korean-americans and their stores throughout la's korea town were hit the hardest by the riots, with an estimated $400 million done in damages. despite claims that koreatown had not been intentionally targeted during the riots, by sunday, over 1,600 korean-american owned stores had been completely destroyed. hispanic owned stores and african-american owned stores were also destroyed during the riots. because many ethnic groups were affected, the 1992 la riots later were called "america's first multiethnic 'riots.'"