Ruby Chow, first Asian American on King County Council, honored at opening of new Chinook Building

Ruby Chow, a Seattle restaurateur and Chinese American community activist who became the first Asian American to serve on the King County Council, was recognized today as County Councilmember Dow Constantine named the eighth floor of the new King County office building in her honor.

“The opening of the Chinook Building gives us the opportunity to honor significant figures from King County history,” said Constantine. “Ruby Chow helped expand the political power of Asian Americans in King County and worked hard to make sure government benefited the people she served.”

The Chinook Building, a 13-story tower housing King County government offices in downtown Seattle, was officially opened this afternoon. Each floor of the building is named for a prominent person or place in King County history. Other honorees range from a coal miner to former King County elected officials, labor organizers and civil rights activists, and even a historic town name.

A Seattle native, Chow and her husband, Ping, are best remembered as the former owners of Ruby Chow’s Restaurant, which they opened at Broadway and Jefferson Street in 1948. Ruby and Ping also became ambassadors for the local Chinese American community, promoting Chinese culture and cuisine through such endeavors as a television cooking show and the Chinese Community Girls Drill Team, which Chow co-founded.

Chow began her political career by working on Wing Luke’s landmark 1962 Seattle City Council campaign. After a decade spent helping other candidates get elected to public office, Chow decided in 1973 to make a run herself for the vacant 5th District seat on the King County Council. She won that first race by just 220 votes, then won re-election to her seat in 1977 and 1981.

Born in Seattle in 1920, Chow was one of ten children of a canning company manager. Her father died when she was 12 and Chow later dropped out of high school to help support her family. She worked as a waitress in both New York and Seattle until she opened her own restaurant.

Chow had five children and her restaurant was a family business, with each of the kids pitching in. Two of her children would become elected officials themselves, daughter Cheryl served on the Seattle City Council and is the current president of the Seattle School Board; son Mark is a King County District Court judge.

The name of the office tower—and the idea of naming each of the floors—came from King County middle school students who won a 2007 naming contest. The name “Chinook” was selected from more than 140 entries. Megan Drews, then a student at Holy Family School in Kirkland, said that “Chinook” is “an important name to me and my family because it celebrates our Northwest native heritage,” and also because “it is a great fish to eat!”

Another student essay submitted to the Council by 8th grader Connolly McHugh suggested that significant names be used for “certain rooms or wings for individuals, groups or symbolic logos” to make this a government building “of the people, by the people, and for the people.” The Council honored this idea by providing for the naming of each of the floors of the building. Each member of the Council chose the name for the floor whose number matches the number of his or her Council district. The County Executive named the remaining four floors of the 13-story structure.

Seven County agencies are now housed in the building at 5th and Jefferson, which opened in the summer of 2007. Its tenants include Public Health, the Office of the Public Defender, the Department of Community and Human Services, the Office of Information Resource Management, and the Finance Division.