Chinatown International District - Seattle, Washington - A Diverse Neighborhood with the Best Asian Market in the City

TheInternational Districtof Seattle, Washington ,also known as Chinatown and theI.D., may be the only place in the continental United Stateswhere Chinese Americans , Japanese Americans , FilipinoAmericans , Vietnamese Americans,Americans, Thai, Laotian, Cambodian Americans , BurmeseAmericans , and other Asian Americans live inone neighborhood. The portion east of Interstate 5 and north ofSouth Lane Street has been dubbed " \l "Washington" LittleSaigon " because of the high concentration of Vietnamese businessesthere.

The neighborhood encompasses the blocks east of Fifth Avenue S., beyond which are Pioneer Square and SoDo ; west ofBoren and Rainier AvenuesS., beyond which is Rainier Valley ; north of S.Dearborn Street, beyond which are BeaconHill and the Industrial District ; and south of S.Main Street, beyond which is Downtown and FirstHill . The main thoroughfares in Chinatown are South Jackson Street andSouth King Street (east- and westbound); and the prominent thoroughfarein Little Saigon is 12thAvenue South (north- and southbound)intersecting at South Jackson Street.

HingHay Park , at the corner of S. King Street and Maynard Avenue S., is apopular gathering place in the International District. The Wing Luke AsianMuseum is an important cultural institution in the neighborhood, as wasthe NipponKan Theatre until its recent closure. Kobe Terrace , onthe steep slope between I-5 and S. Main Street, isanother important site, where many neighborhood residents have urban gardensin the Danny Woo International District Community Garden .

Perhaps the neighborhood's most notable establishment is the Asian supermarket Uwajimaya . AcrossFifth Avenue from Uwajimaya Village is the Union Stationoffice complex, built where abandoned Union PacificRailroad tracks once ran, and home to much of Amazon.com 's operations.

The Historic Chinatown Gate Foundation, with contributions from a number of agencies, organizations, businesses and individuals, brought to reality a 70 year plus dream of the Chinese community - to build a traditional Chinese gate, or pai-lau, to commemorate the presence of the Chinese community in the Seattle Chinatown Historic District.Research and design focused on a pair of gates.Completed in February, 2008, the first straddles South King Street at Fifth Avenue South. Organizing the construction of the second one has begun. It will be located on South King Street at 12th Avenue South

Chinese immigrants first came to the Pacific Northwest inthe 1850s, and by the 1860s some had settled in Seattle. The firstChinese quarters were near Yesler's Mill on thewaterfront. In 1886 whites drove outSeattle's Chinese population and the Great SeattleFire of 1889 further hindered the community. Eventually the Chineseestablished their new quarters further inland along Washington St. Bythe early 1900s a new Chinatown on King Street began to develop. ThisChinatown is at the center of today's International District.

Many neighborhood buildings were destroyed for the construction of