her arms and shoulders, and so found work at a long-distance phone calling company, which she enjoyed. Yet the job she enjoyed most was in opening her own restaurant, which she named after the one her parents ran back in Korea: Seongbukdong. A beloved part of K-Town, she prepares each dish with love and care, knowing that the success of her restaurant isn’t dependent on advertisement space in newspapers, but in the reputation which is built in the mouths of her customers.
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CREDITS
Interviewer: Da In Choi of Koreatown Storytelling Program for KYCC
Videographers: Minye Cho @chominye
Editor: Nam Cho @nyc.in.nj
Production Manager: Kimberly Young Sun @kimberlyyoungsun
Motion Designer: Aj Valente ajyval.myportf...
Music Composer: Jang Hyeong Yoon
Executive Producer: HJ Lee
KoreanAmericanStory.org is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization whose mission is to create and preserve the stories of the Korean American experience.