When word started to spread around online, it was almost too much to bear — Ham Ji Park, the beloved Korean BBQ restaurant that has been serving ribs for three decades, was going to close.
There were comments and message threads on Reddit speculating about a possible renovation. When an LA Local reporter stopped by the restaurant, an employee refused to talk, only adding to the mystery.
But on Friday, the restaurant finally put the speculation to rest and said in an Instagram post that they are “closing for now.”
The 6th Street location closed earlier this month, and the Pico Boulevard location will serve its last gamjatang by the holidays.
“We want to share our sincere gratitude for the years of support, care and love you have given us,” the post said. “Hamjipark has always been more than a restaurant, it has been a gathering place, a familiar comfort and a home for so many of you who have become part of our story.”
The restaurant didn’t provide details about why it was closing but disputed “most” of the rumors.
“There have been many rumors circulating recently and we want to reassure you that most of them do not reflect the truth. What is true is that we are closing for now and making this announcement is one of the hardest things we have ever had to do.”
The statement reflected on decades of regulars who grew up alongside the restaurant.
“We have watched families expand, children turn into adults and friends become regulars who feel like family,” they said.
The restaurant added, “We will miss our community more than words can express and we hope our paths will meet again.”
Ham Ji Park opened in 1993 and built its reputation on its pork ribs and gamjatang, a spicy pork neck-bone stew. Late Los Angeles Times critic Jonathan Gold called Ham Ji Park’s ribs “crisp, beautifully caramelized and not too sweet, a massive pile to be snipped into edible mouthfuls at the table with a pair of scissors, and again slightly resinous.”
Bonnie Sintuvat, 44, said Ham Ji Park holds a special place for nostalgic Korean Americans.
“It’s one of those restaurants where if you talk to anyone who is Korean, they have so many stories of their parents taking them to go eat there. It’s just a childhood restaurant that everyone goes to,” she said.
Sintuvat added that even among the many restaurants she tries across Southern California, Ham Ji Park still stood out.
“I live in Buena Park, where Korean is everywhere, but I would go to Ham Ji Park in K-town for those grilled pork ribs,” Sintuvat said.
Jin Kim, who frequented Ham Ji Park with friends as a young adult, said the homey feel of the restaurant will be sorely missed.
“What I still vividly remember is the unique setup. Fires at every table in the narrow space, and using aluminum foil to catch the dripping grease,” he said.
For some longtime customers, the closure lands as another loss in a neighborhood where several legacy restaurants have shuttered in recent years.
“I think with everything closing, like the Dragon closing, Beverly Soondubu closing, Toe Bang closing, like all of our staples of K-town are kind of going one by one,” said Alice Han, a longtime Koreatown resident.
Han, who’s lived in Koreatown for close to three decades, is taking Ham Ji Park’s closure as a reminder to visit other old-school eateries run by the ajummas in the neighborhood, like Olympic Noodle and Jun Won Dak.
“During COVID, I would buy a lot of Ham Ji Park to give out to my friends. It was an easy food to give them to introduce them to Korean food,” she said. “So it was kind of like breaking bread with friends, I guess.”
