Chinatown–International District, Seattle

About

The Chinatown–International District (abbreviated as CID) is a neighborhood of Seattle, Washington. It is the center of the city's Asian American community. Within the district are the three neighborhoods known as Chinatown, Japantown and Little Saigon, named for the concentration of businesses owned by people of Chinese, Japanese and Vietnamese descent, respectively. The geographic area also once included Manilatown.

It was the third community for the city's Chinese and Japanese immigrants, who were driven out of other locations around modern-day Pioneer Square during the late 19th century. A new Chinatown was established shortly after the Jackson Regrade in 1907, which leveled terrain near King Street Station, alongside a Japantown in the same vicinity. The city's Japantown declined following the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, while Vietnamese immigration after the Vietnam War led to the establishment of Little Saigon in the 1970s. The construction of Interstate 5 through the neighborhood in the 1960s and the Kingdome nearby in 1976 led to further strain on the area.