The name 'Itaewon' came from the Chinese character '梨', which means a pear, because lots of pear trees were in Itaewon in the Joseon Dynasty. An American military base was built near Itaewon after the Korean War, so Itaewon was called "American armies' free zone". Itaewon was the center of American culture, and Itaewon has become a multi-cultural area since foreign workers started to live in Itaewon. -Ed

 Itaewon, regarded as a foreign country inside Korea, has 1,640,000 visitors a year and 5,000 visitors a day. The special tourist zone, Itaewon, has an exotic atmosphere because of many foreign exchanges, foreign embassies, foreigners with a variety of nationalities, and signs which are written in foreign languages.
 

The street of Islam
 Islamic culture, religion, and food are found on one street called 'the street of Islam'. Many stores are located on the street corners: supermarkets to sell ingredients of Halal food which Muslims are required to eat by Islamic law, restaurants to serve Halal food, Islamic bakeries to sell traditional Arab cookies, and clothing stores to sell traditional Muslim clothes. 
 Seoul Central Masjid is the representative attraction of Itaewon, and it was the first mosque in Korea. Since it was opened in 1976, it has played the role of a holy place for Muslims who live in Korea. In the mosque, women who wear hijabs and men who wear turbans can be easily found. 
 

                             The Mosque, Seoul Central Masjid

Markets of Itaewon
 Various hats, T-shirts, and luggage tags fill the display stand of a store called 'Mr Name on a Hat'. the stuff on display is imprinted with the names of people and interesting phrases. Park Young-hwa, the shopkeeper of the store, said, "I imprint the hats, T-shirts, and luggage tags. Most customers are foreigners. They like their possessions to be imprinted with their names or funny words in Hangul as a token of visiting Korea." 
 'Eastern-one', which is a gift shop, is located next to a busy thoroughfare and it is charmingly decorated with steel planes on the gate and the ceiling. The shop sells various dolls with themes: countries, animals, sports and so on. Also, it sells souvenirs, such as candlesticks, vases, jewel cases, steel planes, steel motorcycles among other items. The dolls and the props are expensive, but many foreigners visit the shop and buy them.
 

                                         The gift shop is 'Eastern-one'

Tacos & Burritos
 Travelers can taste all kinds of delicious cuisines from all over the world in Itaewon. Mexican traditional food, tacos and burritos, are very popular foods in Itaewon. 'Taco Amigo',  'Taco Chili Chili', and 'Taco Bell' are representative restaurants that sell those foods. The scale of 'Taco Amigo' is small, so only 5 to 6 tables are arranged in the restaurant. The restaurant is famous enough to wait in long line to eat the foods during busy mealtimes.
 

                  

                                             Taco                                               Burrito

 During the day, Itaewon is crowded with foreign tourists who are shopping. They are busily coming and going toward their destinations. Meanwhile, Itaewon shows its different atmosphere at night. When night comes, young foreigners who become red with alcohol enjoy singing and dancing with a can of beer in the middle of the road. Itaewon is a good place for visitors to experience foreign cultures in Korea. Let's take a trip to Itaewon.