San Fernando Valley’s Koreatown

Suhee Yun helps Ryan Kung, 3, develop motor skills in Porter Ranch. About 1.4 million Koreans and Korean Americans live in the United States. The largest number, about 350,000, reside in Los Angeles County.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Ethan Kim, 5, left, and Matthew Chung, 4, right, have a laugh in their pre-kindergarten class in Porter Ranch. The San Fernando Valley is “a very popular area for Koreans because it’s not too far from downtown L.A., and housing, historically, has been relatively cheap,” said Charles Kim, former president of the Korean American Coalition, a national nonprofit based in Los Angeles.  (Michael Robinson Chavez / Los Angeles Times)

Dalfino Villagrana gives a fish to Jeung Kim as her 16-month-old daughter Michelle Won sits in a cart in the Galleria Market in Northridge. The store has become a significant Korean hub since it opened in 2004. Customers come from as far away as Palmdale, Valencia and Simi Valley.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Galleria Market Manager Hyung S. Kim, left, talks with butcher Jeong Sim. Among the store’s draws are Korean items such as kimchi, or Korean pickles, dried seaweed, herbal potions and sweet fruit sodas.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

Kim Dong Hyun prepares sashimi at the Galleria Market. With the supermarket as its anchor, the busy strip mall at Reseda Boulevard and Devonshire Street also houses a hair salon with a mostly Korean clientele, a home-goods store that sells everything from rice cookers to sake sets, and a branch of a Korean bank, along with other stores.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)

An optometry shop is among those in the mall anchored by the Galleria Market. “There’s a lot of upper-middle class Koreans and university graduates” in the area, said Joanne Chang, branch manager of Center Bank in the strip mall.  (Anne Cusack / Los Angeles Times)