In 2021, I was asked by Time Out to nominate a Seoul neighbourhood for its annual list of the world\u2019s coolest. I didn\u2019t think much of it and put forward the one I live in, Jongno 3-ga, in the old centre of the city. Somehow, it got ranked third.<\/p>\n
This week, the same area was named the coolest neighbourhood in the world<\/a>. I should be pleased, but instead, I\u2019m devastated.<\/p>\n All these lists seem to celebrate the same idea of \u201ccool\u201d: expensive conceptual art galleries, high-end restaurants, and the sort of places that cater to a narrow demographic of people who read lifestyle magazines. Most cities have these places.<\/p>\n But when I moved to Jongno 3-ga, I chose somewhere that was the opposite: humble, raw and completely unpretentious.<\/p>\n I was first drawn to the neighbourhood 20 years ago, fresh out of school. I recollect with sweet nostalgia being one of the few tourists at a time when South Korea<\/a> was not \u201ccool\u201d, and people often advised me against travelling there, confusing South Korea with North Korea.<\/p>\n There were no English menus, but restaurants were welcoming. Shopfronts were rusty but full of artisanry, while alleys that went nowhere and were slightly dilapidated felt cosy. There were men getting drunk over bottles of soju who occasionally got into a brawl, but nothing that ever felt particularly threatening. I felt at home and eventually made it my home.<\/p>\n Diners eating at street barbecue restaurants in Jongno 3-ga. Photograph: Raphael Rashid\/The Guardian<\/p>\n It was a refuge for society\u2019s rejects: people with nowhere to go, some of the poorest in Seoul, residents of the city\u2019s tiny-room settlements and people with disabilities. In Tapgol Park, elderly women sold sexual services to older men in plain sight. Outside the park, pensioners played janggi, Korean chess, on the pavement. Around them lived musicians and artists. In Jongno 3-ga, everyone was welcome.<\/p>\n For years, the pojangmacha, the street-food tents that serve everything from fried squid to kimchi pancake, catered to older people drinking through to the early evening. Then at some point \u2013 around 9pm \u2013 there was an unofficial handover to the gay scene.<\/p>\n