What are the best things to do in Koreatown Los Angeles?

We highly recommend Wi Spa and the Koreatown Plaza food court. Add a show at the Wiltern, a game at Shatto 39 Lanes, and a quick look at the Koreatown Pavilion Garden. Come hungry. Koreatown is best known for its Korean barbecue and late-night food.

How do I get to Koreatown by Metro?

Take the B or D Line to Wilshire/Vermont, or the D Line to Wilshire/Normandie or Wilshire/Western. A ride is $1.75 and Metro caps fares at $5 a day.

Is Wi Spa open 24 hours?

Yes. Wi Spa's website says it is open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. Its website lists no prices (checked 8 November 2026), so call (213) 487-2700 for the current price.

Which Metro station is best for Koreatown?

Wilshire/Western is best for the Wiltern, Koreatown Plaza and Madang. Wilshire/Vermont is best for Wi Spa and Shatto 39 Lanes (a 9 to 10 minute walk each, measured 8 November 2026), and it also has the B Line to Hollywood.

Is Koreatown in LA worth visiting?

Yes, if you like food. It is also one of the easiest parts of LA to reach without a car, with three subway stations on Wilshire Boulevard.

Things to Do in Koreatown Los Angeles

Our pick for a first evening in Koreatown is Wi Spa, then dinner, then bowling. We highly recommend Wi Spa and the food court at Koreatown Plaza. The Wiltern is worth a stop for the building alone. Three Metro stations sit on Wilshire Boulevard, so you can do all of it without a car. Hours below were checked on 8 November 2026.

What we tested

Walks from the stations, 8 Nov 2026. We measured each route on OpenStreetMap data (FOSSGIS foot router). Wilshire/Vermont to Wi Spa is 758 m, about 10 minutes. Wilshire/Vermont to Shatto 39 Lanes is 662 m, about 9 minutes. Wilshire/Western to Koreatown Plaza is 850 m, about 11 minutes. Wilshire/Western to Madang is 293 m, about 4 minutes. Wilshire/Western to the Wiltern is 71 m, about 1 minute.
Which station for what, 8 Nov 2026. Wilshire/Vermont to the Wiltern is 1.86 km, about 25 minutes on foot. Wilshire/Normandie to the Wiltern is 756 m, about 10 minutes. So use Western for the Wiltern, Koreatown Plaza and Madang, and Vermont for Wi Spa and Shatto.
Fare for a station-hopping day, 8 Nov 2026. Four rides cost 4 x $1.75 = $7.00 in single fares and $5.00 with Metro's daily cap, so the cap saves $2.00. Our plan below hops between two stations, so the cap is worth having (Metro fares page).

So, use Western for the Wiltern and food, and Vermont for the spa and bowling.

Koreatown at a glance

Place	Price	Hours	Station
The Wiltern	By show	By show	Wilshire/Western (D)
Wi Spa	Not confirmed	Open 24 hours, every day	Wilshire/Vermont (B, D)
Shatto 39 Lanes	Not confirmed	Mon to Thu 1 p.m. to 2 a.m., Fri to Sun noon to 2 a.m.	Wilshire/Vermont (B, D)
Koreatown Plaza (H Mart, food court)	Free to walk in	Shops 10 a.m. to 7 p.m., H Mart 9 a.m. to 9 p.m., food court 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.	Wilshire/Western (D)
Koreatown Pavilion Garden	Free	Not confirmed	Wilshire/Normandie (D), then a bus or a long walk
Korean Cultural Center LA	Free	Gallery Mon to Fri 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Sat 9 a.m. to 1 p.m.	Between Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/Fairfax (D)

So, Western and Vermont stations cover almost every stop.

Getting to Koreatown by Metro

Subway: Wilshire/Vermont has the B and D Lines. Wilshire/Normandie and Wilshire/Western have the D Line only (our LA Metro guide, checked 27 Oct 2026)

Price: $1.75 a ride (Metro fares page, read 8 Nov 2026). Metro caps fares at $5 a day

Note: The B Line goes north from Wilshire/Vermont to Hollywood. The D Line goes west to Wilshire/Fairfax for LACMA, and east to Downtown and Union Station

Koreatown is big. Its main street, Wilshire Boulevard, runs east to west with a station about every half mile. Pick the station closest to where you are going. How to pay, the hours of each line and safety tips are in our LA Metro guide.

Shows, spas and late nights

The Wiltern

Address: 3790 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90010 (The Wiltern, read 8 Nov 2026)

Hours: By show. The home page lists 15 featured concerts and comedy shows for November 2026 (same page)

Price: By show. Buy tickets on the Wiltern's own site

Subway: Wilshire/Western (D), at the corner

The Wiltern is a concert hall in a 1930s Art Deco building. It is the best-known landmark in Koreatown. Even without a ticket, it is worth a look from the street. K-pop acts play here too: the November list included a tripleS show on 24 November.

Wi Spa

Address: 2700 Wilshire Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90057 (Wi Spa, read 8 Nov 2026)

Hours: Open 24 hours a day, 7 days a week (same page)

Price: Not confirmed. The site did not list prices. Call (213) 487-2700 (same page)

Subway: Wilshire/Vermont (B, D), then a 10-minute walk, 758 m (measured 8 Nov 2026)

Wi Spa is a Korean spa (a jjimjilbang). You pay one entry fee and use the baths, saunas and heated rooms. We highly recommend it for a first evening. The spa's site lists repair closures of some saunas and rooms, so ask at the front desk which rooms are open before you pay.

