California Love is a blend of memoir, pop culture analysis and oral history. The newest season, K-Pop Dreaming, is about the rise and history of K-pop in the United States, as told from the point-of-view of the Korean diaspora in Los Angeles. Host Vivian Yoon takes listeners on a journey from K-pop’s origins in Korean trot music and American presence in post-war South Korea to the 1992 LA Uprising and the booming global popularity of K-pop in the present day, all juxtaposed against Yoon’s own coming-of-age as a second generation immigrant in Los Angeles, struggling to fit in and come t...
Latest episodes
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18 min
Special Feature: 'How To LA' at KCON
LAist returns to KCON in LA! How To LA host Brian De Los Santos caught up with K-pop Dreaming host Vivian Yoon to tour this year's KCON LA. Guests: Peter Sohn, director of Pixar's…
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35 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Bonus #4: K-Beauty
The popularity of Korean beauty products has spread globally, just like K-Pop. And we thought you might enjoy this conversation on the origins and rise of K-Beauty -- not only as a…
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43 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Bonus #3: Origins of K-Pop
In a special live event in partnership between LAist Studios and GYOPO, Vivian delves into the origins of K-Pop with Michello Cho, a professor at University of Toronto, and Jheanel…
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28 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Bonus #2: The Making of Red Velvet's "Psycho"
"Psycho" was an instant K-Pop hit when it came out in 2019. The Red Velvet song debuted at No. 1 on Billboard’s World Digital Song Sales chart, and the music video now has over 300…
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26 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Bonus #1: Danny Im
1TYM is one of the most iconic first-generation K-pop groups from the 90’s. The group is also one of Vivian’s all-time favorites.This special bonus episode features an extended int…
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30 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Koreatown
K-Pop has put Koreatown on the map for a lot of people who might not have known about the neighborhood otherwise. Fans from around the country visit the area for concerts, special…
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33 min
K-Pop Dreaming - KCON
There’s no better place to experience K-Pop fandom in all of its passion and glory than KCON. In the span of a decade, the annual fan convention has grown to a nationwide event dra…
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52 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Roots of Rap
The LA Uprising exploded racial and economic injustices simmering under the surface of Los Angeles into the open. Vivian looks at the events leading up to the Uprising, and the eff…
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38 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Solid
The underground hip-hop scene in Los Angeles was thriving in the late 1980s. And there, soaking in the vibe, was a Korean American college student by the name of Jae Chong. He was…
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44 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Moon Night
In this episode, we head to an American military neighborhood in Seoul in the late 1980s. Tucked in an alleyway was a little grimy club that blasted American hip-hop, the place was…
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39 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Trot
Vivian begins her exploration of K-Pop's history with a genre of Korean music called trot that emerged during the Japanese colonization of Korea. Trot holds up a mirror to Korea’s…
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47 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Mixtape
Vivian puts together a mixed CD with some of her favorite K-Pop songs from the 90’s and 2000’s. Each song is connected to a different moment in her life and they all happen to be s…
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18 min
K-Pop Dreaming - Secret Fan
Growing up in Koreatown during the 90s and 2000s, host Vivian Yoon was an emo-listening teenager who embraced American pop culture. At least that’s what it seemed from the outside.…
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5 min
Introducing California Love: K-Pop Dreaming, from LAist Studios
K-pop disrupted pop culture in South Korea in the early 1990s and quickly the new and electrifying sound found fans across the world.One of those fans was a kid growing up thousand…
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11 min
Epilogue
We close the series with a meditation on how 28 years after the 1992 Riots, for many in L.A., things feel exactly the same.
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34 min
Ellie
Eleuteria “Ellie” Hernández moved to Los Angeles from a small town in Mexico when she was 14 and fell in love with the city. In this episode, Walter sits down with Ellie, his mothe…
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39 min
Compton Cowboys
There’s a horse ranch in the heart of Compton that may hold the answers for salvation and redemption for the city’s black cowboys. Read the original NYTimes article, "For the Compt…
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36 min
Parrots: A Parable
A first-parrot perspective into legends and myths of how L.A. became home to the world’s largest population of green parrots. This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by BetterHelp…
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36 min
Kobe
Walter dives deep on what Kobe meant to him in his life and how the icon’s death spurred a collective mourning throughout the city. This LAist Studios podcast is sponsored by Bette…
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34 min
P Line
A story about a wild party line that many Los Angeles’ teenagers used to create a fantasy world. California Love sponsors include: Stream We Are Freestyle Love Supreme beginning Ju…