- I came here to see my friends. Myeongdong is a place to meet people and a fashion hub.
- I came to read some women’s magazines.
- This is a place where you can see the latest and hottest cultural trends.
- I came to see a play. It’s so busy here and so multinational. There are so many people and noisy in Myeongdong.

A fashion hub, a place to see the latest fashion, the center of culture and art - these are the images of Myeongdong to many Koreans. But recently, another moniker has been added to the city’s premier shopping district.

- There are so many foreigners here. It looks like there are more foreigners here than in Itaewon or Gangnam.

Of roughly 1.3 million people who come to Myeongdong each day, a good portion is made up of foreigners.

- I’m in charge of Chinese visitors. I have to know the numbers in both Chinese and Thai. We teach each other Chinese and Thai.
- It gets so busy here that I always leave work late.
- I work to boost the image of my country.
- There are lots of Japanese tourists because of hallyu. I feel like I live in Japan. I find my work rewarding, because I have more repeat customers. I can say hello in Japanese, Chinese, Arabic, and French. Getting a smart phone app for foreign languages helps, too.

Mounting popularity of Korean pop culture has brought an influx of foreign visitors to Korea, especially to Myeongdong, the capital city’s premier shopping and fashion district. Myeongdong is reportedly foreign visitors’ favorite neighborhood. An old couple running a dumpling store in Myeongdong is busy promoting Korea to foreign customers.

- We sold so many dumplings. It makes me feel good when foreigners say Korea is number one. We take photos with them and sometimes get together.
- I feel happy when they all agree that Korea is wonderful.

- Myeongdong is a wonderful place. There are many tall buildings, which is different from Japan. The combination of tall modern buildings and small boutiques is nice, because it combines both the old and the new.
- The biggest attraction of Myeongdong is its food and shopping. All the food here is cheap, delicious, and large-portioned. There are lots of street food vendors here. It’s amusing to think that almost all Korean foods are found here. Shopping in Myeongdong is not to be outdone by Tokyo. Sometimes, it’s much cheaper here and I can find some stores that are not in Japan.
-One of the reasons that the Chinese come to Myeongdong is it’s easy to get photos of Korean pop stars.



Today, Myeongdong is a well-known tourist destination and the center of hallyu. But just half a century ago, it served as the heart of Korean culture and arts in the middle of the war-ravaged country.

Writers, painters, and musicians came together in this neighborhood to paint pictures on the spot, write poems, and sing of the times. Currently on exhibit at the Seoul Museum of History is “Myeongdong Narratives,” an exhibition of Myeongdong’s nostalgic past.

So many buildings were destroyed during the Korean War. One building was so badly damaged that we couldn’t even get the brick walls up. But there was a makgeoli bar in the crumpled building. I remember that it was near Myeongdong Park. One person got up on a pile of bricks and began to sing a Korea aria. He was really good.

Artist Baek Young-soo fondly remembers the day, September 14th, 1953, when he held his first solo exhibition at a café called Mona Lisa in Myeongdong. Back then everyone was poor, but people had the moxie and charm to enjoy a good drink and a good song. At the museum people can see how Myeongdong changed over time, yet did not lose its vitality as the cultural heart of Seoul. Here’s Ms. Jeong Soo-in of the Seoul Museum of History to explain more.

This area was modernized by Japanese during the occupation era. After Korea gained independence, artists and writers gravitated toward this neighborhood in the 1950s and 60s. And then the area became a fashion center and then the focal point of hallyu. Myeongdong is an area of fashion, hottest trends, and tourism, and it still plays a central part in the city. If Jongno is an area defined by tradition, Myeongdong is one of acceptance, or absorption of new ideas and trends.

The special exhibition “Myeongdong Narratives” follows the writings and perspectives of Lee Bong-gu, who worked as a journalist during the 1950s and 60s.

Lee Bong-gu was nicknamed “Count of Myeongdong” or “Mayor of Myeongdong.” He worked as a journalist for a long time and wrote a book about his experiences using real names. His books, such as “Following the Beloved Names” and “Twenty Years of Myeongdong,” contain various anecdotes and experiences involving this neighborhood.

Lee Bong-gu has spent most of his life in Myeongdong from the years immediately following the independence to 1983. Lee was called “Count of Myeongdong” because of his gentlemanly ways even when drinking. His frequent haunt was a bar called “Eunseong” or “Silver Star,” where he enjoyed the company of artists and writers. The special exhibition at the Seoul Museum of History follows Lee’s footsteps mainly in the 1950s and 60s when culture and arts were at their peak. When you step into the exhibition, you are immediately greeted by writers’ workshops and cafes so commonly found in the area at the time. Here’s Ms. Jeong Soo-in of the Seoul Museum of History again.