Shatto 39 Lanes

Address: 3255 West 4th Street, Los Angeles, CA 90020 (Shatto 39 Lanes, read 8 Nov 2026)

Hours: Monday to Thursday 1 p.m. to 2 a.m. Friday to Sunday 12 noon to 2 a.m. The site says hours can change without notice (same page)

Price: Not confirmed. The site did not list game or shoe prices. Call (213) 385-9475 (same page)

Subway: Wilshire/Vermont (B, D), then a 9-minute walk, 662 m (measured 8 Nov 2026)

This bowling alley stays open until 2 a.m. every night. We would go after dinner.

Food and shopping

Koreatown Plaza and H Mart

Address: 928 S Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90006 (Koreatown Plaza, read 8 Nov 2026)

Hours: Stores: Monday to Sunday 10 a.m. to 7 p.m. H Mart: daily 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Food court: daily 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. (same page)

Price: Free to walk in. Each shop sets its own prices

Subway: Wilshire/Western (D), then an 11-minute walk, 850 m (measured 8 Nov 2026)

The food court has Korean street food, noodle soups, katsu and dumplings. It is our pick for lunch in Koreatown, and we highly recommend it. H Mart is a Korean grocery store, and we would use it to stock up on snacks and instant noodles to take home.

Madang The Courtyard

Address: 621 S. Western Ave., Los Angeles, CA 90005 (OpenStreetMap)

Hours: Not confirmed. No official mall hours are posted

Price: Free to walk in

Subway: Wilshire/Western (D), then a 4-minute walk, 293 m (measured 8 Nov 2026)

Madang is a three-level shopping center around an open courtyard, with a movie theater on the top floor. News reports from November 2025 say Regency Theatres took over the theater, so older listings may still show the old CGV name.

Korean barbecue and late-night food

Koreatown is the place in LA for Korean barbecue, and many restaurants stay open late. We do not list restaurants by name, because hours and prices change often. Check each restaurant's hours for your day before you go.

Culture and parks

Koreatown Pavilion Garden (Da Wool Jung)

Address: Olympic Blvd. and Irolo St., Los Angeles, CA 90006 (Discover Los Angeles, Koreatown article, 21 Nov 2025)

Hours: Not confirmed. No official hours are posted

Price: Free

Subway: Wilshire/Normandie (D), then a walk south or a bus down Normandie

This is a traditional Korean pavilion in a small garden on Olympic Boulevard. We would give it ten minutes for a photo. It is the only spot on this list that is not close to a station.

Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles

Address: 5505 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90036 (Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles, read 1 Nov 2026)

Hours: Gallery: Monday to Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m., Saturday 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The center posts closure dates each month (same page)

Price: Free for the gallery show

Subway: On the D Line between Wilshire/La Brea and Wilshire/Fairfax, west of Koreatown

The center is a few stops west of Koreatown, on the way to LACMA. Its gallery show "Southern Korea, A Space of Lines" runs from 28 October to 2 December 2026. It also has a K-culture space called Global K-Zone LA:ON. The center's library was closed for a while this fall, so check the notices page.

LA 2028 Olympics near Koreatown

Koreatown is a good base for the 2028 Games. The Downtown LA venues are a short ride east. LA28 lists the arena in Downtown Los Angeles for the boxing finals, artistic gymnastics and trampoline, and the Peacock Theater for boxing preliminaries and weightlifting (LA28 venue plan news release, 15 April 2025). Ride the B or D Line to 7th St/Metro Center, then take the A or E Line one stop to Pico.

Free things to do in Koreatown

Look at the Wiltern from the corner of Wilshire and Western.
Walk the aisles of H Mart at Koreatown Plaza.
Visit the Koreatown Pavilion Garden.
See the free gallery show at the Korean Cultural Center.

So, the free stops are easy to string together, most of them near Western station.

An afternoon and evening by Metro

Our plan for a first evening: take the D Line to Wilshire/Western around 2 p.m. Look at the Wiltern, then walk south to Koreatown Plaza for a snack and H Mart. Ride two stops east to Wilshire/Vermont, then spend a few hours at Wi Spa. Eat Korean barbecue for dinner. Finish with a game at Shatto 39 Lanes, which is open until 2 a.m.

The last D Line trains leave a little after midnight. If you stay late, plan on a rideshare back to your hotel.

What we checked and what can change

Read on 8 November 2026: The Wiltern, Wi Spa, Shatto 39 Lanes, Koreatown Plaza and Metro fares. Walking distances: OpenStreetMap foot routing at routing.openstreetmap.de, 8 November 2026.

Read on 1 November 2026 and not re-read on 8 November: the Korean Cultural Center Los Angeles pages, our own LA Metro guide for which lines stop at each station, Discover Los Angeles's Koreatown article (21 November 2025) and the LA28 venue plan news release (15 April 2025).

Not confirmed: Wi Spa's prices and age rules, Shatto 39 Lanes' prices, Madang's hours, the Koreatown Pavilion Garden's hours, and the Korean Cultural Center's closure dates for November. Hours change on holidays, so check each place's page for your date.