My Unforgotten Seattle By Ron Chew

Folio Seattle and University of Washington Press are delighted to host award winning reporter, editor and feature writer Carey Gelentner in an interview with Third-generation Seattleite, historian, journalist, and museum visionary Ron Chew about his book My Unforgotten Seattle.

Ron Chew spent more than five decades fighting for Asian American and social justice causes in Seattle. In this deeply personal memoir, he documents the tight-knit community he remembers, describing small family shops, chop suey restaurants, and sewing factories now vanished. He untangles the mystery of his extended family’s journey to America during the era of the Chinese Exclusion Act. Intimate profiles of his parents—a waiter and garment worker—and leaders like Bob Santos, Ruth Woo, Al Sugiyama, Roberto Maestas, and Kip Tokuda are set against the familiar backdrop of local landmarks such as Sick’s Stadium, Kokusai Theatre, Shorey’s Bookstore, Higo Variety Store, Hong Kong Restaurant, and Chubby &Tubby. He highlights Seattle’s unsung champions in the…