Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience

The Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience at 719 S King St in the Chinatown-International District of Seattle, Washington, is a community-based museum and Smithsonian affiliate devoted to the histories of Asian Pacific Americans. It was founded in 1967 and named after Wing Luke, who in 1962 became the first Asian American elected to public office in the Pacific Northwest and who died in a plane crash in 1965. Since 2008 the museum has been housed in the restored East Kong Yick Building, built in 1910 by Chinese immigrants, whose upper floors held the Freeman Hotel. The permanent and rotating exhibits cover Chinese, Japanese, Filipino, Korean, Vietnamese, Pacific Islander and other communities, addressing immigration, exclusion laws, labor in canneries and railroads, the 1942 incarceration of Japanese Americans, family businesses and civil rights activism. The curatorial approach is distinctive, because community members help to develop each exhibition, contributing their stories, objects and design ideas, so that displays feel personal and thematic rather than strictly chronological. The collection includes photographs, textiles, household objects, documents, oral history recordings and art. The Historic Hotel tour, included with admission, leads visitors to preserved rooms in the Freeman Hotel, where fixtures and belongings of former residents remain, while the Garden of Remembrance and the neighborhood walking tours extend the story into the streets outside. The building has been restored with seismic upgrades while keeping the original brick facade and woodwork. Programs include workshops, film screenings, festivals and family days, and the museum's shop sells books and crafts by Asian Pacific American creators. The museum is at the heart of the Chinatown-International District, a short walk from Hing Hay Park, King Street Station and restaurants and shops, so a visit can be combined with lunch in the neighborhood. Because tours are guided by small groups, reserving a timed ticket helps ensure a place, and a full visit usually lasts about two hours. The museum is a good starting point for understanding the layered history of the district.