Dosan Media · Reel
Pachappa and the first Koreatown · September 2026
Edward T. Chang and the 'First Koreatown' Narrative
Edward T. Chang, Riverside Gov and the Dosan Memorial Foundation (DMFA) are the main culprits that push this false history. Pachappa Camp was not the First Koreatown, and their claim that Dosan Ahn Chang Ho founded Pachappa Camp is a lie as well.
September 2026 · Pachappa and the first Koreatown · Watch on Instagram
As posted
Edward T. Chang, a known professor that popularized and claims the 'The First Koreatown' Pachappa Camp narrative in Riverside, California, USA.
Koreatown LA, a vibrant dense community of Korean-Americans whose ancestors migrated from Korea to California for a better life during the harsh history of Korea. You know the iconic Koreatown in LA, but have you ever heard of the first one?
When you search it up on Google, Pachappa Camp in Riverside City, California is probably the first result. But what if I told you that those claims are based on false narratives and lies? A gross manipulation of Korean history.
Edward T. Chang, Riverside Gov and the Dosan Memorial Foundation (DMFA) are the main culprits that push this false history. Pachappa Camp was not the First Koreatown, and their claims of Dosan Ahn Chang Ho, a Korean Independence Hero, founding Pachappa Camp is a lie as well.
Philip 'Flip' Ahn Cuddy is the direct grandson of Dosan Ahn Chang Ho. He is a renowned historian on Korean history and Korean American history. This makes you think: if the grandson of Dosan himself opposes this, what have they done to warrant his disapproval, when it is supposed to glorify his grandfather?
Dosan hated lies. His first principle is 무실 (Moo-shil), which means 'Seeking the Truth' in English. Dosan hated lies and would never want this narrative of falsehoods being used in relation to him.
Fight for the truth and support us to stop this madness!
What they said · What the record says
| They say“Pachappa Camp, The First Koreatown in the United States”Exhibition title, UCR Arts, Riverside, 2021-11 | What the record saysThe exhibition cannot date its own central photograph.The family disputes the claim. This archive does not assert a rival first: it prints what the institutions making the claim have published, which is one photograph carrying four different dates. |
| They say“Dosan Ahn Chang-ho (3rd from left), a Korean immigrant and activist who founded Pachappa Camp in 1905, is seen with other workers at a Riverside, California, orange orchard in the early 1900s”The Korea Herald, Life&Style, 2021 | What the record saysThe founding year is printed as settled. The photograph beside it is dated to a decade.One sentence carries a precise year for the founding and a vague one for the picture. No source is given for either. |
| They say“Ahn Chang ho (third from the left) and Korean workers at Riverside orange orchard around 1905.”Korean American Digital Archive, USC — as published in a 2016 colloquium listing, 2016-10 | What the record saysThe same archive dates the same photograph three different ways.Not a dispute between this family and a university. A dispute between one university archive and itself. |
The documents
Korean National Association, 19091909
2002: the “First Koreatown on the U.S. Mainland” was Reedley/Dinuba16 August 2002 · Pachappa Was a Labor Camp
