Day 359: Chinese Laundry Building, Wawona, California
📌APIA Every Day (359) - The Chinese Laundry Building, located in Wawona,is one of the few surviving structures that highlights the contributions of early Chinese Americans to the development of Yosemite National Park. During the Gold Rush era, many Chinese migrants arrived in the region seeking employment and filling essential roles as cooks, farmers, cleaners, and road builders. Constructed in 1917, the Chinese Laundry was just one key workplace where Chinese residents were employed by the nearby Wawona Hotel.
In the 1850s, the Washburn family was a major employer of Chinese immigrants, hiring over 20 workers each summer at the Wawona Hotel. The staff lived in a nearby bunkhouse and were responsible for cultivating the hotel’s garden, preparing meals in the kitchen, and managing the laundry. One prominent employee was Ah You, head chef of the Wawona Hotel’s kitchen, who worked for the Washburns for 47 years from 1886 to 1933. In this five-decade period, Ah You and his staff prepared extravagant meals for hotel guests, including several presidents and celebrities. Other Chinese laborers, employed by Henry Washburn, also helped construct the 23 mile-long Wawona Road, connecting the hotel to Yosemite Valley.
After the Chinese Laundry Building was completed in 1917, two staff members of the Wawona Hotel, Ah Yee and Ah Wee, went on to become the facility’s head laundrymen. From 1918 to 1933, their team of employees washed linens, towels, and clothes for hotel guests. Up to five laborers worked in the laundry during Yosemite’s busy summers, operating in a heated environment with wood-burning stoves, steaming vats of cloth, and hot irons. The laundry later expanded its services to nearby hotels, but was eventually shut down when changing hotel ownership led to the dismissal of all Chinese employees. From the 1950s, the building was used mainly for storage.
In 2019, the National Park Service, with support from the Yosemite Conservancy, restored the structure. Key contributors included Park Ranger Yenyen Chan, who researched the site’s history, and Sandra Yee and her husband Franklin, who provided financial support. With a grand opening ceremony in 2022, the structure reopened as part of the Yosemite History Center, featuring an interactive exhibit that recreates elements of its original interior.
Written by Avneet Dhaliwal
LEARN MORE:
National Park Service: The Role of Chinese in Yosemite History
National Park Service: The untold story of the Chinese Americans who helped create Yosemite
National Park Service: Welcome to Yosemite’s Chinese Laundry Building | Sierra Club
Yosemite: Sharing Yosemite's Chinese History
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