International District, Seattle, Washington

The International District of Seattle, Washington (also known as Chinatown and the I.D.) has been called the only place in the continental United States where Chinese Americans, Japanese Americans, Filipino Americans, Vietnamese Americans, Korean Americans,Thai Americans, Laotian Americans, Cambodian Americans, Burmese Americans, and other Asian Americans live in one neighborhood. The portion east of Interstate 5 and north of South Lane Street has been dubbed "Little Saigon" because of the high concentration of Vietnamese businesses there.

The neighborhood is generally viewed as encompassing the blocks east of Fifth Avenue S., beyond which are Pioneer Square and SoDo; west of Boren and Rainier Avenues S., beyond which is Rainier Valley; north of S. Dearborn Street, beyond which are Beacon Hill and the Industrial District; and south of S. Main Street, beyond which is Downtown and First Hill. The main thoroughfares in Chinatown are South Jackson Street and South King Street (east- and westbound); and the prominent thoroughfare in Little Saigon is 12th Avenue South (north- and southbound) intersecting at South Jackson Street.

Hing Hay Park, at the corner of S. King Street and Maynard Avenue S., is considered a hub of the International District. The Wing Luke Asian Museum is an important cultural institution in the neighborhood, as was the Nippon Kan Theatre until its recent closure. Kobe Terrace, on the steep slope between I-5 and S. Main Street, is another important site, where many neighborhood residents have urban gardens in the Danny Woo International District Community Garden.

Perhaps the neighborhood's most notable establishment is the Asian supermarket Uwajimaya. Across Fifth Avenue from Uwajimaya Village is the Union Station office complex, built where abandoned Union Pacific Railroad tracks once ran, and home to much of Amazon.com's operations.

Population

After racial discrimination drove many Chinese Americans out of Seattle and the Great Seattle Fire of 1889 destroyed what was left of Chinatown, the Chinese Americans remaining in Seattle established a new Chinatown on King Street. This Chinatown is at the center of today's International District.

Second to arrive were the Japanese. They developed Nihonmachi, or Japantown, on Main Street, two blocks north of King Street. They were forcibly detained during the Japanese American internment from 1942 to 1946.

After the arrival of the Japanese, Filipinos settled the neighborhood's many hotels and boarding houses. African Americans moved to the district to work in the war industry during World War II, occupying many of the houses that the Japanese had left.

After the Vietnam War, in the late 1970s and the 1980s, a new wave of immigrants from Southeast Asia established Seattle's Little Saigon in the district. Many of these immigrants were of Chinese descent.

According to the 2000 Census, the International District is 56% Asian, 15% black, 15% white, and 5% Hispanic/Latino. These numbers allegedly undercount Chinese Americans in the district who are said to be afraid of the government and thus don't participate in census counts.Fact|date=February 2007

Development and preservation

Many neighborhood buildings were destroyed for the construction of Interstate 5 in the 1960s. In the 1970s, organizations devoted to the preservation of the International District were founded, some in response to the 1975 construction of the Kingdome on land that was intended for use as low-income housing. In 1987, the International District gained federal status as the "Seattle Chinatown Historic District." In 1999, the City Council approved the "Chinatown-International District Strategic Plan" for the future of the neighbourhood. Since then, the often conflicting interests of development and preservation have clashed as office developments (e.g., Union Station) and market-rate housing development (e.g., Uwajimaya Village) offer economic growth but threaten to change the character of the neighborhood and increase gentrification and rents. A debate over the vacation of S. Lane Street as part of the Uwajimaya redevelopment is an example of this clash. [http://www.thestranger.com/seattle/Content?oid=1508]

Wah Mee massacre

The worst mass murder in the history of Seattle took place at the Wah Mee Club on Maynard Alley on February 18, 1983. Thirteen people lost their lives.

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References

* Bob Santos, "Humbows, Not Hot Dogs!: Memoirs of a Savvy Asian American Activist." Seattle: International Examiner Press, 2002.

External links

* [http://www.cidbia.org Seattle Chinatown-International District - Official Website]
* [http://www.cityofseattle.net/neighborhoods/preservation/id.htm City of Seattle: International Special Review District]
* [http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/webtowns/town.asp?WTID=6 Seattle Post-Intelligencer: International District]
* [http://www.wingluke.org Wing Luke Asian Museum]
* [http://nwda-db.wsulibs.wsu.edu/findaid/ark:/80444/xv60546 Guide to the International Special Review District Records 1973-1997]
*Julie Jindal, [http://seattle.citysearch.com/feature/9976/ Asian Occasion] , CitySearch.com Chinatown-ID walking tour. Slightly out of date, but quite informative.
*Walt Crowley, [http://www.historylink.org/cybertour/index.cfm?fileId=7051 International District Cybertour] , HistoryLink. Again, slightly out of date, but quite informative.
* [http://www.msg150.com MSG150 - A dining tour of International District lunches]