Seattle’s 1952 Seafair celebrated the Centennial of the city’s founding. The many events included five parades in different parts of the city. The International Parade, on August 5, took place downtown, on Fourth Avenue and headed south into the Chinatown - International District. This photo, taken from the west side of Fourth Avenue, shows the Ruby Chow float in the Seafair parade. Chow had a long and famed career, opening Seattle’s first Chinese restaurant outside Chinatown, becoming a community activist, and serving as the first Asian American member of the King County Council.

The photographer, Albert Joseph "Al" Smith, Sr. (1916-2008), was able to get a high-level view of the parade from his perch above Fourth Avenue near Virginia St. From a hobby begun as a preteen, Smith began his "weekend job" and photography business, On the Spot, in the 1940s, capturing life in the city’s Black community, the Central Area neighborhood, and the local jazz scene during the mid- to late- 20th century.

Caption information source: “Centennial Seafair will feature five land, sea parades.” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, July 20, 1952. Pages 1, 4.
Caption information source: "Chow, Ruby (1920-2008)" by Frank Chesley, HistoryLink.org Essay 8063, https://www.historylink.org/File/8063