A bar called “Gyeongsang-do House” is where poet Park In-hwan wrote the poem “When Time Has Passed.” It’s a very famous tale involving Myeongdong and that poem. When the intoxicated Park wrote that poem, a musician named Lee Jin-seop was so impressed that he wrote a melody for the poem, and singer Im Man-seop sitting next to him sang the song. It was performed during the 1950s by Hyun In and remade in the 1970s by Park In-hee. That song, dubbed the chanson of Myeongdong, is the most well-known song about Myeongdong, which is why it is played at the exhibition hall. Many people who come to the museum hear the song and reminisce about the old days of Myeongdong.



In the years following Korea’s independence, Myeongdong was the gathering place for artists and writers, who spontaneously composed songs and wrote poems on the spot. Their days were spent drinking tea in a music café and discussing art and literature. They may have been penniless, but their talent and relentless passion for art fertilized the cultural scene of Myeongdong. As if to accommodate their insatiable pursuit of arts and culture, Myeongdong was home to a number of cafes and art galleries. In the “Myeongdong Narratives” exhibition, a few of the cafes and galleries have been recreated with donated artifacts. Here’s Ms. Jeong Soo-in of the Seoul Museum of History to explain more.

A lot of people still have affection for Myeongdong. They left their personal belongings for us to use in the exhibition, and they would tell us who has what so we could go on a search for the lost artifacts. I think it took us about six or seven months to find everything for the exhibit.

An 83-year-old grandmother came to the museum with her son and grandson. She reminisces about her younger years when she would frequent Myeongdong with her friends to listen to music.

There was a certain ambience for romance in Myeongdong at the time. It wasn’t as flashy as today, but the neighborhood attracted who’s who in Seoul. There were so many coffeehouses when I was young. The main cultural activity at the time was to meet someone at a coffeehouse to drink coffee and have a conversation. The coffeehouses back then all used to have music. Some even had separate music rooms.

The second exhibition hall is devoted to the 1970s and 80s. The artistic spirit of the 50s and 60s were passed down to the 70s and 80s, during which theater companies and small theaters sprouted up in Myeongdong. Café Theatre, Samilro Warehouse Theater, El Canto Theater and others like them opened their doors, inviting theatergoers to enjoy experimental, avant garde pieces. Music bars like C’est Si Bon and OBs Cabin added folksy fun and sentiment with their offerings of acoustic guitar music.

Acoustic guitar and folk music attracted the young people, who brought their daring sense of fashion to Myeongdong. There was even a saying that a woman would go to Myeongdong as a Korean and leave as a westerner. Older visitors to the special Myeongdong exhibition smile as they see the photos of long-haired youths walking on the streets with guitars on their back. But memories of Myeongdong are not all romantic. It was also the epicenter of the fervent and sometimes bloody pro-democracy movement of the 1980s.

Pictures of young people facing the police tear gas in the middle of Myeongdong streets tell the heart-wrenching times the area had witnessed just a few decades ago. The confrontations in Myeongdong represent Korea’s growing pains.

- Myeongdong reminds me of my childhood and younger years. I used to work here, too, and I remember people shouting for democracy here.
- People held so many protests at Myeongdong Catholic Cathedral. I remember getting bombarded by tear gas and trying to avoid arrest.

While the fever of democracy took hold of Myeongdong, the havens for artists and writers disappeared. Music coffeehouses were replaced by stylish cafes and the National Theater of Korea relocated from the middle of Myeongdong to Namsan. Its place was soon filled by fashion boutiques.

The last exhibition hall features the Myeongdong of today. A century since the Japanese occupation of Myeongdong, the area is again bustling with foreigners. Also, Myeongdong’s reputation as the nation’s cultural hub has been resurrected as Myeongdong Theater opened in 2005 at the old National Theater site and Samilro Theater, Korea’s oldest private theater company, reopened in 2011. Here’s theater director Sohn Jin-chaek.

I used to work as an assistant director and production director at Myeongdong Theater. The theater closed down when the National Theater opened in 1973, and I directed my last play here. I can still remember the day, even after 30 years. Myeongdong Theater was truly the cradle of theater. The reopening of Myeongdong Theater means not only the restoration of old building, but a fresh start for theater revival.

The “Myeongdong Narratives” exhibition is a rare opportunity to see Myeongdong not only as the center of Korean pop music or fashion trends, but also as an origin of modern Korean culture.