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The History of the Danny Woo Community Garden
Leading up to the Garden’s creation in 1975, the Chinatown-International District was already a hub for community engagement and activism. Spearheaded by the Filipino-American civil rights leader “Uncle Bob” Santos, the Chinatown-International District became the center of Seattle’s Asian American empowerment movement in the 1960s. Working with other influential Seattle civil rights leaders, Santos successfully rallied community members and businesses together to protest various developments that would threaten the well-being of the neighborhood and its residents. In 1971, Santos became the leader of InterIm CDA and immediately set to work developing and enhancing health services, recreation, and affordable housing in the Chinatown-International District. The main goal of Santos and InterIm was to resist the gentrification of their neighborhood, and to prevent the neighborhood from “succumbing to outside commercial influences.” [i] In the early 1970s, it became clear the development of a new sports stadium posed a serious threat to the Chinatown-International District community. Former Model Cities activist Diana Bower was assigned by the Seattle City Council to monitor and evaluate the impact of the proposed Kingdome on the neighborhood and to find ways to “mitigate the impact of the stadium.” [ii] Bower quickly came to know Uncle Bob and his work at InterIm. Through their combined efforts, Santos and Bower were able to determine that there was a clear desire from the elders of the community for a place where they could grow fruits and vegetables. [iii] They brought in Darlyn DelBoca, the main force behind Seattle’s extremely successful P-Patch program, to help make this desire a reality. They began by searching for property upon which to build the garden, and soon zeroed in on a hillside owned by local businessman Danny Woo. Uncle Bob recounts the interaction in his book, Hum Bows not Hot Dogs: [iv] I approached Danny one day at his restaurant about using this property for a community garden. He listened intently, puffing on a pipe as I told him how much we wanted to build a vegetable garden for the elderly and how we wanted to acquire the land on a long-term lease. “How much you can afford?” he asked.“Well, you know Danny, we are a non-profit agency.”“And Bob, you know I’m a businessman.”“We could probably afford $1 a year.” He almost choked on his pipe. Danny told me he’d have to think about that. Danny Woo eventually accepted Santos’ offer and agreed to lease the land to InterIm for the purposes of a community garden for one dollar per year. That’s when the real work started and hundreds of community members became involved. The property first had to be cleared of trash and noxious blackberry bushes. Darlyn DelBoca recalls the dedication of the community members: “I even remember [a community member] who was blind, working on hands and knees gathering shattered glass!” [v] Next, the hillside had to be stabilized. Ohno Landscaping Company volunteered time and machinery to carve four terraces out of the hillside, and as many as 1,200 railroad ties donated from Burlington Northern were used to bolster them. [vi] Longacres Racetrack in Renton contributed 350 cubic yards of horse manure in order to add nutrients to the hillside’s soil, which largely consisted of clay. [vii] Hundreds of community members, Youth Corps members, and students from University of Washington’s Landscape Architecture program volunteered countless hours and worked together to build what would in 1975 become the Danny Woo Community Garden. [viiii]More than forty years later, the Danny Woo Community Garden is still an important part of the Chinatown-International District community. Navigate the pages on this website to learn more about the Garden’s many roles in the neighborhood and how to become involved yourself! [i] Sanders, Jeffrey C. Seattle and the Roots of Urban Sustainability: Inventing Ecotopia. Pittsburgh, PA: U of Pittsburgh, 2010. Print.[ii] Bower, Diana. Interview. 08 September 2015.[iii] Sanders, Jeffrey C. Seattle and the Roots of Urban Sustainability: Inventing Ecotopia. Pittsburgh, PA: U of Pittsburgh, 2010. Print. & Bower, Diana. Interview. 08 September 2015.[iv] Santos, Bob. Hum Bows not Hot Dogs. Seattle, WA: International Examiner Press, 2002. Print.[v] DelBoca, Darlyn. Letter to Rob Efird. 26 September 2015.[vi] Santos, Bob. Hum Bows not Hot Dogs. Seattle, WA: International Examiner Press, 2002. Print.[vii] Sanders, Jeffrey C. Seattle and the Roots of Urban Sustainability: Inventing Ecotopia. Pittsburgh, PA: U of Pittsburgh, 2010. Print.[viii] DelBoca, Darlyn. Letter to Rob Efird. 26 September 2015.
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