Hing Hay Park at 423 Maynard Ave S. is a vital part of Seattle’s International District. The name translates to “Park for Pleasurable Gatherings”. The pagoda, or Grand Pavilion, was constructed in Taipei, Taiwan in 1974. The mural facing the park shows an elaborate dragon. When I visited there was a group of men playing chess on the over-sized chess board and others were playing ping pong.
Dear daughter wanted to go to Seattle’s International District for her birthday this weekend and we wandered over to the International Children’s Park to have a time playing on the dragon, playing the drums and spinning. The park is located at 700 South Lane Street and was established n 1981. The dragon, which I climbed on and successfully got off of, was created by Gerard Tsutakawa. His father was also a sculptor and he design The Lily Statue in Lakewood.
I was delighted to see that the cherry trees in the park had begun to blossom!
When dear daughter was in middle school, she didn’t want to go anywhere with her parents. The idea of going up to Seattle was abhorrent to her, but we dragged her along anyway. We stopped at Uwajimaya and the Kinokuniya Bookstore (525 S Weller St
Seattle, WA 98104) and she fell for it — hard. Ever since we have been visiting Seattle’s International District at least once a quarter. Today, my now happy travel companion and I went up to Uwajimaya because we were having an udon craving. We can’t go to Uwajimaya without buying those little chocolate mushroom cookie treats and visiting Kinokuniya. She walked away with a present for her friend, a manga and a CD. The store is packed with manga and all types of traditional, Japanese language books (novels, cookbooks, art, history, etc.). We found both The Hobbit and 50 Shades of Grey in Japanese! There is also a large music selection and plenty of adorable stuffed animals, toys, t-shirts, stickers, pens and miscellaneous. Parking is free for up to two hours with store validation. http://www.kinokuniya.com/us/
By the way, when we got home… she thanked me for taking her!
What luck! The family decided to get out of the house today and each of us picked a place to go. Dear daughter wanted to go to Uwajimaya in the International District of Seattle. When we got there we learned that it is the Chinese New Year and they were having special events, such as a dragon parade. While we were there was grabbed lunch in the food court and picked up some groceries (pocky, drinks, fortune cookies). Uwajimaya is a wonderful store, which is full of treasures. It actually started in Tacoma, but when the US entered WWII the family was sent to Tule Lake Internment Camp in California. After the war, they felt more welcome in Seattle and settled themselves and their new store there. It was a loss for Tacoma! It is the largest Japanese grocery store in the Pacific Northwest.
http://storefrontsseattle.wordpress.com/
More info on the museum can be found on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/pages/Seattle-Pinball-Museum/131237786915560
Update: We went past this museum in January 2014 and it was packed! (See the last photo with the blue doorframe). Their prices have gone up a bit, but it is still a lot of entertainment for the price)
