Andrew Ahn, Boo’s Philly Cheesesteaks
Jimmy and Andrew Ahn, the owner of Boo’s Philly Cheesesteaks, delve into Andrew’s arrival to L.A. in the early 2000s. Andrew’s first job was at I Love Boba. Years later, he and his dad started Boos Philly Cheesesteaks in East Hollywood. They opened their second location in Koreatown in 2013.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity. Photo provided by Andrew Ahn.
Jimmy: Hey, what's going on, man?
Andrew: What's going on, my brother? How's your day going?
Jimmy: It's going pretty well, my dude. I mean, end of the year vibes.
Andrew: We're entering some very interesting times in just world history, you know what I'm saying? And things are going to change drastically. So everyone's got to get on that train.
Jimmy: Yeah, it's interesting because you're a part of a new generation of business owners. I know you're aware that trends come and go. But you also are seeing things change on a cultural level, and, inevitably, that has an impact on your business. What I appreciate about you is that you are on the lookout and you are in tune. And then, of course, you got your fans who tell you stories about the things that come up for them. Business owners today cannot be operating in silos and culturally unaware.
Andrew: Well, you know, for the first time in human history, you can kind of maneuver through however you want to live your life. That's a good thing for a lot of people. For example—we have this discussion at the store all the time—you don't have to go to college anymore. You can learn everything online for free, or it’s really affordable. So just that—the acceleration of learning—is something that I think people are taking advantage of. You can do it on your own. It really comes down to each individual's desire to work hard. That's the thing that’s not taken away: the hard work. You know what I'm saying?
Jimmy: So let's get into that. Tell me a little bit about Andrew and how you got to L.A. and where you're from.
Andrew: I was born in Jersey and raised in and around Philly for most of my life. And long story short, I went to a boarding school outside of Philadelphia for two years. I lived in France my junior year of high school and then I went to American University for two years before dropping out. I got an internship up in New York at Scott Rudin's production office because I wanted to be a filmmaker. After being in New York for a little bit, I moved out to Korea and worked for a film distribution company for a year. I visited L.A. on a business trip and realized that this is the place to be. That was in 2001, 2002. I went back to Philly and bought a one-way ticket. I moved out to L.A. on July 11, 2002, my birthday. I had one person that I knew, Grace. Shout out to Grace. She picked me up from the airport, dropped me off at this hostel in Koreatown. It's no longer there but it was on Oxford between 6th and 5th. My first job was the I Love Boba on Western Avenue (now closed).
Jimmy: Bro, shout out I Love Boba. Shout out. Tell me about when you first got to K-Town. What did you see? Was it like Philly? Was it different? What happened when you got out there?
Andrew: Philly is an interesting city because it's got a lot of history. Obviously, it's the birthplace of this country. Philly also has really good food inspired by Italian and Polish food and stuff like that. That's where a lot of immigrants went to, working in shipyards and, really, working all over the place. And it just became known as a working class city over the years. It's completely different from L.A. From my perspective, L.A. was so dreamy, whereas Philly is more gritty. When I first got here, I really had to start making friends from scratch, and that took some time. A lot of my friends when I first came here, they were in gangs and they were party dudes and stuff like that. I met a very eclectic group of people out here in L.A.
Jimmy: It's fascinating, Andrew, because you're saying you got to K-Town in ‘02. And that's exactly 10 years after the ‘92 riots or uprisings, when Korean-owned absorbed about half of all the damages during that time. There was a whole lot of mayhem that was especially targeting these Korean American owned businesses to the point that, as you know, families got together, they armed themselves, they defended themselves. And so you got to K-Town just 10 years afterwards. So what was K-Town like when you got there in ‘02?
