The way Jack Shin sees it, he's selling the Los Angeles' cheapest vacation. Spend $4.95 for a cup of drip coffee and drink it in his 100-foot-long model of the Titanic and Shin guarantees you'll come away refreshed.

在申傑克看來，他賣的是洛杉磯最便宜的假期。花4.95美元（約台幣150元）點一杯滴漏咖啡，並在100呎（30.48公尺）長的鐵達尼號模型船上細細品嘗，申傑克保證你離開時提神醒腦、消除疲勞。

"Everyone is working and making money to pay bills and they're very tight. One coffee here and they feel like they've been on a cruise and they're relaxed," Shin said. The claim may seem as over-the-top as Leonardo DiCaprio yelling "I'm king of the world!" in James Cameron 's film, but it's a winning formula in Koreatown , the city's un-likely capital of late-night coffee shops.

「每個人都忙著工作賺錢付帳，他們全身緊繃。在這裡喝杯咖啡，他們覺得好像置身郵輪上，可以放鬆身心，」申說。這種說法可能像李奧納多狄卡皮歐在詹姆斯柯麥隆的影片「鐵達尼號」中誇張的吶喊：「我是世界之王！」一樣，但在韓國城這是必勝秘笈，而韓國城也成為洛杉磯不太真實的夜半咖啡屋之都。

The businesses have become the area's de facto country clubs by bringing a whiff of gentility to Koreatown's alcohol-fueled night scene. The shops are almost exclusively patronized by Koreans who will pay high prices not just for the java but for an atmosphere in which they can do business during the day and meet friends at night.

韓國城原本由喝酒帶動的夜生活，因為賣咖啡帶來一點附庸風雅的氣息，已經成為這個地區實際上的鄉村俱樂部。這些咖啡屋的客人幾乎清一色是韓國人，他們願意花大錢，不只是為了爪哇咖啡，也為了這裡的氣氛，他們白天上班，晚上可以來這裡和朋友交誼。

"The tables are better, the service is better. Ev-erything is better than Starbucks 珥 It's like Seoul," said Seoul native Kevin Pak, 48, who comes to Shin's Cafe Jack three or four times a week.

「桌椅比較好，服務比較好，樣樣都比星巴克好…簡直就像首爾，」原籍首爾48歲的朴凱文說，他每星期到申的傑克咖啡屋三、四次。

Cafe Jack looks like a teenage girl's dream bed-room circa 1997. There's a wall of DiCaprio and Kate Winslet photos adorned with red twinkling lights as if it's a shrine. The wood furniture looks like it belongs on a cruise ship. A staircase leads to the second floor, where you can lean out over the bow and imagine the street's really the Atlantic O-cean. The only thing that disturbs the vision is the Korean pop music in the background instead of "My Heart Will Go On."

傑克咖啡屋看起來就像1997年少女夢想中的臥室。一面牆上貼滿狄卡皮歐和凱特溫絲蕾的照片，還妝點著閃爍的紅色燈光，有如神龕。原木家具看來很像郵輪上的。一座樓梯通往二樓，你可以從船頭探身俯瞰，想像這條街其實是大西洋。唯一干擾這個美景的是背景音樂放的是韓國的流行音樂而不是〔鐵達尼號主題曲〕「愛無止盡」。

Shin said he's seen "Titanic" more than 100 times. "I really like this sad, lovely story. It was my dream to build something like this in Koreatown," he said. Shin said he'd seen themed cafes in Korea and wanted to build one in Los Angeles. There are cur-rently about a dozen high-end coffee shops in Ko-reatown.

申傑克說，他總共看「鐵達尼號」一百多次。他說：「我實在很喜歡這部悲傷甜美的故事，我的夢想就是要在韓國城打造這種東西。」他並表示，他在韓國看到很多主題咖啡屋，很想在洛城也開一家。目前韓國城約有12家高檔咖啡屋。

Even though joe only became popular in Korea within the last 20 years, coffeehouses have quickly become part of the culture. There are now almost 150 Starbucks in Seoul, where one branch is four stories to accommodate the crowds. Because apart-ments in Seoul are generally smaller than their U.S. equivalents, many Koreans spend hours socializing and doing business in cafes.

雖然咖啡到20年前開始在韓國流行起來，咖啡屋很快成為文化的一環。現在首爾約有150家星巴克，每家分店有四層樓以容納川流不息的客人。由於首爾公寓多半比美國公寓小，很多韓國人在咖啡屋花好幾個鐘頭交誼和談生意。

Shin quickly developed a loyal following. Kevin Pak said he especially likes the customer service. Each table is equipped with a small button hidden behind the sugar that summons waiters almost in-stantaneously. "It's a place you can bring a business colleague or a girlfriend," said Pak, who almost never goes to Starbucks. "They make you feel im-portant."

申很快吸引一群死忠客群。朴凱文說，他特別欣賞這裡的客戶服務。每張桌子糖罐後藏了一個小按鈕，隨時可以請服務生來。他說：「你可以帶同事或女友到這裡，」他幾乎從來不上星巴克。「他們讓你覺得賓至如歸。」

"Nobody cares how long you stay, and it just feels homier." Jin Kim said.

「沒有人在乎你待多久，就是很有家的感覺。」金吉恩說。

Koreans are the sixth-largest temporary worker group in the country and the number is growing. In 2006, about 950,000 Koreans entered the country on a non-immigrant basis, up from about 830,000 two years earlier, according to the federal govern-ment. The temporary workers have the option of returning to Korea and don't necessarily feel the need to assimilate or mix with the general popula-tion.

據聯邦政府指出，韓國人是美國第六大臨時工團體，而且人數還在增加。2006年，大約95萬韓國人持非移民護照入境美國，比兩年前的83萬人要多。這些臨時工作者可以選擇回韓國，而不定覺得有必要和一般美國人同化或打成一片。

They're probably one of the few area groups that can afford the high prices. A cup of regular coffee costs about $5 in most shops, more than double Starbucks' prices. A recent survey conducted by a Koreatown nonprofit worker's advocacy group found that three-fourths of the area's residents earn less than $35,000 a year. "Who in their right mind would walk into a Korean American business and order a $5 cup of coffee at two in the morning ex-cept a Korean" asked John Park, a professor of Asian American studies at UC Santa Barbara. "To pay that much for something……shows a self-conscious exclusivity."

他們可能也是少數付得起這麼高價位的區域群體。大半咖啡屋一杯普通咖啡就要5美元。韓國城非營利工作者權益團體最近的調查顯示，四分之三當地居民年薪不到3萬5千美元。聖塔芭芭拉加大亞洲美國研究教授朴約翰問道：「除了韓國人，哪個腦筋正常的人會在凌晨兩點鐘到一家韓裔美國人經營的店，點一杯5美元的咖啡？付這麼多錢買某樣東西……顯示下意識的排他性。」

Even though the shops are open late, some Kore-atown leaders prefer them to nightclubs. The area has one of the city's highest concentration of liquor licenses and alcohol is blamed for late-night crime. "At least they're not bars. We have enough of those," said Johng Ho Song, executive director of the Koreatown Youth & Community Center.

雖然店都開到很晚，有些韓國城領袖寧可上咖啡屋，而不去夜店。韓國城也是洛城賣酒牌照密度最高的地段之一，酒精也是深夜犯罪率高的罪魁禍首。韓國城青年社區活動中心執行長宋鍾浩說：「至少它們不是酒吧，我們已經受夠了。」（取材自洛杉磯時報）