SEATTLE — Imagine walking around the Chinatown-International District and learn about the culture, the people, and the past — that's exactly what The Seattle Chinatown-International District Preservation and Development Authority (SCIDpda) wants you to do.
“We are a community organization, we were chartered specifically to preserve, promote and develop the Chinatown International District,” said Jamie Lee, co-executive director for SCIDpda. “What really made this neighborhood unique for me was that it was a place that I could come to, that reminded me of home.”
The theme of the tour is "Beyond 50 Years: A CID for All Generations" and showcases murals, items and different business and parks that the SCIDpda has worked on.
The first stop on our tour is the Bush Hotel or what used to be called a single room occupancy hotel. Across the street is Nihonmachi Alley which features illustrations of former businesses.
“These are four kinds of iconic historic Japanese businesses that were in Japantown at the time; only two of them are still open today,” Lee said.
When you tour this area it’s important to pay attention to the details.
“One of the things that we really try to do when working with community groups like Japantown is really help them actualize what it is they want to see,” Lee said.
A more recent piece titled “Remembrance and Liberation,” The Japanese community really wanted to depict that there were a lot of unfair things that happened to them during World War II.
The next stop is the future Little Saigon landmark project that the SCIDpda has been working on for over 12 years.
The tour is extensive and takes visitors around landmarks for around 90 minutes.
“This is for anybody who really wants to learn the history of the Chinatown ID. What has been going on in the last 50 years,” Lee said. “And also people that just want to learn more about our organization as a whole, and why it is that we're here, and why we exist.”
For more information on taking a tour, go to the SCIDpda website.
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