Koreatown's sign language

This afternoon I ran an errand a couple Purple line stops away. It was such a beautiful day that instead of taking the subway I decided to meander home on foot. Fortunately, before I left the house I thought to grab my camera. I took the opportunity to look around a bit and capture some of my favorite signage and guerrila art in Koreatown. Note Kim Jong-Il's appearances. Guess at which point my sense of humor turned a little juvenile. Also, pay close attention to the heart on the banner outside Mr. Pizza Factory, where, apparently the choices among the pies include beef, fish, chicken and "love for women." Click on the arrows or individual thumbnails for a peek at what I saw.

Mr. Pizza Poster in Koreatown

A vinyl sign on a building advertises the restaurant Mr. Pizza in Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood. It has pictures of fish, chicken, and beef pizzas and text that reads “When pizza met Taco. Amigo Pizza Special Event.” A red heart in the corner has more text that reads “Love for women” in white lettering. The Mr. Pizza logo is in the upper right corner with the name written in red letters and a picture of a white hand flipping a brown pizza dough.

Young Dong Restaurant Sign in Koreatown

A sign in the foreground of this image features text in English and Korean. The English, written in white against a blue background, reads “Young Dong Restaurant” and fill a small strip at the sign’s top. Large white Korean characters make up most of the rest of the sign and are printed against blue yellow and red stripes. The sign appears in front of a large blank wall of a tall building viewed at an angle that makes the building appear somewhat phallic.

Kim Jong-Il

Ten identical stenciled images of North Korean leader Kim Jong-Il are printed in dark gray alongside one another on a lighter gray sidewalk, with the red paint of the sidewalk’s curb just at the edge of the image. Most of the images are parallel and aligned vertically in pairs, but the third and fourth pairs are turned 90 degrees rightward from the rest.

Korea Thumbs Up

A close up of a drawing from a sign in Los Angeles’s Koreatown neighborhood. The drawing features a man with a red shirt that reads “Korea” in white letters across the chest and green pants with a black belt. The man’s clothes are too small for his large belly, which is white in color and exposed. He gives a thumbs-up gesture with his left hand and holds a large spoon almost as tall as his body in his right. A soccer ball rests next to his foot.

Jr. Market Liquor in Koreatown

A painted awning of a liquor store and bar in Los Angele’s Koreatown neighborhood features images of Korean personalities, politicians, and the South Korean flag at its center, as well as extensive Korean lettering. In the middle of the right third of the image is a sign that reads Jr. Market in small red letters on a yellow background and Liquor in large white letters on a red background, with an unlit arrow comprised of lightbulbs pointing downward at the far right side. A clear blue sky fills the upper half of the image.