Art + Design From Artists in the Pacific Northwest, Japan and Beyond. | Since 1995
(from KOBO Newsletter, Sept. 5, 2026)
(Aya and Masa Murakami. Photo courtesy of the Wing Luke Museum.)
”History is delightful. It’s understanding. It's actually the truth if you do it right, and the truth is progressive. It always is.” - Paul Dorpat
Earlier this year, Seattle lost a great friend — artist, activist and historian Paul Dorpat. His contributions to Washington State are many: co-founder of Seattle’s first underground paper “Helix”; Seattle Times’ Now and Then” columnist“ for over three decades; and chief historian of HistoryLink.org, a web site dedicated to documenting Washington State history.
Mr. Dorpat was “a tourist in his own town,” curious to follow any and every path. It was what led him to become interested in Seattle history. We can learn much from his creativity and open-mindedness.
HistoryLink.org has more than 8,500 entries, 500 biographies and over 14,000 images. It is the go-to resource for local and state history. An entry posted on August 8, 2009, is the story of Higo Variety Store before KOBO opened their second location. Sanzo and Matsuyo Murakami opened the original Higo store in 1909 on South Weller Street. They moved to South Jackson Street in 1932. Higo provided household goods, food and other imported items for the communities in and outside of Japantown until 2003.
When KOBO opened in 2004 in the Higo space, their goal was to continue telling the Murakami’s story and preserve the history of Higo by creating a display of original items Higo sold as well as a video of daughters Aya and Masa Murakami (who took over after Sanzo passed away).
We are truly grateful to Paul Dorpat and all those writing for HistoryLink for including Higo Variety Store and KOBO as part of Seattle history. Like any city, there are many stories that make up a history. Some of these stories may be hidden or forgotten but they all deserve to be told.
Read more about Paul Dorpat, Higo Variety Store, and any other question you may have about Seattle and Washington State at HistoryLink.org
Higo Variety Store on HistoryLink
(West wall at KOBO at Higo in Japantown. Photo by ML Harris.)
