My mom used to live in Ikseondong, we visited her old house once when the neighborhood was starting to become renovated. House was still standing untouched. We visited again about 2 years ago and the house was starting to be renovated into a cafe now. Thanks for covering this neighborhood!
Thanks so much for another great video! I spent a lot of time in these 3 neighbourhoods a few years ago exploring their nooks and crannies. So interesting to really appreciate overall layouts via explanation by Conan of the planned straight street layout as well seeing the views from rooftops and stair wells up high. Thanks again!
Interestingly, the current "Iksun-dong" was also created by a real estate developer. A company bought a bunch of hanoks in the area, turned some of them into trendy restaurants and cafes, drove up the market value, and then sold the rest for make profit. Now it's an overheated commercial area, with fines of about $1.5 million a year for illegal construction, but they rent them out because they think they can make more money. There are two opinions about this developer: that he developed an area of the city that no one else was paying attention to, and that he pushed people out of a small, quiet residential neighborhood into a high rent, commercial area.
In my humble opinion, we should think about what the alternative would've been. The area was already being vacated and under-utilized -- given its central location, would it have been able to withstand the economic pressure of redevelopment as it was then? The reality may be that the commercialization of Ikseondong - led by Ikseon Dada and others - created the competiting commercial interest and economic value for the area that the authorities could not simply raze down.
@@taekim2378 I agree. In the past, there have been both attempts to redevelop the area and the desire to preserve the hanok. However, in Iksun-dong, the government is now trying to preserve the area rather than redevelop it. Commercialization of Iksun-dong may not be the best option for preserving the area, but it is a good next best option. Thanks for your opinion. Your comment made me look at this from a different perspective.
There is a working cafe in that neighborhood with the same exact view at 7:20 called Teong, highly recommend for anyone camping out on a laptop who likes a good view (like me). Also, love these videos! So unique and I think its important to know about the history of wherever you are... lots of cool stuff here. Keep up the good work :)
This is fascinating. I've been there twice before and after it got famous, but I didn't know any of the history you shared to us. That 2.8m street gives all the charm squeezing ourselves to walk past another passerby, exchanging eye contacts, strolling slow cuz you can't get ahead of one another. It then allows us a longer moment to see the courtyards, smell breads and hear other's convo. The beauty of Ikseondong lies in its own scale.
Unnidong 111- betwen when the Japanese police grounds and the cultural centre used to be, was my grandfather’s home. He re-established his bonkwan there, after becoming an IDP from North Korea. He used to say he literally lived inside Unhyungung.
Bart. Thanks to you, I learned historical facts about the streets of Seoul that I didn't know about. You also won an award at the Broadcast Criticism Society, so the content and structure of the content is very good and useful. :)
Ich muss ja sagen, kaum waren wir nach Ikseon-dong eingebogen, waren uns die Menschenmassen schon zu viel. Vorher waren wir an einem kaum zu wiederstehenden Kaffeeduft vorbeigekommen, zu dem wir dann direkt zurück gegangen sind. Fast einen Stunde warten um einen überteuerten Kaffee und ein Dessert in Ikseon-dong zu bekommen, lohnt sich nicht wirklich. Wir sind wahrscheinlich einfach nicht die Typen von Touristen dafür.😅
종로3가 쪽에서 주로 일한지 20년 정도 됐고, 늘 다니는 골목길인데도 처음 알게 된 사실이 많네요. 공부가 많이 됐습니다. 영상에도 설명이 나오지만, 원래 익선동 골목은 진짜 별거없는 삭막한 골목길이었고 종로3가역 5호선 출구에서 골목 안으로 한 30미터 정도 안에 있는 고깃집들만 저녁에 좀 북적이는 정도였었는데요. 요새는 평일 일상시간에도 진짜 관광객이 많습니다. 청와대-북촌-인사동-익선동 코스에서 관광하다가 종로4가-광장시장으로 넘어가거나 혹은 그 반대코스로 넘어오거나 하는 관광객들이 코로나 이전에 "어랏? 꽤 많네..." 수준이었는데, 코로나 종식 이후부턴 진짜 체감할 정도로 늘었습니다.
Who is this guy -would have loved to know him when I lived in Seoul. I am visiting Seoul now -last time was before covid hit and it is sad so many areas in Jongro r disappearing and tall housing, hotels and buildings r coming up. Great video. Btw the female entertainers R NOT Korean Gaeshas!
There are lots of tourists here, yes, but there are also many, many interesting things to uncover there if you make the effort!! Most historically significant urban sites are like that. But yes, focus on Jamsil if baseball is your thing!
