Koreatown is now official.
After years of work in Northwest Dallas, Korean-American leaders joined city, state, and national lawmakers to celebrate Friday morning along Royal Lane.
Many signs along the Lane already are written in English and Korean. Soon they'll have an additional top part inscribed "Koreatown."
Young students played traditional drums in front of a crowd gathered under white tents. Nearby stands the future site of the well-known Korean store chain H-Mart, coming soon.
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The students were from Sung Sin Park's Korean Traditional Music Association.
"It means a lot to Korean immigrants here," she said.
Park has lived in Dallas for more than three decades and teaches music at the Korean Cultural Center.
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"Dallas town and Korean person make many proud. Big celebration," she said.
For the President of the Korean Society of Dallas, Seoung Ju Ryou, the street signs in the Korean language is a signal to new immigrants that they have a home in North Texas.
"This means we have a new hometown here," said Ryou.
"What was once a place that was avoided is now a multi-million, billion-dollar economic powerhouse," said John Ju from the Korean American Coalition.
Ju told NBC 5 that this area was known for high crime years ago but year by year they've turned it into a unique place for the Korean culture.
"We have a lot to offer and we welcome everyone to come see what we have," said Ju.
More than 100,000 people of Korean heritage live in North Texas. Now, officially, they have a designated home base.
