(Editor’s Note: Photos by Merissa Quek.) The cover of the Gwangjin-gu (Slogan: A City of elegance, livable Gwangjin) promotional booklet that the kind docent at the Achasan Goguryeo History Musuem handed to me shows an aerial shot of the district, mostly a confetti smattering of densely packed apartment rooftops, broken by the occasional vertical tower. …
Coming out of Exit 8, Gunja presented a modest commercial intersection – a couple banks and a Starbucks on the corners, a trio of street stalls selling snacks and sending greasy vapors into the air. Just past those stalls I turned left onto a road bearing the same name as the station, Gunja-ro (군자로). Cutting…
I’m writing this at Hakrim Dabang (학림다방), on the second floor of a building whose windows look out over Daehang-no (대학로). As this project has progressed I’ve shied away more and more from talking about restaurants, cafes, bars, or any other kind of business because with the Darwinian rate of turnover among businesses in Seoul…
There are some neighborhoods in Seoul that have their own distinct character or spirit. Then there are neighborhoods like Chungjeongno that don’t feel quite like their own place but rather sponge up elements of the neighborhoods around them. West of the station, you quickly find yourself on the edge of Ahyeon’s large furniture market; to…
Back to where it all began. Well, almost. We started this project nearly two years ago one stop away, at Nonhyeon Station (논현역), and the trip to Hakdong brought some familiar sights with it. Foremost among these is Nonhyeon Furniture Street (논현가구거리), which runs along Hakdong-ro (학동로) between the Line 7 stations, and if you’re…
Seoul Sub→urban 