Overview
About Koreatown
Koreatown is the name the City of Garden Grove gives to a 281 acre district along Garden Grove Boulevard, 263 acres of it inside the Garden Grove city limit and the remainder continuing into Stanton, with a perimeter of 4.92 miles. The city's address layer records 2,441 addresses inside the boundary on 7.95 miles of street across 51 named streets, with 3.12 miles of the city's bicycle master plan corridors running through it and 27 bus stops. The district is mixed use by design: the general plan gives 61.5 acres to Residential/Commercial Mixed Use 2, 42.9 acres to Mixed Use 3 and 31.2 acres to Mixed Use 1 alongside 41.5 acres of Medium Density Residential, and the zoning follows with 55.1 acres in Garden Grove Blvd Mixed Use Zone 2 and 48.6 acres in Zone 3.
No part of the boundary falls inside a federal special flood hazard area on the layer the city publishes. The district reaches across three of the city's six council districts and six census tracts, and the city's address record names Station 85 as the nearest fire station for 598 of the addresses inside it. Garden Grove Unified splits the boundary into eleven study areas: Bolsa Grande High, enrolling 1,701, covers 47.9 percent of it and Rancho Alamitos High, enrolling 1,439, covers 21.7 percent, while Alamitos Intermediate at 581 covers 33.3 percent, Donald S. Jordan Intermediate at 551 covers 28.6 percent, and Sunnyside Elementary at 500 and Stanford Elementary at 488 cover 27.0 and 20.8 percent.
View available homes in KoreatownHistory
How Koreatown was built
Korean families began arriving in numbers after the Immigration and Nationality Act of 1965 opened the door, and Garden Grove Boulevard became their main street through the 1970s. The Korean American population of Orange County tripled between 1982 and 1992, concentrated here. The 1992 Los Angeles riots pushed the pace harder still, as families whose businesses had burned in Los Angeles moved south. By 1999 there were about 1,300 Korean owned businesses in Garden Grove, roughly 900 of them along the boulevard, and they were markets, churches, doctors, restaurants and immigration offices rather than a tourist strip.
In 2019 the city council put a name on what had already been true for forty years and formally designated the two mile stretch of Garden Grove Boulevard between Beach Boulevard and Brookhurst Street as Orange County Koreatown. The housing behind it is mostly post-war single family blocks and mid century apartments, with newer mixed use buildings going in along the boulevard itself.
By the Numbers
Koreatown by the numbers
Lifestyle
The Koreatown lifestyle
The Medal of Honor Bike and Pedestrian Trail runs more than a mile along a former rail corridor, with an asphalt bike path, an eight foot pedestrian walkway, outdoor fitness equipment and benches.
Under the Clean California project the city added 363 trees and 22 pieces of outdoor fitness equipment to that trail, along with more than 120,000 square feet of mulch.
Atlantis Play Center opened at 13630 Atlantis Way in 1963, and the city lists it as a historic landmark with thirteen playgrounds and a seasonal splash pad.
The Strawberry Festival draws more than 100,000 visitors to Village Green over the four day Memorial Day weekend.
Schools
Schools serving Koreatown
Garden Grove Unified School District serves Koreatown. The district's own school locator splits the boundary into 11 study areas, and the largest share of them is assigned to Bolsa Grande High.
9-12 · 1,701 students
9-12 · 1,439 students
9-12 · 2,148 students
7-8 · 581 students
7-8 · 551 students
7-8 · 485 students
K-6 · 500 students
K-6 · 488 students
K-6 · 427 students
K-6 · 447 students
FAQs
Common questions about Koreatown
How big is Koreatown?
Measured against the boundary the City of Garden Grove draws on its own neighborhoods layer, the district covers 280.9 acres, or 12,234,809 square feet, with a perimeter of 4.92 miles. Of that, 262.7 acres fall inside the Garden Grove city limit and the rest continues into Stanton. The city's address layer records 2,441 addresses inside the boundary and 7.95 miles of street across 51 named streets.
What kind of housing is in Koreatown?
Mixed use and multiple family, not single family tracts. The general plan gives 61.5 acres to Residential/Commercial Mixed Use 2, 42.9 to Mixed Use 3 and 31.2 to Mixed Use 1, with 41.5 acres of Medium Density Residential and 13.6 of Low Density. Zoning puts 55.1 acres in Garden Grove Blvd Mixed Use Zone 2, 48.6 in Zone 3, 31.1 acres in the Multiple-Family Residential Zone and only 14.8 acres in the Single-Family Residential Zone.
What is being built in Koreatown?
The city publishes two projects here. Brookhurst Place, which it calls its largest residential and commercial mixed use development, is building in phases, with Phase IIA adding 120 apartment homes. Garden Brook Senior Village is complete, with 394 senior living units and 13,000 square feet of commercial space, and is the affordable housing project the city's own layer records as touching the boundary.
Which schools serve Koreatown?
Garden Grove Unified splits the district into eleven study areas, so no single campus serves it. On the district's own locator, Bolsa Grande High covers 47.9 percent of the boundary and enrolled 1,701 students, Rancho Alamitos High 21.7 percent at 1,439 and Garden Grove High 7.4 percent at 2,148; Alamitos Intermediate covers 33.3 percent at 581, Donald S. Jordan Intermediate 28.6 percent at 551 and Dr. Walter C. Ralston Intermediate 16.7 percent at 485; Sunnyside Elementary covers 27.0 percent at 500 and Stanford Elementary 20.8 percent at 488. Check a specific address on the district locator.
Is any of Koreatown in a flood zone, and how do you get around it?
No part of the boundary falls inside a federal special flood hazard area on the layer the city publishes. For getting around, the city's bicycle master plan corridors run 3.12 miles inside the boundary and its bus stop layer places 27 stops in it, across 7.95 miles of street. The city's address record names Station 85 as the nearest fire station for 598 of the addresses inside the line.