In the early 1900s, Chinese businesses began moving to the area around King Street. By the 1920s, most of Seattle's Chinese residents lived and worked there. Other Asian immigrants soon followed, notably Japanese and Filipinos attracted by the area's inexpensive housing and storefronts for their own businesses and restaurants. By the late 1930s, Chinatown was established as a distinct neighborhood along with the West Coast's second largest "Japan Town" on and around Yesler Way.

In this photo, a few men gather on a street corner in Chinatown.

Handwritten on negative: China Town.
Handwritten on sleeve: SEATTLE, Chinatown district.
Date photograph was filed at the Seattle Post-Intelligencer (date of photograph and file date may differ by a month or more): March 30, 1932.

Caption information source: Seattle Chinatown/International District website, http://www.cidbia.org/history