Panama Hotel and Tea House

Learn about this hotel’s history.

The Panama Hotel offers a window to the past. It was originally built in 1910 by Sabro Ozasa, the first Japanese-American architect in Seattle. The building was a safe place for the Japanese and was seen as a hotspot for a long while. In World War II, however, the order to militarize specific areas and gather those of Japanese descent (Order 9066) turned the hotel from a cheerful and happy place for individuals to meet up and relax to a place where those with Japanese heritage would stash their belongings. A majority of those people never returned to reclaim their baggage.

Due to the war, the hotel was stuck with various Japanese objects that one might find lying about a traditional Japanese household. The hotel contains the last remaining bathhouse in America and still holds those Japanese artifacts in the basement. Visitors can take a look at these belongings through a glass panel on top of the basement.