For my latest Korea Times article, ahead of the historical walk in Itaewon I’m giving next weekend, I look at the filming of ‘Inchon,’ one of the biggest flops in film history, in Korea in 1979 through the eyes of Paul Courtright and Ben Bryan, two Peace Corps Volunteers who spent a day on set as extras, and Tom Casey, owner of Sportsman’s Club in Itaewon, where cast members spent many nights. Many thanks to Paul, Ben, and Tom for sharing their stories.
A previous article (sorry, I've been pretty delinquent in posting here) focused on the history of the Dongdaemun area.
In both cases (and many others), I've researched the history of different areas in Seoul using a variety of databases.
One of the easiest ways to see when a building was registered is with this 3D map, which has buildings colour coded by decade, and if you click on the building it will tell you the year it was registered (unless it is grey, which means there’s no information). Of course, the date registered and the date built don't always align, but they do often enough. It allows you to see at a glance the age of buildings in a neighbourhood. A less user-friendly property history site (with more information) is here.
The Seoul Museum of History has old maps of Seoul (and other places) that can be downloaded. As well, the Museum has published several books about specific neighbourhoods you can read online (for example, Itaewon or Dongdaemun Market).
This government site has aerial photos going back to 1947 (for some neighbourhoods), though it only becomes consistent and of high quality from 1972). Just search for a 동 and, after confirming the correct location, the 항공사진 option should appear on the menu that appears. You can narrow the selection to a certain year or set of years, and can download full size photos if you sign up to the site.
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