디시인사이드

59.16 NLP

Myeong-dong was a residential area where poor scholars lived together during the Joseon Dynasty and was called Myeongryebang or Namchon because it was located to the south of the city wall.

During the Japanese colonial period, along with Chungmuro, which was called Honmachi, Japanese people began to live here in groups and began to transform into a commercial area, and it came to be called Myeongchijeong.

Myeong-dong during the Japanese colonial era

After the war ended in the 1950s, Myeong-dong became a place where many cultural artists gathered and became their lifestyle.

Novelist Kim Dong-ri, Count Myeongdong Lee Bong-gu, modernist poet Kim Su-young, modern and contemporary painter Lee Jung-seop, genius writer Lee Sang, Confucian poet Oh Sang-sun, Midang Seo Jeong-ju, genius female writer Jeon Hye-rin, poet Park In-hwan of <The Girl with the Wooden Horse>, theater directors Lee Hae-rang and Yoo Chi-jin, and film director Kim Ki-young. Artists went to Myeong-dong almost every day to discuss literature and art and write poetry in coffee shops and cafes.

At that time, Myeongdong was a place filled with young artists and intellectuals.

Map of the coffee shops, cafes, and bars of Myeong-dong at the time, a home for poor artists.

Myeongdong Street in the 50s

In front of the National Theater in 1957.

Afterwards, the National Theater moved to Namsan and was recently taken over by the Ministry of Culture and Tourism and reopened as Myeongdong Arts Theater.

From the late 1950s, with the emergence of first-generation fashion designers such as Choi Choi, Nora No, and Andre Kim, dressmakers, fashion stores, tailors, and hair salons began to open.

From then on, Myeong-dong grew into a fashion center, and by the late 1960s, the number of dressmakers in Myeong-dong reached 150.

The main customers of the dressmaker were middle-aged women, female college students, working women, coffee shop madams, movie stars, and dancers at the dancer hall.

The expression "Korea's trends spread from Seoul, and Seoul's trends start from Myeong-dong" came to be.

Tailor shops in Myeongdong in the late 1950s

Myeongdong Street in the 60s

In Myeongdong in the 60s and 70s, Large department stores are opening one by one.

Representative examples are Cosmos Department Store and Midopa Department Store. Both are gone now

Shinsegae Department Store since the 80s With the opening of the main store and the main branch of Lotte Department Store, it has grown into a shopping mecca.

As a result, Myeong-dong, like Ginza in Japan, has become the center of Korea, encompassing all of Korea's finance, shopping, and culture.

Myeongdong Street in the 70s

In front of Cosmos Department Store

In front of Midopa Department Store

Myeong-dong in the 1980s was a sacred place for democracy, centered around Myeong-dong Cathedral. State of affairs declaration and various It was a place where meetings were held.

Current appearance of Myeongdong

Although the downtown areas of Gangnam are said to be more prosperous now, Myeong-dong will forever be the most recognizable and fundamental downtown area in Korea to people all over the world.