ABOUT
OUR MISSION IS TO Design, create, and install historical markers on the facade of former Korean-owned businesses to gain designation from unofficial to an official Koreatown in Baltimore.
HISTORY
The Korean community began to form in the area now known as Baltimore’s Charles North neighborhood, part of the Station North Arts & Entertainment District, and Greenmount West in the 1960’s reaching its height in the 1990s.
During its peak, the neighborhood was home to several Korean-owned businesses, including restaurants, supermarkets, accounting firms, doctors' offices, and even social services.
WHY NOW
Baltimore’s once-thriving “Koreatown” has been fading from view in recent years, with businesses closing and buildings being demolished. With these changes, the neighborhood is losing its significant and rich cultural history.
볼티모어의 한때 번성했던 ‘코리아타운’은 최근 몇 년 사이 점점 자취를 감추고 있으며, 많은 상점들이 문을 닫고 건물들이 철거되고 있습니다. 이러한 변화 속에서 이 지역이 지닌 중요하고 풍부한 문화적 역사가 사라질 위기에 놓여 있습니다.
To counteract this, Preserving Baltimore’s First Koreatown will install historical markers in key locations in collaboration with local Korean artists and Korean artists of the Station North diaspora.
Preserving Baltimore’s First Koreatown supports preservation of the neighborhood while advocating for an official historic designation from the city.
이에 대응하기 위해 Preserving Baltimore’s First Koreatown은 지역 한인 예술가들과 스테이션 노스 디아스포라에 속한 한인 예술가들과 협력하여 주요 장소에 역사적 표식을 설치할 예정입니다. 이 프로젝트는 지역의 보존을 지원하는 동시에, 볼티모어 시로부터 공식적인 역사 지구 지정을 받을 수 있도록 옹호하는 활동을 펼치고 있습니다.
IMPACT
It would be the first neighborhood that fully recognizes the Korean community and its historical and cultural significance in Baltimore.
Through this, we hope to recognize the greater AAPI community that calls this area home to become a central hub like in other major cities such as Chinatown in Philadelphia and Washington D.C., so any new AAPI immigrants or citizens who move to Baltimore have a space they know they can go to connect.
Our Team
Phaan Howng
Creative Director and FabricatorPhaan Howng is American born Taiwanese artist who has lived and worked in Baltimore since 2013.
Growing up and living in cities with small Asian populations, Howng understands the importance of how different Pan-Asian backgrounds have representation by forming into a larger familial and supportive community. It's from this experience and her own move to Baltimore that she believes in the value and importance of ensuring the Asian community's presence by fostering connections with current and new residents.
Howng was named Baltimore Magazine’s Artists of the Year 2025. Currently, she has a large-scale outdoor public sculpture, Big Ass Snake(plant)s On A Plane, at 1718 N. Charles St. Garage, as part of Inviting Light, an illuminated yearlong public art event curated by Derrick Adams. She recently curated the Asia North Festival’s 2025 art exhibition, EXCEEDS EXPECTATIONS for the Asian Arts and Culture Center at Towson University.
Howng received her BFA in Painting from Boston University in 2004 and her MFA from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2015. Howng has had solo and two-person exhibitions at galleries and museums including the Baltimore Museum of Art (Baltimore, MD), the Smithsonian American Art Museum and National Portrait Gallery through Smithsonian Gardens (Washington, D.C) Dinner Gallery (New York City, NY), PRACTICE (Philadelphia, PA), and MonoPractice (Baltimore, MD), Art in Buildings (New York City, NY), Asian Arts and Culture Center (Towson, MD), and MoCA Arlington (Arlington, VA). Her work has been commissioned by CityCenter (Washington, D.C.), American Express Platinum and Meta.
Design and Branding Project ManagerHayelin Choi
is a South Korean born , mission-driven designer, illustrator, and educator who has lived and worked in Baltimore for the past ten years. She is interested in visualizing the Asian American community in the US.
When Choi started her grad school at MICA, she was elated to find nearby Korean signs in the neighborhood that made many international students, including her, feel a sense of belonging in Baltimore. However, she was disappointed to see buildings demolished and restaurants closing shortly after.
Her MFA thesis used bibimbap ingredients as a visual connector to graphically represent a diversity of individuals residing in “Koreatown” (Charles Village and Station North), showing how different groups have become woven into the community.
As a designer and illustrator, she has worked with educational and non-profit organizations, including Amnesty International, UNICEF, The Johns Hopkins University, City Parks Foundation, and Radish Lab. She is also an author and illustrator of five children’s books that have been published in South Korea, China, and the U.S. Choi received her BFA in Illustration from the School of Visual Arts in New York City and an MFA in Graphic Design from the Maryland Institute College of Art in 2019. She currently teaches Graphic Design at the Maryland Institute College of Art.