The Korean Wave 2010-2011 - Korean Cultural Service

The New York Times, Thursday, July 8, 2010E8She WantsMore Than Her MTVBy MELENA RYZIKFa s h ionin The New York Timesyou had a popsicle? They’re sooogood,” said SuChin Pak, known to a“Havegeneration of screaming teenagers asthe sweet and chipper on-air correspondent for MTV.“Let me buy you one!”It was a sweltering Sunday, and Ms. Pak was nowherenear the red carpets or green rooms, interviewingTaylor Swift or spotlighting some do-gooder youth.Instead, she was walking up and down a small patchof asphalt on the Lower East Side, helping sell designerT-shirts and those really good ice pops, which comein artisanal Mexican flavors like horchata and mangocon chili.No, Ms. Pak did not lose her plum job as an MTV correspondent.She still covers events like the earthquakein Haiti and every pop star’s latest baby bump andbroken engagement. But these days, she has becomeconsumed by a side project, one that takes her to everycorner of a newly trendy pocket along the Lower EastSide-Chinatown border, foraging for indie designersand boutiques, and seeking new flavors like truffledpretzels and wild lobster rolls.Ms. Pak likes to give credit to her brother, Suhyun, butshe is the creative force behind the Hester Street Fair,this summer’s newest designer flea market, wedgedin a lot between a high school athletic field and thethree-acre Seward Park, one of the oldest city-builtplaygrounds in the country. Started in April and setto run nearly year round, this modern incarnation ofa peddler’s paradise has been billed as a downtownManhattan version of the Brooklyn Flea, but it feelsmore like a hyperlocal block party.Every weekend the precious sliver of land, barely widerthan two parked cars, is transformed into a moderndaypushcart bazaar, teeming with stylish terrariums,vintage jewelry and refurbished bicycles, plus a rotatingfeast that might include banh mi, wild smokedsalmon and barbecued pulled pork — all from neighborhoodrestaurants and cooks.It helps that Ms. Pak also seems to know everybodywithin a 10-block radius. “It’s an obsession,” Ms. Pak,34, said of the fair. “For me, right now, it’s the mostcreative thing that I do.”41