Andrew: You know when I first got here, it seemed for me that a lot of Koreans had moved into more of the corporate stuff. I'm not sure about how things were before. I mean, when I was growing up in Philly, a lot of Korean people owned stores, a deli or some sort of laundromat or what have you. Koreans have lived in L.A. for a much longer time than in Philly. So I kind of got the sense that they were into like white collar businesses. It wasn't the blue collar stuff like I was used to in Philly, you know what I'm saying? And then L.A. being a party city, I saw a lot of partying. A lot of the club stuff. I didn’t notice any remnants of the uprising. You know how L.A. is. It's a lot of people like me from other parts of the country or the world that come here and they don't get the sense of how L.A. really was.
Jimmy: So you mentioned that when you got in, a lot of the people that you linked up with were banging or in some kind of crew, doing their own thing. That's what you were exposed to, it seems.
Andrew: Yeah. But it's interesting because, with that said, in K-Town you just intermingle with different types of people. So, like, there's a bunch of lawyers and people that work in different fields and, all of a sudden, you know, everyone's partying, doing their thing. You wouldn't really see that in Philly as much. And fortunately for me, a lot of the friends that were in gangs and that were banging or whatever, they took me in and just became really good friends because, at the end of the day, we're just all regular people, you know what I'm saying? Just be good and just be honest and be real. And if you're honest and a real person, people know that. Whether it's me or gang banger or a lawyer, it doesn't matter. Real is real.
Jimmy: Real is real. So during that time, you were hitting up a number of different spots. Are there any spots—clubs, bars—that come to mind?
Andy: Everything’s gone, bro. The only bar that's still around is Cafe Blue. But, man, my first restaurant bar gig here was at Point at Serrano and Wilshire and that's no longer there. I also used to go to this place called Le Prive, which was on Western across the street from Sizzler but the Sizzler’s not there anymore. And the freakin’ Le Prive nightclub’s now an apartment building. I think EDM kind of wiped out the club scene. It's all after-hours kind of stuff, you know what I'm saying? Like, the party scene doesn't exist anymore. No one listens to the same type of music. I mean, you used to go to the clubs and everyone knew when 50 Cent or Eminem came in and, yo, everyone just went crazy.
Jimmy: Wow.
Andrew: But now it's like, I listen to this, you listen to that, no one listens to the same music, no one listens to the radio, you listen to your streaming, you know what I'm saying? Eeryone's into their own thing. It's the same thing with movies too, movies and TV shows.
Jimmy: Right, you can watch everything from your home just like you can order food from home. So just a different playground, man.
Andrew: Yeah, absolutely. And there’s a lot of different types of food in K-Town now, more than ever before. A lot of the older OG spots are closing down because it was always some grandma or some older Korean person that was operating those spots since the ‘80s and ‘90s. And their kids don't want to take over for whatever reason. So you see that happening. And plus you have big money coming into K-Town now because K-Town's kind of cool. Korean culture is cool, Korean movies and TV shows. So I think that's definitely changed K-Town a lot. It is what it is, time you know things change.
Jimmy: Talking about change, things in the city coming and going, tell me about the origin of Boo’s and tell me even about the name.
Andrew: Boo’s is the name of my grandma. My grandma's name was Lee Boo-Soon. When I was growing up in Philadelphia, it was just my grandma, my mom, my dad, my sister. I had a couple cousins and my aunt and uncle in Jersey. My mom and dad were always working so my grandma helped raise us. She was always very warm and welcoming and she always took care of us. I have very fond memories of her and the food she made. She made really good miyukguk and banchan. And really good kimchi. She made all her stuff legit from scratch, you know what I'm saying? My mom and her would get together and make kimchi, like, for a whole couple days. Yo, it was wild. So, yeah, I named my place after my grandma. I think it’s a great name for a restaurant.
Jimmy: Man, that's a lot of love. Then how did y’all just decide L.A. is it?
