Should you ever visit Seattle (or be lucky enough to live there), please promise me this: you will go see the Wing Luke Asian Museum. Never mind the Space Needle and the original Starbucks coffee shop, THIS is where the city’s incredible history resides.
The Wing Luke is the only museum in the US dedicated to telling the stories of the Asian Pacific American experience, and they tell these stories profoundly, portraying the people’s experiences in the beauty and simplicity these very cultures embody. The permanent exhibit “Honoring Our Journey,” covers all aspects of the Asian Pacific American experience from harrowing journeys to discrimination upon arrival and the strong community bonds that held them together through it all. At its inception in 1967, the museum was strictly dedicated to Asian folk art, but later expanded its mission; the museum now explores both civil rights and social justice issues while continuing to focus on contemporary art.
The Wing Luke is also a recent Smithsonian affiliate, the first in the Pacific Northwest.
In 2008, when the Wing Luke moved into its current home—the East Yong Kick Building—in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District, preservation was high on the list of priorities. Much of the wood in the galleries and comprising the main staircase are original from when it was built in 1910. They also preserved the adjoining hotel and grocery store and now offer guided tours.
Should you go to this museum, do your best to schedule enough time to go on this “Hotel Experience” tour (included with the regular $12.95 price of admission). It’s a Pacific Northwest version of the Lower East Side Tenement Museum in NYC, refurbished and interpreted just as simply and profoundly as its New York sibling.
There was minimal use of technology, and when it was used, it fit seamlessly into the hotel’s bare-bones rooms. For instance, below is a video taken in the “kitchen” of the hotel where the visitors were able to hear and see what those early 20th century Asian immigrants might have been cooking. (Look carefully at the end of the 25-second clip to see a chicken foot in the wok.)
If you’re unable to make it to the West Coast anytime soon, you can also check out this 7.5 minute video about the Wing Luke:
Mary Gen Davies loves being Program Associate at the Heritage Philadelphia Program, but she is seriously considering moving to the Pacific Northwest.
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