Just some photos I snapped in Samcheong-dong yesterday. See below for the rest, or just watch the Flickr slideshow.
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19 Comments
Samch’ong-dong officially died the day they opened a Kraze Burgers outlet there.
Nice pictures of one of Seoul’s better areas. Not dead at all. Although the Kraze is deeply disappointing, Samchung-dong is clearly getting nicer and nicer.
Nice pics! I live in Samcheong-dong, Gwangju-Shi. Replace the chic diners at post-modern, quasi-retro cafes with construction crews drinking soju outside the 7/11, posh galleries with coffee girls shops, the fragrant smell of korean fusion foods with dogshit and it’s almost he same!
Btw, what camera do you use?
my favorite neighborhood in seoul. when did kraze burger move in?
Kraze’s not even the worst of it. There’s also a Dunkin Donuts (though its decor is nicer than most dunkins), seven thousand waffle houses, and near the entrance to the historical library, by the sonje art center, there’s even a coffee bean and tea leaf, right next door to this quaint, really nice coffee shop that roasts its own beans, plays cool jazz on vinyl records, and serves a great selection of herbal teas, which will probably get submarined by the more recognizable brand next door.
Can starbucks be far off? Really, if jongno/myeongdong has 19, samchungdong needs at least four.
http://roboseyo.blogspot.com/2.....essay.html
sigh.
don’t get me wrong — I do still love the neighbourhood. . . just a little less, is all.
#4,
Probably about the same time as Dunkin’ Donuts.
Let’s face it; all of Korea died once modernization started (I leave it to each reader to choose his own DOD and affix the blame) and Korea and Koreans started moving away from objectification as fetishes for sentimentalizing orientalists.
ha
Man I really miss Korea…
#8: Yet another false opposition by the opposing counsel.
Gentrification sucks anywhere — even in the West.
I always find it amusing how gentrification is always seen as if some mysterious alien force taking over the world. It is just want it is, people in the area demand a Coffee Bean, so they get a Coffee Bean.
Re. #12: “It is just what it is”
See #9.
There’s your problem right there - people are stupid.
I think it’s because humans are creatures of habit. We see the starbucks logo, we know what we’re getting, we go in. We trust the brand: it’s safer.
The “tea for two” sign near Piano Street isn’t as familiar, so there’s that danger of the unknown . . . what if they don’t have my favourite brand of herbal tea?
(actually, Tea For Two is flippin’ amazing — check it out)
And yeah, it’s boring to eat at subway, AGAIN, but I know what I’m getting, so I settle into my rut, rather than trying to find a new place.
I don’t resent the coffee bean bigwigs for trying to get a piece of the pie; it just gets boring after a while always seeing only the usual, same choices available, and it really saddens me that the roast-our-own-coffee-beans place might get squeezed out by the cookie cutter chain, because of more brand recognition.
Does replacing a nice, independent shop with a nice, chain shop count as gentrification, Baeksu? I always thought gentrification referred to renovating a slummy, run-down area, not the sprouting up of monotonous chain franchises like pimples on a fourteen-year-olds face. Sure, sometimes it means both, but not always.
Marmot, just out of curiosity, did you talk to the woman in the first picture? I know that some photographers will ask for permission before taking someone’s picture, so… she just looks very familiar to me.
Jay C — Of course, it’s good practice to ask people before taking their picture. In the first photo, though, I didn’t, mostly owing to the fact that the subject doubles as my wife:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/6.....395224562/
Hoju Saram — I use a Nikon D40x.
Actually, weird as it sounds . . .
at least in some places having a Starbucks open in the neighborhood is actually a great deal for local independent coffee houses. Unlike other luxury products, expensive coffee is consumed daily - but with little incentive to stick only to one coffee brand. Starbucks, because of name recognition and consistency of product, brings new people to upscale coffee consumption. These new consumers however will switch to other coffee purveyors when they find other coffee houses that supply better and/or cheaper drinks. See here:
http://www.slate.com/id/2180301/
Besides, Starbucks in the neighborhood usually means a clean bathroom with toilet paper - and no purchase necessary^^
I find that local coffee shops are great for large number of friends to hang out and chill, while Starbucks (or franchised coffee shops in general) is good for meeting one or two people. Coffee Plantation (I don’t know how widespread that franchise is…) seems to be the freak of nature that works great for both.
Regardless, I have an irrational hatred for Seattle’s Best Coffee (my ass…. <— see?)
Btw, where’s that place with the sign “Goong”?