About This Campaign:

The historic Panama Hotel in Seattle’s Chinatown-International District is far more than just a building—it is a living monument to resilience, community, and American history. Built in 1910 by Sabro Ozasa, the first Japanese immigrant architect in Seattle, the hotel served as a vital home and hub for Japanese immigrants, laborers, and families.

Most notably, it houses the Hashidate Yu, the very last intact, authentic Japanese bathhouse (Sento) in all of North America.

During the tragic events of World War II, when Japanese Americans were forced into incarceration camps, the hotel's basement became a safe haven. Families packed their most precious belongings into trunks and stored them here, hoping to return. Today, those remaining artifacts stand as a powerful, heartbreaking, and beautiful testament to a community's history.

Why We Need Your Help:

While the Panama Hotel is a designated National Treasure, maintaining a century-old historic building requires urgent care. Time, weather, and deferred maintenance threaten the structural integrity of this vital landmark.

We are raising funds to:

Restore and Stabilize: Repair critical historic features, roofing, and structural elements to ensure the building stands for another century.

Protect the Artifacts: Improve climate control and preservation efforts for the priceless WWII-era belongings stored in the basement.

Preserve the Bathhouse: Maintenance and conservation of the historic Sento, so future generations can witness this irreplaceable piece of cultural history.

Every dollar raised goes directly toward the preservation, rehabilitation, and protection of the Panama Hotel. We cannot afford to lose this irreplaceable piece of our shared heritage.

Please donate, share our story, and help us keep the legacy of the Panama Hotel alive. Thank you for your generosity and support!