Mike Pak's Love Hour burger pop-up and other efforts in his community

As co-founder of Love Hour, a staple Los Angeles burger pop-up, Mike Pak is a unique voice and spokesperson for creativity and outreach across several industries.

Though he has never received classic culinary training, his impact on the food culture of Koreatown has been tremendous, bringing everyone together. That ranges from late-night bar crawlers, celebrity chefs and entertainers to the heart and soul of the neighborhood and its long-standing residents.

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Pak, a native of Virginia, only descended upon Los Angeles a decade ago, but his commitment to embracing his Korean heritage and the community of Koreatown has always been No. 1 for him. Consequently, the mark he has left on the neighborhood as a whole is immeasurable.

Many have dubbed Pak as a true icon of his community, drawing diverse groups together to embrace the importance of cultural and historical preservation in the city to giving back to the community that welcomed him, and so many others, with open arms. Pak’s mission is to curate the best of what he sees and push himself and others to try new things, whether that’s interesting food, nightlife, exercise, wellness or outreach.

I feel like your approach to Love Hour and your presence in your community is very much like a DJ. You are almost like a “food DJ” who is taking care of everyone and being the promoter of your own show. As a working part of the community, where does that come from? 

There’s really a bigger story that leads up to how I was able to create Love Hour and what I do for the neighborhood. I actually grew up in Virginia, and I have been in L.A. for 10 years now, so I’m not an L.A. native. When I moved out here, I interned at every imaginable place, whether that was in the music industry, entertainment, social media or streetwear. I was working for free at all of these companies, only because I really wanted to know how these companies worked and how they treated their employees and clients. After that, I took a step back and always knew I would do something on my own. 

After learning [the] ropes in L.A., I was comfortable venturing into my own thing. I had this Koreatown Instagram handle name from way back when I was in high school, and at that time, I was trying to figure out where I fit in. I told myself that I need to learn more about what it means to be a Korean American, and with that, it was diving right into food. I would go into all of the restaurants in the neighborhood and ask the chefs and employees how to make these dishes and the history of the cuisine.

I fell in love with the neighborhood and wanted to be able to share my experience and love with my friends and family. I knew I had to become an expert in the neighborhood. I had to know what happened in the past, what was it like during the L.A. riots, how did the community come together in times of hardship and where is it going to go in the future? I wanted to be a part of it all.

How did the Koreatown Run Club start? 

My good friend Duy Nguyen reached out to me and suggested starting a run club. I thought about it for a minute. I played a lot of sports in high school and considered myself an athlete, so I figured we would try it out. We posted about doing a run club on Instagram, and people couldn’t believe it. We started on a Saturday morning at the LINE Hotel, and 25 random people showed up.

At that moment, I realized how powerful social media is and that I could garner this voice within the neighborhood, and people would actually listen to me. Around year three of doing the club, we got the support of Nike, and it has been a match made in heaven. The run club has become something bigger than us — we built an amazing community, and the runners will come in and tell their personal stories. It’s really special. We realized we could build community in any industry we want. 

How did you go about starting Love Hour? 

My friend Jimmy Han, who owns [restaurant and bars] Beer Belly and Frank ’N Hank in Koreatown, came to me and asked if I wanted to be in the food industry. I had no experience of working in a kitchen, so I was very intimidated and thought it wouldn’t be possible, but he suggested that he would be able to cover the food part as long as myself and Duy could handle the community part.

We then developed a burger and did our first pop-up, where we saw 300 people show up in a parking lot. Fast forward to our seventh pop-up, we were invited to Coachella to serve food. After that, the roller coaster ride began, where tons of publications started to cover us, including Eater LA, [and] Infatuation. From there, we became a household name for burgers in Los Angeles. We are also stoked to announce that we have plans to open our first brick-and-mortar shop in the near future. 

What you do for the community goes beyond just food, health and wellness and ventures into outreach programs for the less fortunate. How did these charity initiatives start? 

At the top of the pandemic, I got some friends together to figure out what more we could do for the greater good of the Koreatown community and what might be missing. Obviously, there are already some great nonprofits that do a lot of amazing work, but we wanted to find a way to be a part of the conversation as well.

We decided to start an outreach program that aims to feed the homeless. For the past year, we have been getting about five-10 people to pack lunches at a nearby church and ride our bicycles around the neighborhood three times a week handing out meals to those who need it the most. Every year, we try to think of projects we can do to give back and get our friends involved. 

What kind of music do you listen to? 

I love to listen to music on runs, as that is my personal time and how I destress and motivate myself to keep moving. Hands down, I would have to say that my all-time favorite is [hip-hop group] Jedi Mind Tricks. They were my first concert as a kid, and Vinnie Paz is a huge inspiration to me. I love that he has a message to his music but also doesn’t give a fuck. [Laughs.] 

What is the message and ethos you are trying to convey with your various community-centered projects? 

No. 1 is sharing with the world that you can get involved with your neighborhood. [It] can start as small as just talking with your neighbors, or you can look at it broader with goals of changing the narrative of your neighborhood and that you can do it yourself and with the help of your friends and community. 

This interview appeared in issue 400, available here.