Prior to the 1960s, Wilshire Center was a wealthy commercial and residential district. As Los Angeles rapidly decentralized along newly constructed freeway corridors, Wilshire Boulevard and the areas surrounding it went into a lengthy decline. With property values drastically diminished, the area saw a heavy influx of Koreans during the 1960s, after restrictions on immigration to the United States from East Asia were lifted in 1965. In the 1970s, the Heavy-Chemical Industry Drive initiated by South Korean dictator Park Chung Hee, which displaced much of Korea's petty bourgeoisie, resulted in even more Koreans settling in Wilshire Center, which was soon rechristened "Koreatown." The name "Koreatown" had more to do, however, with the predominance of Korean-owned businesses on the community's major arteries--Western Avenue, Olympic Boulevard, Wilshire Boulevard, Eighth Street, Sixth Street, Third Street and Vermont Avenue--than with the demographics of the residents, as large parts of the area were heavily Latino throughout the 1970s and 1980s while the level of Korean residents in other areas remained low as well.

By the late 1980s, the Korean community had become quite prosperous, owning many businesses in the district and throughout inner-city Los Angeles. Today, Koreatown houses Shriners Hospital for Crippled Children, Southwestern University of Law, West Coast University and the Wiltern Theater.