Panama Hotel Designated a National Historic Landmark
The Panama Hotel at 6th and Main in Seattle's Chinatown/International District, along with its Japanese bathhouse, Hashidate Yu, has been declared a National Historic Landmark (NHL) by the National Park Service. The hotel and bathhouse are located in the heart of the city's Nihonmachi, or Japantown, the cultural and economic center of Seattle's early Japanese community. The bathhouse, nearly intact after almost a century, is one of only two remaining examples of traditional bathhouses built in the U.S. during the early years of Japanese immigration.
NHL designation is an official recognition by the federal government of a historic property's exceptional value or quality in illustrating or interpreting the heritage of the U.S. Fewer than 2,500 historic places are declared landmarks. In Seattle, the Georgetown Steam Plant, the Pioneer Building, the Pioneer Square Pergola and Totem Pole, as well as the historic vessels Arthur Foss, Virginia V, Duwamish, and Swiftsure/Relief, are national historic landmarks.
Built in 1910 and designed by Sabro Ozasa, one of the few Japanese architects of the time, the Panama Hotel served as single-room occupancy housing to the surrounding community. The five-story structure included the basement bathhouse, six ground-level storefronts facing Main Street, a mezzanine level for offices, and three floors of rooms. The Hashidate Yu bathhouse drew on a 1,200-year-old tradition of Japanese bathing, which was among the most significant cultural practices brought to America by immigrants. The public bathhouse, or sento, included the furo, or soaking tub, that bathers relaxed in after washing their bodies.
Eddy Sano, the son of the last operator of Hashidate Yu, which closed in 1954, recalls taking baths as a child in water "hot enough to boil eggs." He added: "Looking every bit like boiled lobsters (probably more like boiled shrimp), we grabbed our towels, dried ourselves, ordered an ice-cold soda pop and relaxed on benches and seats in a space north of the locker room. For many Nisei, sipping an ice-cold pop after a par boiling in the Japanese bath was close to ecstasy and ranks near the top of their blissful childhood memories."
Today, most of the building is intact with only minor changes since its heyday. The hotel, which was designated a landmark in May 2006, continues to serve as single-room occupancy housing primarily for low-income residents. The ground floor businesses include a modern tea and coffee house with historic photographs. Teahouse patrons can look through a special, glass-covered section in the floor that reveals the basement, where the owners discovered belongings from Japanese residents sent to World War II internment camps. The property was never reclaimed.
For more information on the Panama Hotel and tours of the bathhouse, contact Jan Johnson, 206.625.9746.
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