As the holidays get closer, as do the long-awaited openings of the Bob Santos Community Room and neighboring Bush Garden! The Uncle Bob’s Neighborhood fundraising campaign has officially been launched and InterIm CDA is gratefully accepting donations and will have fundraising events to come in 2025. There is much to be excited about in Uncle Bob’s neighborhood.
Bush Garden as a cultural home
Karen Sakata, the owner of Bush Garden since 1997, has partnered with InterIm CDA to bring back the Bush Garden Restaurant and Karaoke Bar in the commercial space of Uncle Bob’s Place.
“Along with so many of our community organizations that tell our story, Bush Garden has been a cultural home — a place that has been a part of so many of us throughout our lives,” said Sakata.
“From build out of the physical space — the kitchen, the bar, the dining area and karaoke space, and seeing the completed terrazzo floor — have all helped me envision the new Bush.”
Since its establishment in 1957, Bush Garden has been a staple in the neighborhood and community beyond. The new restaurant will be in a new spot, navigating clientele that now includes a new generation as well as previous ones that used to frequent the beloved restaurant and sing karaoke alongside Uncle Bob.
“While the main clientele will continue to be between the range of 21-60 years of age, my hope is that it will include people from all backgrounds, and be local, regional, national, and international,” said Sakata.
“This is one of the many things that made the old Bush Garden special. You could find three to four generations of people depending on the day and time. We cannot freeze Bush in time, but we can share and carry forward the spirit of being a welcoming community.”
What will bring people together, of all ages and backgrounds, will be the passion folks in the CID community have for keeping the neighborhood preserved and thriving, like that of Uncle Bob. The young folks want to grow up in this vibrant community while the elder folks want to preserve what they grew up in. The legacy of Uncle Bob and Bush Garden will be inherently carried out by the people who come to the neighborhood and into this community space.
InterIm CDA will open the Bob Santos Community Room as a new gathering space in collaboration with Bush Garden. It will operate as a much-needed communal third space in the neighborhood and be reservable for meetings, events, and to organize.
In the past few years since the beginning of COVID-19, folks in the community have been eager to reconnect, but the neighborhood has been lacking third spaces that allow people to gather and enjoy each other’s presence. Additionally, many organizations don’t have a designated office or headquarters in which to meet; many of Seattle’s beloved organizations like ACRS, APALA, CID Coalition, LELO, Minidoka Pilgrimage, Seattle JACL, Tsuru for Solidarity, and many more, have shown interest in using the space, expressing excitement at the prospect of gathering, working, and spending time with one another.
The VIP Happy Hour before the InterIm CDA community fundraiser dinner in November allowed folks to see what is to come inside the new area.
The terrazzo floor is newly installed and currently covered to protect it from the upcoming Bush Garden construction, Eliseo Art Silva’s 7’x11’ mural is currently in its final stage of completion in the Philippines, window art of historic photos is in the process which will make passersby feel as though they are walking alongside past pioneers of the neighborhood, the historic photo of Uncle Bob protesting the Kingdome shot by Eugene Minoru Tagawa on the corner column of the building, and much, much more.
Everything is planned, InterIm CDA just needs to raise the funds for the last phase of implementation. We are grateful for funding commitments from the Department of Neighborhoods, Historic South Downtown, and 4Culture so far.
If you pass the space on King Street and Eighth in the CID, take a look at the new terrazzo behind the construction fence and the Bush Garden space — it will soon be finished and filled with art, food and community!
Please visit https://interimcda.org/unclebobsplace/ to learn more about and take part in the project! Follow InterIm CDA on Instagram: @interim_cda
For any questions, please do not hesitate to contact: Leslie Morishita, [email protected] or Ana Tanaka, [email protected]
