Seattle’s Chinatown-International District (C-ID) has long been home for Chinese, Japanese, and Filipino American settlers. Building Tradition looks at the community’s evolution and the rise of single-room occupancy (SRO) residential hotels, which served as economic and social engines for the pan-Asian community. Dr. Marie Rose Wong traces policies and law, architecture and development, uncovering the stories of the people who grew up in, managed, and owned these buildings. She finds that the rise and decline of the pan-Asian community was based on policy interventions by the city, which caused hotel closures and a loss of affordable housing. Dr. Wong’s talk will connect to on-going struggles for land, development, and the cultural identity of the C-ID. 

We regretfully have to cancel this program. The author, Marie Wong is ill and will not be able to travel to San Francisco at this time. When a new date for this program is determined, we will make that announcement. 

About Author:

Marie R. Wong, Ph.D.

Dr. Marie Rose Wong is a Professor Emerita with the Institute of Public Service at Seattle University. Marie has a number of publications on Asian American settlements and urban development that include a book entitled Sweet Cakes, Long Journey: The Chinatowns of Portland, Oregon (2004, 2012) and a new book entitled Building Tradition: Pan-Asian Seattle and Life in the Residential Hotels. Dr. Wong is board president of the Kong Yick Investment Company, one of the longest-standing corporations in Washington State, and serves on the board of InterIm, a community development association that focuses on affordable housing and sustainability in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District.