By Staff
Northwest Asian Weekly
Seko Garden (Photo by John Liu/NWAW)
Joan Seko standing in her garden (Photo by John Liu/NWAW)
Koichi Kobayashi is looking for a savior. The landscape architect said the community stands to lose a “piece of art and a piece of his history” unless someone steps forward.
He is referring to the home of Joan Seko — which she is planning to sell next spring. She and her late husband Roy used to own the Bush Garden restaurant in the International District (ID).
Seko’s property sits on 2 acres along Phantom Lake in Bellevue and features a Japanese garden, which Kobayashi fears will be demolished when Seko sells.
Kobayashi was friends with Roy Seko, and had an office in the ID near Bush Garden. But he learned of the Seko Garden only months ago while researching gardens built at Japanese internment camps.
Kobayashi thinks it will cost between $5 million and $10 million to purchase the property and restore and improve the garden.
Kobayashi said it would be a shame to lose the garden and hopes someone or some organization will come through.
For more information, go to facebook.com/sekogarden. ■
my father built the seko home in the 1950s . i was born there. he bought the property in 1950 for 400.00.
his name is bill shinkle. he sold the property to roys father in the early 1960s for i believe around 40.000.00. the property had to go into roys name because of the law at that time.i have photos of my dad building the home.his intials are carved in the chiminey on the roof. my dad is 92 and lives in spokane