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Architectural plans were unveiled Tuesday for a permanent museum dedicated to the history of Korean Americans, featuring two gallery spaces, an auditorium and an outdoor garden.

Directors of the Korean American National Museum, formed in 1991, have been working to find a permanent home for their permanent collections and temporary exhibits, settling two years ago on a Koreatown site at the corner of Sixth Street and Vermont Avenue.

While some general details about a mixed-use building have trickled out in recent months, museum directors today held a news conference to display renderings and provide details about the specific components of the future museum site.

The plans call for a 30,000-square-foot museum on the first two floors of a seven-story building. The upper floors will include 103 studio apartments, with 10 or more set aside as housing for artists.

The ground floor will feature two gallery spaces, an auditorium, cafe and gift shop and a community conference room, while the second floor will have a 6,000-square-foot outdoor garden for museum patrons and special events, according to museum officials.

Council President Herb Wesson, who worked to secure the museum site, said Korean Americans in Los Angeles are “dying for the bricks and mortar of this museum.”

The future museum, located in Wesson’s district, will be “a cultural center in Los Angeles” and serve as a way for Korean Americans to learn about their heritage, he said.

Some in the Los Angeles Korean community have been calling for a permanent site for a Korean-focused museum modeled after the Japanese American National Museum in downtown’s Little Tokyo area and L.A. Plaza de Cultura y Artes, a museum near Olvera Street that is dedicated to Mexican American culture, arts and history.

— City News Service

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