BTS in Boyle Heights: Jin’s Bridges and Jungkook’s Golden Exhibit
Los Angeles is an endlessly fascinating sprawling megalopolis made up of distinct neighborhoods and contiguous cities. I knew enough about LA to be surprised when I saw that the address for the Jung Kook Exhibition ‘Golden: The Moments’ is in the Boyle Heights neighborhood of Los Angeles, a place likely not on the radar of the outsider’s gaze of Los Angeles, nor a place I associated with BTS.
Recent BTS exhibits were in the quintessential LA of the imagination. The May 2024 BTS pop-up store, Monochrome, was on the border of West Hollywood and Beverly Hills. V’s July 2024 Type 1 Art Space exhibit was a few blocks from the fresh air of the Pacific Ocean and instantly recognizable Santa Monica Pier. The Fall 2024 Grammy Museum HYBE: We Believe in Music exhibit was in downtown, our visit spiced by the Emmy Awards ceremony taking place next door at the same time.
But Jungkook’s Golden exhibit is in Boyle Heights. It is a majority Hispanic working class neighborhood and the location of one of Netflix’s best comedic dramas, Gentefied. It birthed the iconic Homeboy Industries, a sprawling bakery which employs formerly incarcerated gang members. More idiosyncratically, it is a climate analog for where I live now.
But none of my previous random associations prepared me for the sense of closeness I would feel for BTS in Boyle Heights. Because they are global superstars, locations for their music videos and other activities become immortalized. I would soon see that this unique yet hardly glamorous neighborhood is in the process of becoming mythologized as a result of its association with Jungkook, Jin, and Jimin.
The drive toward Ace Studios, the refurbished industrial building housing the Golden exhibit, took us under the entrance to the Sixth Street Bridge where Jin filmed his “I’ll be There for You” music video in October. Our visit was on a hot November day and what stood out first was the glare of the sunlight and the age of this somewhat lonely, puzzling neighborhood, where many buildings are boarded up and seemingly vacant.
Whenever I go to a new place, the first thing I want to do is wander around. #Namjooning is my second nature. Have you noticed RM sometimes takes as many pictures of the place he is at as the art he shares on Instagram? As we waited for our Golden exhibit entrance time, we wandered two or three blocks, past abandoned buildings closer to the Sixth Street Bridge. We came across men spraying graffiti on the construction fence at the base of the bridge. They saw us looking for something and pointed out the small entrance to the construction zone and the spiralling ramp which led to the top of the bridge.
We didn’t walk up because the air was white hot and it was time to go back, but we watched kids run up and my ARMY brain was reminded of the spiralling ramp in Jungkook’s Calvin Klein commercial and the staircase at the beginning of RM’s “Groin” music video.
Walking back, I was startled to see that the bridge on the other side of the studio was the location for Jin’s “Running Wild” poster, which had just been released that morning. He is pictured running across the bridge with a dog. It felt surreal looking at the poster on our phones, comparing it to what I now know as the Fourth Street Bridge. (And as I write this– the ”Running Wild” music video teaser has just been released, same bridge, same moment of joy colliding.)
Outside the studio, there is a gigantic banner of Jungkook blowing in the wind. With the Fourth and Sixth Street bridges in the background in either direction, it felt as if Jin and Jungkook were looking out for each other- always finding their way to each other.
The exhibit entryway feels cavernous and suited the larger-than-life superstar Jungkook. Yet, at the same time, the exhibit is intimate and easygoing, divided into spacious rooms. The “If you see them, no you didn’t” ARMY ethic of respect was evident in how easily you could have wrapped your arm around the mannequins dressed with his clothes and squeezed tight. Yet none did so– only “air” half wraps; no one touched a single fiber.
Near the entrance, you see the weight of Jungkook’s influence and accomplishments. The trophies ARMY streamed, rallied, and voted for since the release of Golden are showcased in glowing, magical light, as if they are a tribute to ARMY as much as Jungkook. They seem to say, “Here, let me show you what we did together.” So show me…
There was love inside and in every aspect. Excitement. In a room filled with ARMY notes to Jungkook written on the walls, I wrote, “Miss you–” short because I know not to even try to find the words to tell the members of BTS how much they mean to me.
Art is in the eye and experience of the beholder — a cliche based on the truth of the relationship between art and humanity. How did such a concentration of BTS’s art land in this place, so far away from my expectations?
Why share detail about the location of the exhibit and its proximity to Jin’s bridges? So much about the dimensions of the space? My eye beheld this location and found Jungkook and Jin now inextricably linked to Boyle Heights, a unique place rendered even more special by its new connection with BTS, soon to be mythologized and immortalized in their shining light. Being in this neighborhood at this particular point in time lent a more expansive view of BTS and art in the world.
Jimin’s exhibit, The Truth Untold, will open at the same location later this month. His banner will fly in the same place as Jungkook’s, with their hyung’s bridges as backdrops, again the brothers united, giving space to our interpretation of their art.
-Kim
With appreciation and gratitude to Autumn, Erin, Nicoleta, and Vicki, who were all part of this essay and experience, each in their own way.
See our blog post about Jungkook Golden Live On Stage Here
All photos above and below taken by the author on November 9, 2024:
