00:00You can never pour your own shot.
00:01How do you drink alone then?
00:03I mean...
00:05Excuse me, do you mind if you just...
00:07Pour my drink?
00:16Hey everyone, welcome back.
00:18So we're just gonna pick up where we left off.
00:20I'm here with Parker, aka Dumbfounded,
00:22and he's showing him around K-Town.
00:24We've explored the food districts in K-Town,
00:27but now we're gonna head on to the nightlife.
00:28The sun's about to go down,
00:30so we're at our first spot right now.
00:32Feels like the sun just never goes down.
00:34Monday through Sunday, people drink out here.
00:36So let's go grab a drink at more of a traditional Korean bar.
00:40So this is a little cozy nook.
00:42So this is called Tobang, right?
00:44Yeah, this is Tobang.
00:46This is all in the general area,
00:47what I like to call the Bermuda Triangle of Koreatown.
00:51I mean, Koreatown's huge,
00:52but this is more the popular area
00:54for younger people in their early 20s and stuff.
00:58And I call it the Bermuda Triangle
01:00just because you just get lost a bit.
01:02Yeah, I can see that.
01:03It's crazy.
01:04Should we order?
01:05Yeah.
01:08Get makgeolli.
01:09Makgeolli.
01:10Chamisu fresh.
01:11And that's it.
01:12Wait, you wanna wait?
01:16Awesome.
01:17Thank you so much.
01:18All right, so you've seen this before.
01:20Yeah, the green bottle of soju.
01:22This is the green monster, better known as soju.
01:25It's the most popular alcohol in Korea.
01:28If you go to Korea,
01:29you'll just see millions of these just rolling down above.
01:31Yeah.
01:32It's like tumbleweed, you know?
01:33Just a soju bottle.
01:34Yeah.
01:35But this is, I mean, it's close to vodka, I guess.
01:39Yeah, definitely.
01:40It's like sake vibe type of thing.
01:42Like if vodka and sake had a baby.
01:44It'd be soju.
01:45Why don't you pour me a shot first?
01:47Okay.
01:47I'm a little older than you, so you use two hands.
01:50Oh, I already got it.
01:51Yeah.
01:52But respectfully, I accept it.
01:53Which, oh, oh, oh, oh.
01:54You never pour your own.
01:55Really?
01:55You never pour your own.
01:56Wow, I like this.
01:58Okay.
01:58Cool.
02:00Cheers in Korean is ganbae.
02:02Ganbae?
02:03Yeah, ganbae.
02:04Cheers.
02:08So this is makgeolli right here.
02:09It usually comes in a traditional bowl,
02:11a bigger bowl like this with a ladle.
02:13Mm-hmm.
02:13So you just kind of like, you know, scoop it out like punch.
02:16Yeah, yeah, yeah.
02:17It gives it a real traditional feel, you know?
02:19Let's pour some here.
02:21And then you come pour me.
02:23All right, cheers.
02:24Cheers.
02:28So like, this is a little bit more old school K-Town.
02:32Yeah, traditional.
02:32Traditional, and it's been around for years.
02:35And it's a family business.
02:36But there's also new businesses being established in K-Town now.
02:40So we're going to go check out one of those establishments.
02:50So this is the Line Hotel, right?
02:52Yeah, this is the Line Hotel located on the corner of Wilshire and Normandy,
02:55which is really, really the center of Koreatown.
02:58And yeah, this used to be an old hotel back in the day,
03:01and they just remodeled it into this brand new modern hotel, you know?
03:05And one of the partners here is Roy Choi.
03:08Oh, amazing.
03:09He's a celebrity chef.
03:10He owns several restaurants across Los Angeles.
03:13This place looks really American, but where's the Korean aspect of it?
03:17A lot of it is in the food, the drinks.
03:20There's a kimchi cocktail we ordered that's coming.
03:22Yeah, I'm excited.
03:24And also, there's just little touches, you know?
03:26Like we saw some of the things on the bar table over there,
03:29or the thing of chopsticks.
03:31Yeah, right.
03:32When you go to a pot restaurant, the menus are on newspapers,
03:35which is kind of like you see a lot of this Korean newspaper stuff
03:39when you take takeout in Koreatown, you know?
03:41Yeah.
03:42They use the newspaper as like the bottom surface.
03:44To buffer.
03:44Yeah, yeah, yeah.
03:45So there's a lot of little, not even Korean elements,
03:49but Koreatown elements, you know?
03:50The city of Koreatown elements of it, which is great.
03:55It's like that hood element, you know?
03:56Awesome.
03:56Yeah.
03:57Get some drinks for you guys.
04:00Mmm.
04:02Kimchi sour.
04:04Start white Russian.
04:06Awesome.
04:07Oh, yummy.
04:08Oh yeah, this is definitely the kimchi one.
04:11But I mean...
04:15Yeah, there's definitely kimchi in there.
04:17Yeah, there's definitely kimchi in there.
04:18I think it's only like a drop of kimchi juice,
04:20but a drop goes a long way.
04:22It's crazy.
04:23Cheers.
04:23Cheers.
04:26Yeah, this is definitely much more on my level.
04:30Yeah, it's good because there aren't a lot of restaurants
04:32or bars in Koreatown that kind of stray away
04:35from the traditional, you know, soju, height beer.
04:39Yeah.
04:40You get choices of two beers.
04:41It's kas and height.
04:43But here at least you can get various different types
04:45of drinks.
04:46Get a twist on some of your favorite Korean dishes.
04:50That's what I like about this place.
04:51It doesn't really stray so much away from the community, too,
04:54because you got the young generation of Koreans coming here,
04:57too, mixed in with everybody all around Los Angeles.
04:59And it's kind of cool how the community is just getting
05:01along with everybody.
05:02Yeah, right.
05:03It doesn't feel like there's no territory being like
05:06disrespected there.
05:07Yeah.
05:07That's cool.
05:07Just people having a good time, dancing, grooving.
05:10Love it.
05:11So that's a wrap.
05:12I had such an amazing time in Koreatown.
05:14We got the food.
05:15We got the nightlife.
05:16And I got to see a part of Koreatown I've never seen before.
05:18Thanks to you.
05:19Yo, thanks for visiting.
05:20And make sure you all subscribe to Refinery29.
05:23And make sure you give it a big fat thumbs up if you enjoyed it.
05:25And I'll see you next time.
05:26Bye.
05:27See you guys.
