Chinatown-International District festivals (greaterseattleonthecheap.com)

The Seattle Chinatown-International District (aka the “ID”, pronounced eye-dee), located south of downtown is a cultural hub of the Asian American community. Historically, it is the only area in the continental United States where several cultures—Chinese, Japanese, Filipinos, African Americans, and Vietnamese—settled together and built one neighborhood.

Chinatown-International District events

Throughout the year, Chinatown International District comes alive for fairs, festivals, parades, night markets, and food walks. Most Seattle Chinatown events center around Hing Hay park. Some of the major events are briefly described below and can also be found on our Calendar of free and cheap things to do every day (greaterseattleonthecheap.com)

Lunar New Year festival in Seattle’s Chinatown

Lunar New Year in winter in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District is one of the largest Lunar New Year events in the region. Festivities include traditional dragon and lion dances, Japanese Taiko Drumming, martial arts demonstrations, arts & crafts, and a variety of family friendly activities. The lunar calendar follows the phases of the moon. Therefore, the date for Lunar New Year shifts each year, but occurs somewhere in the last ten days of January and the first twenty days of February. More info: Lunar New Year Celebration (seattlechinatownid.com). You might also like: Lunar New Year events around Puget Sound (greaterseattleonthecheap.com)

Chinatown Seafair Parade in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District

Seattle Chinatown Seafair Parade in summer is a Seafair tradition. The family-friendly event features lion and dragon dances, the Seattle Chinese Girls Drill Team, and many more local community groups parading through the International District. More info: Chinatown Parade (seattlechinesechamber.org)

Asian Food Walks in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District

Asian Food Walks are held during the Lunar New Year celebration in January or February, during summer months (usually 3rd Saturday June, July, and August, and Small Business Saturday (after Thanksgiving). More info: C-ID Food Walk Series (seattlechinatownid.com)

CID Night Market

C-ID Night Market is an annual street festival held in the fall. This free, all-ages street festival celebrates the neighborhood through street vendors, food trucks, and cultural performances. More info: C-ID Night Market (seattlechinatownid.com)

For more info on any of the above events, visit our calendar below or Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (seattlechinatownid.com) and Seattle’s Chinatown-International District | Facebook

Immigration history in the Seattle Chinatown-International District

In 1910, Seattle re-graded some hills and filled in the muddy flats along the waterfront. Buildings were erected on this land and a new International District began to take shape south of Jackson along King Street.

Chinese immigrants arrived in the area first and established a neighborhood. Of course, the Chinese didn’t have much choice in where to live. Discriminatory covenants prevented Asians from living elsewhere in the city. Many immigrants became laborers who helped build the roads, railroads, and canals in or near Seattle, as well as work in other industries including lumber mills, canneries, farms, and coal mines. Some set up businesses: import-export operations, restaurants, laundries, hotels, and other commercial enterprises. In the beginning, Chinatown’s inhabitants were mostly men—single men as well as those supporting families back in China.
Japantown (“Nihonmachi“) originally sprang up north of Jackson along Main Street. However, the neighborhood vanished in 1942 when Executive Order 9066 forced Japanese residents into internment camps. Nihonmachi never returned to what it once was, but its history is still evident in the some of the historic businesses, such as the Panama Hotel Tea & Coffee House, NP Hotel, and Maneki Japanese Restaurant, along with newer businesses including the eclectic Momo shop, Kobo fine art gallery, Kaname Izakaya and Shochu Bar, and Fuji Sushi, among others.
Filipinos, were the third Asian group to arrive in Seattle in the late 1800s, arriving in several waves as the Philippines transformed from American territory in 1898 to full independence in 1946. Today, the Filipino American community is centered several miles south of the International District along Martin Luther King Jr Way S in southeast Seattle.
African Americans also settled in the International District along Jackson Street in the early part of the 20^th Century, establishing many black-owned and -operated businesses and nightclubs. For many years, Seattle’s jazz scene on Jackson Street was the place to be. After World War II, housing discrimination and redlining forced Seattle’s black population eastward into what became known as the Central District, the area between 12^th Avenue and Empire Way (later renamed Martin Luther King Way Jr).

In the 1960s and 1970s, the construction of the Interstate 5 freeway through the International District and building of the nearby Kingdome football stadium threatened the area’s survival. Young Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino student activists rallied under the banner of Asian American unity and led a fight to restore the area. They lobbied for low-income housing, set up bilingual social service programs, and formed a public corporation to preserve and renovate historic buildings. With public funds, hotels and streets were refurbished, new senior apartments were erected, and community-based service centers were established. College-educated Asian American professionals set up offices throughout the neighborhood, in locations formerly inhabited by their parents and grandparents.

In the 1980s, refugees from Vietnam arrived and set up businesses to the east, forming the “Little Saigon” neighborhood east of Interstate 5, around 12th Avenue and South Jackson Street. Continuing waves of immigrants from all over Asia have helped to keep the International District alive, along with the many people and organizations who are committed to the neighborhood’s welfare.

In the 1990s, the International District Station of the Downtown Seattle Transit Tunnel opened, and Union Station was restored as a regional transit hub.

In the first decade of the 21^st Century, the Kingdome was demolished to make way for two new professional sports stadiums southwest of the International District. Nearby King Street train station was restored to its original stately elegance of the previous century. Other large scale development projects have continued throughout the ID. Many old buildings have been renovated and the streets and alleyways have been reclaimed for her resident’s enjoyment.

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