Andrew: My parents moved to L.A. in 2008 and then my dad got laid off in his job as a janitor so he was on unemployment. So it was pretty financially tight for us. Then my dad was like, “Hey, where can I get a good cheesesteak out here?” And I was like, “You're not gonna find one.” So he got this idea and he started making moves, like calling up places, checking places out. And then he borrowed some money from some church friends and he was able to secure a lease for this small spot on Fountain and Virgil. You know, he thought it was pretty easy to open up a spot because, back in the 80s, you could you open up whatever. But especially in L.A., you got to go through all the red tape stuff and my dad got kind of stuck dealing with the Health Department. So he asked me to help him out. I had gotten into reality television at that point but I didn’t want to make those kinds of shows any more. I wanted to do my own thing. We couldn't afford an architect so I had to draw the freakin’ floor plan. It was so freaking hilarious. But I got the approval somehow and we opened November of 2011. That's how it all went down.
Jimmy: Where did Pops get the idea to start making cheesesteaks?
Andrew: My dad's first job in America was at a cheesesteak place, I believe in Germantown in 1981. Then he eventually got into the clothing business. He got the idea for Boo’s because he needs to hustle. And that’s how I think too. I'm like, dude, I can't wait to freakin’ have someone give me unemployment. I want to do my own thing. If you want freedom in life, you got to put that work in but you also got to be willing to take risks. My parents were like, “Hey, we don't want you working like this. We want you to become a lawyer, doctor, go to Harvard.” But for me, I want that hustle. I love doing something from scratch. I got that from my dad.
Also, not having a good cheesesteak was a big problem for us because we're from Philly, you know what I'm saying? It's like for people that grew up in L.A. like not getting a good taco.
Jimmy: That's a lot of love for this place that you come from. A lot of people may not realize the level of authenticity in how you prepare your food.
Andrew: I want to be real true to myself, right? That was a real important thing for me growing up. My parents raised me to just be authentic. Don't be a fake. You know what I'm saying? I got my ass whooped so many times for lying, I can't even lie. Everything I do, it’s going to be 100% real. Alright, we’re gonna do a cheesesteak. Let’s do it real. Let’s do it right. I don't want people from Philly coming over and saying, “You a fraud.” That’s gonna be bad for my rap, you know what I’m saying?
Jimmy: Yeah, man, even down to the ingredients. Like, you get bread and meat from Pennsylvania, right?
Andrew: I had to make a bunch of phone calls. We get Amoroso bread shipped out to L.A. And then we get steaks and stuff through distributors. So just making the right phone calls, hitting up the right places and then finding out logistically how it works. It was no different from producing a film or whatever. It's called the internet, which is the greatest thing that humans have created over the last 100 years. You can find anything. So you can't make an excuse for anything. Now I'm just trying to figure out how to grow my business and making sure my team and my family and everyone around me is successful. That's all I can do because the world's gonna change.
With everyone’s access to technology, people from other parts of the world are gonna figure something out that’s gonna change humanity. The next 10 to 30 years is gonna be crazy. And so I'm excited for that part. I'm excited in the sense that you're gonna have so many people whose generations were poor for the last 100, 200 years, and all of a sudden they're gonna be coming up. You're gonna see so many new ideas, so many new things, and my skill set’s gonna be non-existent. So I’m reading, learning, taking online courses for free, thinking different. It’s about leaning into, “Hey, how can we better educate ourselves?” How can I better educate my community as best as possible? Because that’s gonna be the way that we can improve our community and society.
Jimmy: I mean, it reminds me of what makes Boo’s special. Because we talked about Grandma and her food that y'all can't forget, the authenticity, the grit, the hustle. Boom, you apply that to Boo’s. People recognize real. That, to me, is the education. There are new generations coming up. They may or may not know the backstory to some of this business-making, that it started way back when Grandma had this family she was looking out for, and, boom, the family looked after her and each other because that's what they learned. You pass that knowledge on, and our cultures can survive. The game has changed, but it's also still the same. You do learn new skill sets but you can't teach authenticity. And it stays with you. It doesn't leave you, it doesn't leave your work.
Andrew: That's all I can do. Shoot. I made a lot of stupid decisions. But the main ones, I'm glad I made the decisions I did. You know, I'm glad that I came to L.A. It made me the man I am today. I'm not the same 22-year-old kid who didn't know anything. But now I'm like, alright, I'm 42, I got game. And I still have a lot to learn. Trust me, I got a lot to learn.
