Visit the Wing Luke Museum! (a DealPop Recommendation)

Special to The SunBreak from the neighborhood discovery artists at DealPop

For over 40 years, the Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience has been an integral part of expressing our region’s pride in its Asian heritage.

Wing Luke was the Pacific Northwest’s first Asian American to be elected to public office (Seattle City Council, 1962) and a proponent of racial equality. The museum he envisioned during his tenure, before his untimely death in 1965, continues to realize his passionate dream.

The museum has seen three locations over the years, with the latest being a newly renovated, 1910 building on the corner of 8th Avenue South and South King Street. The seemingly endless rooms house some of the greatest Asian Pacific American history, culture and art found north of San Francisco. Guided tours through historically preserved hotel rooms also take you back in time to give you a peek into the everyday lives of early Asian pioneers.

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But it isn’t just the museum’s unique and healthy exhibitions that draw a crowd. Their tours of the Chinatown-International District are yet another set of reasons to head east out of Pioneer Square. (You can simply not go wrong with taking yourself on the “Touch of Chinatown” tour.) And those tours do a wonderful job illustrating one of the most critical goals of both Wing Luke and the museum which acts as his memorial: growing the neighborhood of the Chinatown-ID.

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We here at DealPop pride ourselves on the preservation and celebration of local community. The Wing Luke Museum does a better job than any other museum of its kind in its support and integration with their community. It successfully celebrates with varied exhibits, informative historical and neighborhood guidance, and an infectious passion.

The museum’s tickets are good for entry and re-entry all day, as the well-versed guides encourage you to travel around the Chinatown-International District—from Uwajimaya to Little Saigon. And who couldn’t do with a little multi-media education of refugees (“A Refugee’s Journey of Survival and Hope,” running until December 12, 2010) and a BBQ pork bánh mì from Saigon Deli?

Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience
719 South King Street
Tues-Sun @ 10 a.m.-5 p.m.
Adults: $12.95